Genesis Magma Racing scores first FIA WEC points on second start

Genesis Magma Racing scored its first points in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), as Pipo Derani brought the #17 GMR-001 Hypercar home in eighth place at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The team took advantage of an aggressive strategy decision in the final hour of the race, with the Brazilian able to defend his position in the final part of the race.

Result highlights team’s early progress

The two starting drivers, André Lotterer and Dani Juncadella, held their positions at the start of the race. Good pace and a strategy decision to only partially fuel Jaubert for his second stint of the race allowed the #17 car to climb up to tenth before the Frenchman made way for Pipo Derani with just over 2:30 remaining in the race.

Facing an issue that left the car down on power, the team made another aggressive strategy decision at the final stop under a Virtual Safety Car that, though giving the team track position, left Derani at a disadvantage compared to those around him. Taking the restart with 34 minutes remaining in eighth place, he was able to move up as others suffered incidents ahead. After a brief exchange of positions on a final restart ten minutes later, where Derani briefly ran as high as sixth, he settled into eighth place. Defending superbly through the closing stages against drivers with newer tyres, he held on to score Genesis Magma Racing’s first points in just the second start for the team.

A fix to an electrical issue lost the #19 entry seven laps after the opening hour of the contest. However, with the problem solved efficiently by the team, they were able to use the remainder of the race to gather crucial data about the balance of the GMR-001 Hypercar in different situations. With this goal in mind, Jaminet took two rear tyres at his stop mid-way through his double-stint, reporting the effect on balance back to the garage.

In line with the team’s goals before the race, the focus in the final hours became bringing the car successfully to the end, maximizing the experience gained from the weekend and repeating their achievement from the season opener.

Genesis Magma Racing Team Management Quotes

Cyril Abiteboul, Genesis Magma Racing Team Principal said:

In only our second participation in an endurance race, we could not have dreamt of a better place than Spa to score the very first points in the history of Genesis Magma Racing. We are still a very young team, and this result is an extremely emotional moment for all its members, and I hope that will make the entire Hyundai Motor Group proud. As we had some issues with power and with energy consumption, we decided to make an aggressive strategic move towards the end of the race with a very short stop with the #17 GMR-001 Hypercar perfectly executed by the pit crew and Pipo, and it played out very nicely. We need to continue to consolidate our foundation so that we can be here and beyond on a regular basis, but it's great that it's coming now because it also gives us the momentum to tackle as many of the issues we have been facing before the next major milestone in our program in Le Mans.

Gabriele Tarquini, Genesis Magma Racing Sporting Director said: “This is an amazing result for all of Genesis Magma Racing and the #17 GMR-001 Hypercar team. We were under a lot of pressure at the end. Pipo did a fantastic job because we had some issues. He deserved his position because he protected his position superbly at the end. He did a fantastic job, as did André Lotterer and Mathys Jaubert, who drove before him. Despite improvements since Imola, the #19 car unfortunately had some problems again. Step by step we need to climb the hill.”

Justin Taylor, Genesis Magma Racing Chief Engineer said: “My heart is still racing from the last two hours. It wasn't easy. We faced some technical difficulties and we worked through them as a team. This is just going to be a super motivational factor for us moving into the big race next. I am absolutely thrilled with the way that we worked together, the way all the drivers performed. We were really a two-car team with an army of people behind, and we all worked together. We learned a lot of things as well on the operational and technical sides. We learned that we still have some weaknesses. We were able to limp through, but we need to be stronger for the next one.”

Anouck Abadie, Genesis Magma Racing Team Manager said: “Finishing the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps was a challenge. We will have a full season full of challenges, but this one was certainly a tough one. I think we are showing that we are capable of working together to face whatever comes at us. We had some scary moments but in the end the guys did an amazing job and we crossed the finish line with both cars, and the #17 GMR-001 Hypercar in a very good position. So now it's very positive. We still need to work on some procedures to see how we can optimize some issues that we have faced, but we need to learn from that and then get the best out of it.”

Driver Quotes - #17 GMR-001 Hypercar

André Lotterer

André Lotterer said: “It‘s very emotional for the whole team to have this result. The strategy came towards us, we were a bit aggressive, but we take it. It's a very big day for Genesis Magma Racing and the whole brand to be able to score our first points so early in this journey. Pipo did some amazing defending. It was really a tough job for him, to be longer on the tires and also we had issues with the car that he had to manage, but he kept his cool and really really did a good job. What we did in Imola was a great achievement for the team. We had similar aims to be at the finish line and establish ourselves in this championship. But secretly, I had hopes for our first points and they came.”

Mathys Jaubert

Mathys Jaubert said: “The race was amazing. As we did in ELMS last year, Mathieu Leroy [#17 race engineer] did a mega job on the strategy. We might have been a bit lucky with the last full course yellow, but we had to be in the right place to be lucky. What a race. We did a pretty good job. For me, the #17 GMR-001 Hypercar was great, no issues at all. We were able, like in Imola, to keep the other cars behind when we were fighting for top ten positions. So, the first points is a good step. Now the next race is Le Mans. It's going to be a new one for the team and the longest one. It's a bit harder and we need to keep working to improve. We will take many lessons from this one, because now the focus is to take the experience we have and prepare for our 24 Hours race.” 

Pipo Derani

Pipo Derani said: “We were battling some issues from the moment I got in the car. From that moment, I was trying to survive, understand what we could do to improve, and get the #17 GMR-001 Hypercar to the checkered flag. I kept pushing Mathieu Leroy for a strategy to get track position in order to try and maybe hold the cars behind, because it was the only way we would get to the points. I was fighting to manage the energy, asking the engineers the numbers, but at the end we did just that, and I was able to hold quite a few cars behind. I just kept my head down. I‘m very proud of the team, and to be able to bring the first points home to Genesis Magma Racing. It's been a long time coming, but yet so early days for us.” 

Driver Quotes - #19 GMR-001 Hypercar

Dani Juncadella

Dani Juncadella said: “It was a difficult race for the #19 GMR-001 Hypercar, of course, because we had the electrical issue. But after that, a bit like in Imola, we drove to the end and we completed a lot of mileage, and we had encouraging pace. It’s amazing for the #17, they get this result. That's a win for everybody in the team. So early in the development phase and the first time racing in Spa with the car, and we score points, that's just incredible. It’s really good for all the team. We drove both cars to the finish line, got a lot of mileage and we were fighting other cars already on a difficult track. I feel every race we're making steps forward.”

Mathieu Jaminet

Mathieu Jaminet said: “It was a bit of a tough day for us with the issue at the start and another small issue again with me. After that, we ran actually pretty smoothly. We drove to the end, so that was good and we had some good pace at stages. We can take some really good learning from the weekend, which is a good thing. We tried some different tyre strategies with me.  I’m happy that we leave Spa with a lot more knowledge than before we arrived. So I take that as a really good positive and on a good note, the sister car scores some points which is very good for the spirit of the team. It's a pretty amazing achievement. Hats off to that, and this should only give us a big push to work even harder for the future.”

Paul-Loup Chatin

Paul-Loup Chatin said: “My stint at the end was good. The car behaved well. We were unfortunately a few laps done with a small issue we had at the beginning, but one more time, I think we confirmed that we have a strong and nice car in the GMR-001 Hypercar with good potential and the best is ahead of us, but shows us what we still need to work on  to not lose time with the small issue. It's part of motorsport, but we need to be capable to solve it. But it's a learning curve. I'm super happy for our sister car to score the first point for Genesis Magma Racing. They built this story and they made history today. I think it was really important to get those points before Le Mans. I'm super proud of the entire team and I can't wait to be back at Le Mans in a few weeks.”