Genesis Magma Racing set for fresh challenge at season’s first fly-away

Genesis Magma Racing faces its first competitive test outside of Europe, with the first ‘fly-away’ round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) taking the team to the 6 Hours of São Paulo at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace.

Paulista Derani heads for rare home race

The trip to the Brazilian circuit takes the WEC paddock from its longest race of the season at the longest circuit on the calendar back to the more familiar six-hour format on the shortest circuit on the 2026 calendar at just 4.309km. The relative confines of the circuit present a different challenge to Genesis Magma Racing’s engineers and drivers as they continue to gain experience in the championship.

The short circuit promises a tightly contested qualifying session, where Genesis Magma Racing will aim to show the same pace that placed both GMR-001 Hypercar in the final Hyperpole session at Le Mans. Meanwhile, in the race, the track means that traffic management – especially through the technical infield section of the 15-turn track – will have a major effect on the contest for positions within the Hypercar category.

Pipo Derani, driving the #17 entry, is the only Brazilian driver competing in the Hypercar class this season. Though coming originally from São Paulo, the weekend is a rare chance to race at home for a driver whose professional career has largely been spent in Europe and North America. His team-mate André Lotterer, as well as Paul-Loup Chatin and Dani Juncadella from the #19 car, have more recent experience at the circuit, while for Mathys Jaubert and Mathieu Jaminet, the race will be their first at the circuit.

After a resoundingly positive reaction to the Magma livery debuted at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, both the #17 and #19 cars will remain clad in the design, which progresses from deep red to the team’s signature Magma hue at the front of the car. Also unchanged from the Le Mans weekend for the visit to Brazil are the driving line-ups for the two GMR-001 Hypercar entries, as both cars retain their three-driver crews for the return to the six-hour format.

Genesis Magma Racing Team Management Quotes

Cyril Abiteboul, Genesis Magma Racing Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said:

The 6 Hours of São Paulo takes Genesis Magma Racing into new territory for us as a team, as a manufacturer and for many of our drivers. We had some time to reflect on what we achieved at Le Mans, as well as to take lessons from the race that we can start to apply immediately. The race in Brazil presents its own challenges, with the technical circuit and the operational challenges that come with any fly-away race that we are facing for the first time. It’s great to be able to greet our fans in South America for the first time with both cars on the Magma livery. The colour is central to our identity and Genesis Magma as a whole, so to be able to introduce ourselves in Brazil proudly representing Magma is very important.

Gabriele Tarquini, Genesis Magma Racing Sporting Director said: “The track in Brazil presents a different challenge compared to Le Mans. The 24 Hours gave us several positives to build on. We had good reliability and continued to build on our understanding of the car and procedures. Although Interlagos is a much shorter race with a completely different approach, our objective is to take the lessons learned at Le Mans and continue our progress. As with every fly-away event, there are additional complexities. From the drivers' side, managing travel, time zones and changing conditions is part of the challenge. The whole team has to be able to adapt quickly. We have decided to maintain three drivers per car because we believe continuity is important. Having all our drivers involved allows us to maximise the contribution of each crew, maintain consistency and ensure everyone stays fully integrated throughout the season.”

Justin Taylor, Genesis Magma Racing Chief Engineer said: “The 6 Hours of São Paulo marks our first non-European race and the start of a long trip for the cars and equipment. This puts our logistics team to the test with a lot of extra planning just to ensure we don't forget something. It's not an easy task, but it's all part of the WEC challenge. Le Mans was a valuable step for us in the formation of Genesis Magma Racing. We gathered a wealth of data and new experiences which we have analysed closely to learn what we can for the next race. Surprisingly, Le Mans taught us a bit about tyre performance in hot conditions. While the Interlagos circuit has very different energy density and distribution, we now know a bit how the rubber behaves at the temps we might see there, which could help us make quick decisions during the race if we see the same trends appearing.”

Driver Quotes - #17 GMR-001 Hypercar

Pipo Derani said: “I can’t describe how much I’m looking forward to finally racing in the top class of a high-level championship in my hometown. I'm from São Paulo myself, but have barely raced in Interlagos during my entire career, so to be able to go there with Genesis Magma Racing as the only Brazilian driver will be amazing. The Brazilian fans are always great, and I know a lot of them have been following our progress with the GMR-001 Hypercar from the start of the project and this season. The retirement at Le Mans was a bit of a disappointment, especially as you could see we made some good steps forward with the performance. Hopefully we can continue our progress and get back to finishing the race and scoring some points. To do that in my home race would be amazing.”  

Mathys Jaubert said: “The 6 Hours of São Paulo will be a new challenge for me as it will be my first time racing at Interlagos, but it’s an iconic circuit and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve watched plenty of onboard videos to learn the track and understand its characteristics as much as possible before arriving, and I’ve been able to do some preparation on our simulator. The goal for me and the team for the weekend is to adapt quickly, continue progressing and keep developing the GMR-001 Hypercar package we currently have. We want to maximise every session, learn as much as possible and continue moving in the right direction during the second half of the season.”

André Lotterer said: “I’m very excited and motivated to take Genesis Magma Racing’s debut season to another new race for the team, especially as it is Pipo’s home race in a country that is very enthusiastic about motorsport. Interlagos is a historic race track, but it’s also very tricky. The tarmac there is very different from anything we have seen so far this year, so there will be some unknowns for the drivers and engineers. It’s our first time going overseas with our cars and the whole Genesis Magma Racing team, which is another big step in our journey. We don’t know what to expect with performance, so let’s see where we are after Free Practice. As usual, we’ll push and do our best and try to get to the finish line with both cars, and why not score some more points.” 

Driver Quotes - #19 GMR-001 Hypercar

Paul-Loup Chatin said: “I’m very happy to be heading back to Interlagos. It is a unique place with a lot of history that I respect a lot.  We’ve completed the opening three races, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which was an incredibly valuable experience for the whole team. The ten days we spent at Le Mans were extremely positive and gave us a lot to build on. Now our focus is on becoming more competitive and closing the gap to the front. But, at the same time, we’re still very much in a development phase, and that’s something we need to keep in mind heading into Interlagos. It’s a unique circuit, with a layout that is predominantly low-speed. Our goal is to make the most of the weekend, continue improving, keep learning about the car, and gradually raise our expectations as we move forward.”

Mathieu Jaminet said: “The 6 Hours of São Paulo is obviously a very different event to our last race at Le Mans. We are back to the six-hour format for our fourth race together. The weekend will be my first-ever time in Brazil, and obviously my first-ever time racing at Interlagos. I’m really looking forward to discovering the track and country. We’ve seen the car performing well on every track we’ve been to so far, so it would be nice if we can continue this with the #19 GMR-001 Hypercar, run a bit closer to the front and maybe score our first points. Zhis would be an amazing result for myself, Paul-Loup and Dani as drivers, and for the whole team. If we keep progressing like we have since the beginning of the year, then the top ten should be a realistic target.” 

Dani Juncadella said: “Interlagos is very different to anything else on the WEC calendar. From my experience in LMGT3, there is a lot of tyre degradation, so I wonder how that changes in Hypercar with the different tyre. It’s a track I really like, in a part of the world where we don’t get to go very often to race. It’s a tight circuit, so traffic can be difficult to manage. In the slow sections – sector two – the GT cars are actually pretty quick, which is something we need to take care with in Hypercar. Already in three races we’ve learned a lot of lessons and made really big steps forward, and after 24 Hours, 6 Hours feels like a sprint now, so I think that we have the confidence to push forward. The expectation is to just keep progressing as we have been – working on having a strong car for the race and continue to push forward in every area.”