Genesis Magma Racing achieves main goal on tough Le Mans debut

Genesis Magma Racing took a hard-fought finish from the tough challenge of its first start the 24 Hours of Le Mans, bringing home the #19 GMR-001 Hypercar in 13th place. Completing 372 laps of the 13.626km Circuit de la Sarthe, the result completed a week where the performance of the car and team had surprised many in the paddock.

Finish completes strong week for Le Mans underdogs

Even before beginning the weekend, Genesis Magma Racing recognized the magnitude of the challenge they faced. The first South Korean manufacturer to contest the race faced its first 24-hour race in only its third-ever competitive start, making it a significant underdog against the more experienced teams, and the simple challenge of lasting the 24 hours of one of motorsport’s most famed events.

Sixth and ninth place in qualifying proved the potential pace of the GMR-001 Hypercar, but after the 16:00 start on Saturday both the #17 – started by André Lotterer – and the #19 driven by Dani Juncadella settled into the team’s own rhythm as they focused on executing their strategy with efficiency and reliability in mind, rather than immediate performance.

However, with both cars running without any major incidents, and the team completing each pitstop equally flawlessly, this approach began to pay off as the race progressed from Saturday night to Sunday morning. After opting to stay out during the race’s first Safety Car period both cars regained the lead lap. Through the earliest hours of the morning both Mathieu Jaminet in the #19 and Mathys Jaubert in the #17 completed quadruple stints. Jaminet was able to run as high as fourth at times, though Jaubert’s pace was dampened by a rear puncture that demanded an unscheduled pitstop.

Unfortunately, at around 4:00, having taken over from Jaminet Paul-Loup Chatin stopped on track, the #19 needing power cycle before it could rejoin. Though it initially appeared cured, the issue would repeat shortly after, knocking the car out of contention for a strong finish. 

Worse still, while challenging for points in the #17 entry, Jaubert suffered a suspension failure, putting the car out of the race on the spot.

Immediately, the team’s focus became ensuring the #19 would see the chequered flag. Though a stop to solve a mechanical issue lost the team a further four laps it gave Chatin, Juncadella and Jaminet the best possible chance. Better still, as other Hypercar competitors also felt the strain of the pace, they were able to make up positions that, twhile still missing out on points, added to the many positives that the team could already take away from their Le Mans debut. 

Genesis Magma Racing Team Management Quotes

Cyril Abiteboul, Genesis Magma Racing Team Principal said:

Our first 24 Hours of Le Mans with Genesis Magma Racing ends on a positive note. Getting one car to the finish was our main objective, while the #17 unfortunately retired with suspension failure. We faced a number of reliability challenges which will be our priority moving forward. Despite this, the car showed strong potential throughout the week, especially during the first half of the race, where we were consistently fighting inside the top ten. While we faced challenges, the team showed great resilience, composure and teamwork. Everyone stayed focused, reacted calmly to every situation and worked together to achieve our goal. The drivers were also outstanding, managing both the race and the machinery exceptionally well. We leave Le Mans with the satisfaction of having achieved our main objective, but also with a very clear understanding of the areas we need to improve. Those priorities will help guide and unite us as we continue to build our foundations as a team.

Gabriele Tarquini, Genesis Magma Racing Sporting Director said: “This is a great achievement for Genesis Magma Racing. In the beginning, especially last year when we started this project, it was impossible to even imagine that we, by our third race we could score points in Spa and finish the race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That's great. That's unbelievable. Even in our dreams, the best dreams, we cannot imagine to finish this race. The big race started last year the first time Pipo dumped in the GMR-001 Hypercar in Le Castellet, and it's not finished today and probably it will not finish at the end of the season. It will be a long race and in this race, the target is to fight for the win.”

Justin Taylor, Genesis Magma Racing Chief Engineer said: “First 24 Hours of Le Mans and first finish. No one can ever do that again for Genesis, or for South Korea. That was the first time. I can't believe it, honestly. I knew we could do it, but seeing it now in person it's still surreal. I'm just so proud of all the people. We keep making steps forward towards our goals and today we made another one of them possible through teamwork and determination. It shows in our performances in Imola, then Spa and then how we showed up here. We keep improving and we intend to keep that path going. We‘ve got 364 days from tomorrow to get going for the 2027 24 Hours of Le Mans.”

