Genesis GMR-001 Hypercar Launches for WEC 2026 Debut
Genesis Magma Racing has unveiled the Genesis GMR-001 Hypercar for its first season in motorsport. The team will race the car in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Engineers, designers and technical partners created the car on a demanding schedule that covered design, build and development.
The Genesis GMR-001 Hypercar clearly links Genesis road cars and race cars. The front bodywork carries the proud statement “Designed by Genesis”. Genesis’ design centre worked closely with chassis partner ORECA to shape the car. Together, they pushed Genesis’ Athletic Elegance philosophy to the limit within the demands of top-level motorsport. The aerodynamic package creates long, clean lines and only breaks the surfaces where function demands it. That approach also reinforces the brand’s luxury identity.
The car’s Two-Line headlamps provide the clearest visual link to Genesis road models. Genesis created these lights specifically for the race car, despite the critical role lighting plays in WEC competition. The team validated both the design and the performance of the lights during the car’s first endurance test. Drivers ran through the night at the Circuit Internacional do Algarve in Portugal in September. The Genesis wing logo also sits prominently at the centre of the nose, strengthening the connection between the manufacturer’s road cars and its new WEC Hypercar.
Genesis Magma Racing has met every development milestone on time despite the pressure of a 2026 debut. The team fired up the first Genesis G8MR 3.2-litre turbo V8 in February 2025, exactly as planned. Hyundai Motorsport based the engine on its in-line four-cylinder unit from the FIA World Rally Championship. While engineers tested the first power plants and added more powertrain components, ORECA built the first Genesis GMR-001 Hypercar chassis to LMDh regulations near Genesis Magma Racing’s base at Le Castellet. The team joined the chassis and powertrain for the first time in August 2025 and started testing later that month.
“From the start, we wanted to be working with the best partners and resources we could,” said Genesis Magma Racing Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul. “Working with ORECA and the experience they have was a natural choice, while using the base Hyundai Motorsport’s WRC engine gave us a strong, proven high-performance engine. These choices were very important in the early development to help us meet the deadlines we had set ourselves.”
The team completed its first run at Circuit Paul Ricard so that ORECA technicians and Genesis Magma Racing engineers could quickly resolve early issues. During track testing, the Genesis GMR-001 Hypercar covered nearly 25,000 kilometres on circuits that reflect the WEC calendar. One engine also completed nearly 9,000 kilometres, which marked an important reliability target.
“We set some high mileage targets for various components, and we achieved most of them, but more importantly, the mileage has been productive,” said Genesis Magma Racing Chief Engineer Justin Taylor. “As well as endurance, we also focused on making sure we could run consistently to our full potential within the WEC technical regulations.”
Strong early progress in reliability allowed the team to focus more sharply on performance. Engineers simulated the demands of WEC race weekends and ran the car in varied conditions, including wet-weather testing at Magny-Cours in October.
“Our first target this season is to finish races,” Taylor looks ahead to the start of the 2026 season. “No problems. No penalties. Then we can start to look to move forward in the Hypercar class, step-by-step, Hyperpole appearances, achieving finishes on the lead lap, challenging for top fives on pace.”
The two Genesis GMR-001 Hypercars that will start the FIA World Endurance Championship season will carry the Korean flag with pride. Genesis will become the first Korean manufacturer to enter the series. The livery also features the traditional Korean Hangul for “Magma” – “마그마.” This detail sits at the heart of Genesis Magma Racing’s identity. Its consonants “ㅁ,” “ㄱ,” and “ㅁ” inspired the geometric Genesis Magma Racing logo, which appears in the team’s signature Magma colour on the engine cover of both cars.
Hyundai Motor Group President and Chief Creative Officer Luc Donckerwolke said: “The design work started during the very first test at Paul Ricard circuit in August, where we had a full naked carbon fibre car as canvas. While applying our design philosophy principle, Athletic Elegance, to the livery, we focused on respecting the shapes of the GMR-001 Hypercar and its details, such as the Two-Line headlamps and the parabolic line in the body. As a Korean manufacturer, we also wanted to honour our roots and heritage by utilising the word ‘Magma’ written in Hangul, the Korean alphabet. Throughout the design evolution, this element became a strong graphic identifier that we decided to use not only for the GMR-001 Hypercar but also for our garage, structures and team uniforms.”
