Genesis fired up the engine in its new-for-2026 World Endurance Championship LMDh contender for the primary time forward of the beginning of testing subsequent month.
The three.2-litre twin-turbo V8 ran within the GMR-001 Hypercar in static situations on the workshops of chassis companion ORECA Motorsport close to Paul Ricard circuit on 9 July.
The fireplace-up was described by Genesis Magma Racing group principal Cyril Abiteboul because the “GMR-001 Hypercar coming to life” and a “enormous step within the story of Genesis Magma Racing”.
Genesis defined that engineers had been capable of run the automobile by all seven gears within the transmission, and take a look at the one-make hybrid system – charging the batteries from the engine after which directing the vitality to the rear driveshafts as would occur on observe.
The engine has been developed out of the know-how employed in Genesis sister marque Hyundai’s World Rally Championship equipment – most of the parts are carried over and modified from the 1.6-litre inline 4 within the i20 N Rally 1.
Many parts had been carried over from the Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Picture by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport
Work began on the interior combustion element of the GMR-001’s powertrain in June 2024 and the engine first ran on the bench at Hyundai Motorsport headquarters in Frankfurt in February.
The engine and transmission subsequently went by what Genesis described as “months of testing on completely different dynos” to validate its efficiency and effectivity.
The build-up of the primary GMR-001 began within the wake of the Le Mans 24 Hours WEC spherical in mid-June.
Working the engine within the automobile befell “precisely in response to schedule”, in response to Genesis, which Abiteboul labelled a “enormous achievement”. He confused at Le Mans that the challenge, which was solely given the inexperienced mild initially of final September, was working in response to plan.
“Nothing we’ve introduced has modified – we’re on schedule,” he mentioned. “It’s a very tight schedule with little room for error.
IDEC Sport, Genesis Magma Racing, ORECA 07
Picture by: Rainier Ehrhardt
“We have now tried to minimise the dangers, which is why we went with recognized know-how for the engine.”
Genesis will enter the WEC’s Hypercar class subsequent season with its personal group primarily based at Ricard.
Forward of its debut, the producer has solid an alliance with the IDEC Sport squad, a daily at Le Mans and within the European Le Mans Sequence in LMP2. Collectively, the pair will kind what it’s calling a trajectory programme to speed up the training course of for its engineers and mechanics.
Genesis and IDEC are working an ORECA-Gibson 07 P2 within the ELMS this 12 months for Jamie Chadwick, Daniel Juncadella and Mathys Jaubert.
Thus far, three-time Le Mans winner Andre Lotterer and Pipo Derani, who has 4 victories on the Sebring 12 Hours IMSA SportsCar Championship spherical, are the one confirmed drivers for the 2 GMR-001s that can run in 2026.
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