Genesis isn’t renowned for its motorsport exploits – but it’s taken a step into the big league by revealing its contender for the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and Le Mans in the shape of the new GMR-001. 

The GMR element of the name denotes the newly formed ‘Genesis Magma Racing’ team that will run it, with the ‘001’ designation marking the first time the brand has built a race car. Complying with LMDh (Le Mans Daytona h) regulations, the GMR-001 will use a chassis from French race car constructor Oreca, which already provides Alpine with its Le Mans hypercar.

Genesis hasn’t revealed details of the engine in its new racer, but the Hypercar category allows a variety of units. For instance, Alpine, Ferrari, Peugeot and Toyota used V6s in the series this year, while BMW, Cadillac and Lamborghini deployed V8s. Aston Martin will use a naturally aspirated V12 for its car next year.  

The rules of LMDh mean the cars must utilise a hybrid powertrain (the h in LMDh actually stands for ‘hybrid’). Maximum output is pegged at 697bhp, with 67bhp coming from electric power alone. There’s also a minimum kerb weight of 1,030kg. 

The GMR-001’s design apes that of its rivals with a huge rear wing working in conjunction with a diffuser and a massive shark fin behind the cabin. Specific features to mark this out as a Genesis include the double horizontal LED strips that run around the car, something we’ve seen already on the X Gran Berlinetta and X Gran Racer Vision GT concepts.

Genesis has enlisted the services of drivers Andre Lotterer – three-time winner at Le Mans and the reigning WEC champion – plus Pipo Derani, a two-time IMSA winner and driver from this year’s Cadillac WEC team.