Genesis offers first look at its Hypercar livery

Genesis Magma Racing has revealed the livery its No. 17 GMR-001 Hypercar will sport for the Korean manufacturer’s FIA WEC debut season.

The ORECA-based LMDh prototype, powered by a 3.2-litre turbo V8-powered ‘G8MR’ engine, will run in a scheme which celebrates the marque’s Korean heritage. The livery features the traditional Korean Hangeoul lettering for ‘Magma’, a word which also inspired the design of the team’s logo, on a dark silver base with orange detailing.

“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,” said Hyundai Motor Group president and chief creative officer Luc Donckerwolke.

“While applying our design philosophy principle, 'athletic elegance', to the livery, we focused on respecting the shapes of GMR-001 Hypercar and its details, such as the Two-Line headlights 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 Hangeul, the Korean alphabet. Throughout the design evolution, this element became a strong graphic identifier that we decided to use not only for GMR-001 Hypercar but also for our garage, structures and team uniforms.”

A surprise sidebar to the launch is that the GMR-001 was also added to the official FIA WEC video game, Le Mans Ultimate, today, and has been made free for all players to use to celebrate the team’s livery reveal.

In addition, GMR’s driver combinations have also been formally confirmed, after first appearing on the provisional full-season FIA WEC entry list.

In the No. 17, the Korean brand’s first two factory drivers, Andre Lotterer and Pipo Derani, will share the wheel with Trajectory Program graduate Mathys Jaubert.

The sister car, the No. 19 (which RACER expects will race with a different base color to the No. 17), meanwhile, will see Daniel Juncadella, who also formed part of the 2025 Trajectory Program, race with former Alpine driver Paul Loup Chatin and ex-Porsche talent Mathieu Jaminet.

Lotterer and Derani were originally expected to compete in different cars. However, through the GMR-001’s testing and development phase, according to Genesis, “it became clear that the strongest option for the team was to pair the two in the No. 17 GMR-001 Hypercar, where their combined experience is complemented by Hypercar debutant and Genesis Magma Racing Trajectory Program graduate Mathys Jaubert.”

Genesis Magma Racing’s sporting director Gabriele Tarquini added, “We have focused on the things we can control. In engineering, that’s the reliability and performance of the car; in team management, it’s the processes, and for me, it’s the driver line-ups.

“Each of our drivers brings something different, and that’s exactly what makes a strong endurance line-up. We have drivers whose extensive Hypercar experience has been extremely valuable in developing the car, and others who, with the enthusiasm of rookies, will help us overcome the difficulties we will certainly face during our first season.

“But beyond individual strengths, what really matters is how they work together. Endurance racing is about trust, communication, and shared responsibility for the result.”

The final piece of the puzzle in this area is whether Genesis will scale back to two-driver crews for some of the shorter races during the season. A spokesperson for the team told RACER that there’s no news to share on that subject yet.

The GMR-001, which will make its highly-anticipated race debut at Imola next month, has undergone an extensive testing program since it first hit the track in August last year, with running at venues such as Circuit Paul Ricard, Portimão, Magny-Cours and Motorland Aragon.

The car has covered almost 25,000 kilometres to date, including nearly 9,000 kilometres with a single engine.

“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. Our first target this season is to finish races. 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.”