Anouck Abadie, Genesis Magma Racing Team Manager said: “We've done it. We finished our first 24 Hours of Le Mans as Genesis Magma Racing. The whole team was waiting for the #19 GMR-001 Hypercar to cross the line to make sure that it was real. We've done it, but I'm a bit sad for the #17 car because they deserved to cross the finish line as well. For the whole team, I'm super happy, super proud. Now we need to make sure to be back even stronger next year. We still need to improve a bit because we are new and we need to work again and again together. But, the guys did an amazing job because it's the first 24 Hours for the team and to make no mistakes in the pits at all was impressive.“

Driver Quotes - #17 GMR-001 Hypercar

André Lotterer said: “We definitely showed the world who Genesis is. I think we suprised a few people and achieved more than we could hope for with our new team, new car, new brand, everything. It was definitely a great adventure at Le Mans, and we can come back proud because to have done that, in such a short time, it's quite remarkable. Unfortunately, of course, we wanted to finish the race and it ended with a technical problem that we need to understand more. It's a shame for sure. But our engine lasted, everything around it lasted until that point and we didn't have any big problems during the race which was quite remarkable. We need to study and come back stronger but I think for our first Le Mans appearance it was very positive, especially with the sister car reaching the finish to complete the weekend.”

Mathys Jaubert said: “I don't know really what happened. I think the suspension broke on the kerb, which was a bit unfortunate, but we need to properly check the parts to find out.  We were having a good race, with no issues on the engine, which was quite important for us in terms of reliability. However, we are here to learn and this is now a point that we have to take a look and understand what broke and why. But it was quite fun, the car was really nice to drive, the balance was great and everything was running perfectly so I enjoyed it a lot. It has been a very long week, working a lot with the team, everybody. We made a lot of progress since day one here in Le Mans. P3 in Hyperpole 1 and then being in the running for points today it was just amazing.”

Pipo Derani said: “Of course we wanted to bring the car to the chequered flag but it was something completely out of our control. I think Genesis Magma Racing did a fantastic job up until that point. The car was running flawlessly. It is what it is sometimes. You have some mechanical failures and that's part of racing, but the good thing is that the car has shown a lot of promise and we will be back stronger. It's part of Le Mans also. You have just got to navigate through the chaos and try to bring the car to the chequered flag in the best possible way. Unfortunately, I wish I could have had a few more stints out there, but it wasn't meant to be this year.

Driver Quotes - #19 GMR-001 Hypercar

Dani Juncadella said: “As a team we came here with the goal to finish the race and we did exactly that. So, an absolutely incredible job from the whole team. Great preparation for the future and I'm pretty sure with the current car we have in the GMR-001 Hypercar, we can have a shot at winning one day. That's the best part. It was really hot at the end of the race, but the car was good to drive. Everything was going well. Even in the heat our car was very competitive, so I think that sets a lot of things we can test to prepare ourselves for the future, for any condition. We did a lot of laps, a lot of data gathered, which is great. I‘m looking forward to the next one. My next race and next Le Mans.“

Mathieu Jaminet said: “It's definitely been a roller coaster for us, but that's what you expect in your first twenty-four hours, as a new team, a new car. Obviously, I think we showed better pace than maybe we expected. For sure we had a couple of issues, but we fought back. We were lucky to have a safety car and then we started to have some fun actually in the night with me, climbing up the order and having some fights with some quick cars. And when it started to look good to be well established in the top eight, we had the car have an issue. The reality comes back quick at you in endurance racing. Anything can happen from one minute to another. But no one ever gave up. We just made history. The first ever Korean brand to make it the 24 Houes of Le Mans, the first one for Genesis.”

Paul-Loup Chatin said: “Yeah, I'm super proud and super happy for the entire team. I think we deserve this finish. Le Mans is the hardest race in the world to finish, let alone to win of course. To achieve that it's thousands and thousands of hours of work behind to make sure that the car is the best prepared possible and then during the entire week it's all about details, all about management, all about team cohesion, team spirit and I think it's where we succeeded today. We work all together in the same direction and we just have to be super proud of ourselves. We wrote a bit of history today and I think it's just something crazy for the amazing job the team has done since the beginning of the programme.”