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Genesis GMR-001 set to take on Ferrari and Porsche at Le Mans 2026

Hyundai-owned luxury brand will compete at the highest level of endurance racing in the ‘Hypercar’ category

Genesis isn’t renowned for its motorsport exploits – but it’s taken a step into the big league by revealing its contender for the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and Le Mans in the shape of the new GMR-001. 

The GMR element of the name denotes the newly formed ‘Genesis Magma Racing’ team that will run it, with the ‘001’ designation marking the first time the brand has built a race car. Complying with LMDh (Le Mans Daytona h) regulations, the GMR-001 will use a chassis from French race car constructor Oreca, which already provides Alpine with its Le Mans hypercar.

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Genesis hasn’t revealed details of the engine in its new racer, but the Hypercar category allows a variety of units. For instance, Alpine, Ferrari, Peugeot and Toyota used V6s in the series this year, while BMW, Cadillac and Lamborghini deployed V8s. Aston Martin will use a naturally aspirated V12 for its car next year.  

The rules of LMDh mean the cars must utilise a hybrid powertrain (the h in LMDh actually stands for ‘hybrid’). Maximum output is pegged at 697bhp, with 67bhp coming from electric power alone. There’s also a minimum kerb weight of 1,030kg. 

The GMR-001’s design apes that of its rivals with a huge rear wing working in conjunction with a diffuser and a massive shark fin behind the cabin. Specific features to mark this out as a Genesis include the double horizontal LED strips that run around the car, something we’ve seen already on the X Gran Berlinetta and X Gran Racer Vision GT concepts.

Genesis has enlisted the services of drivers Andre Lotterer – three-time winner at Le Mans and the reigning WEC champion – plus Pipo Derani, a two-time IMSA winner and driver from this year’s Cadillac WEC team.  

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Senior news reporter

A keen petrol-head, Alastair Crooks has a degree in journalism and worked as a car salesman for a variety of manufacturers before joining Auto Express in Spring 2019 as a Content Editor. Now, as our senior news reporter, his daily duties involve tracking down the latest news and writing reviews.

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