Hyundai's expansion into sporstcar racing with its luxury Genesis brand includes 2025 programmes for ex-Williams Formula 1 driver Logan Sargeant and Indy NXT race winner Jamie Chadwick.
The Hyundai Motorsport division announced its intention to establish an LMDh prototype programme in September and has now revealed further details about the project, including plans for an eventual dual World Endurance Championship/IMSA SportsCar Championship programme and the associated timeline, its initial driver signings, the partners for its Genesis Magma Racing project, and the first concept images of its Hypercar.
The GMR-001 is eligible for both the WEC and IMSA as the two series share top-class prototype regulations (which permit either an LMH entry, where manufacturers build their own cars, or an LMDh entry like the one Hyundai will utilise, where the chassis and several other parts are provided by other suppliers).
In unveiling the car, Hyundai said it will support a two-car Genesis programme in the WEC in 2026, which will be "followed by participation in IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2027".
The programme will be developed in conjunction with constructor ORECA and race team IDEC Sport and will involve the establishment of a "permanent strategic base" at former French Grand Prix host venue Paul Ricard, near to those two companies' headquarters.
That tie-up will also facilitate Sargeant's return to racing in 2025 following his mid-season sacking by Williams.
Sargeant, who tested with the Meyer Shank Racing IndyCar team last month, will be part of a three-driver line-up in the 2025 European Le Mans Series that will also include Williams driver academy advisor Chadwick and 19-year-old Mathys Jaubert.
Chadwick also tested IndyCar machinery with the Andretti team she raced for during a two-season spell in Indy NXT, where she became the first woman to win a race on a road course in the feeder series' history. But after that test at Barber, interest cooled in joining the grid.
Hyundai said the Genesis operation will "collaborate" with IDEC Sport on that ELMS programme as part of its preparations for its prototype effort.
Development of the GMR-001 will be led by Andre Lotterer and two-time IMSA champion Pipo Derani, before both move into race seats in 2026.
Lotterer, a three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner, won this year's WEC crown as part of the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport line-up but has exited the Porsche stable. Derani was previously with Cadillac.
Hyundai Motorsport president Cyril Abiteboul - former Renault F1 managing director - will serve as Genesis Magma Racing team principal.
The sporstcar expansion is only Hyundai Motorsport's third competitive programme since it was set up in 2012.
Hyundai clinched its first World Rally Championship drivers' title last month as Thierry Neuville beat team-mate Ott Tanak to the crown at the Rally Japan season finale (though it lost out to Toyota in the manufacturers' title race), also overseen by Abiteboul.
Neuville's championship came a week after success in the other category Hyundai is active in, the TCR World Tour, where the BRC team supported by Hyundai Motorsport's customer racing division ran Norbert Michelisz to a second-successive drivers' title.
