Latest news with #Abiteboul
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Cyril Abiteboul Is Still Building Genesis Magma Racing, Just Without Logan Sargeant
Genesis Magma Racing is now six months into its 14-month schedule to develop and race a top-class car in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The GMR-001 is still on track to get racing in that tight timeline, but the program has already undergone an unexpected change: Logan Sargeant, the most recent American Formula 1 driver, opted earlier this year to drop out of his plans to join GMR's European Le Mans Series "Trajectory Program" in partnership with LMP2 team IDEC Sport. This leaves Genesis without one of the drivers expected to be in the mix for its first-ever factory driver roster, which has at least four open spots for the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans and other three-driver endurance events. Hyundai Motor Group racing boss and GMR team principal Cyril Abiteboul does not know exactly why Sargeant stepped away from the program — but as he tells Road & Track, he has an idea. "When we met at... the end of last year, and he was keen on doing something after Formula 1, we gave him the opportunity to test with with a team that was, at the time, already going to be our strategic partner for this year," Abiteboul says. "He was immediately quick, focused, and very committed. But come wintertime, things took a turn. "From Christmas," he says, "I guess he realized that he needed probably more time off after Formula 1." Abiteboul, who led a Formula 1 team from most of the 2010s, knows that feeling well. He left Renault's F1 program in 2020, leaving for a Hyundai racing program that at the time competed only in WRC and touring cars. Even as he turns his attention to sports car racing, he still remembers what it was like to leave F1 behind. "You pay a toll after Formula One," Abiteboul says. "I can say it also for myself. So you probably need that time to reflect on things on this side, what he wants to do, to do next." Without Sargeant, Abiteboul has an unexpected opening to fill at Genesis Magma Racing before the team even finishes a test car. After being burned by a former F1 driver, the GMR boss is keeping the lesson in mind. "I think we can take the time to select carefully and see who's out there and properly motivated and committed," he says. "I think it takes a bit of time for sort of drivers, any drivers, to move away from their F1 dreams that they would have been chasing since their childhood.' The open seat in the GMR Trajectory Program was eventually filled by Daniel Juncadella, a former DTM driver who has spent the past few years driving GT cars for Mercedes. As Sargeant had been, Juncadella is still officially just part of the trajectory program and not necessarily signed on as a factory driver for the GMR-001 program in 2026 just yet. "For us," Abiteboul says, "it was always finding the person that was properly committed and motivated by the projects. We got in contact with [Juncadella], and it was very clear that his motivation was very clear. He [has] lots of experience, he's been used to working with a car maker with Mercedes for years in GT racing." Abiteboul says that the team is "talking to lots of people," but his current focus is to find experienced endurance racers. The team has already signed former Porsche driver Andre Lotterer and former Cadillac driver Pipo Derani. That trend should continue. "You've seen some success stories [like Le Mans winner and F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg], you can get very quick at adapting in this type of racing," he says. But, he adds, "It's more the exception. So I think what we need as we build our experience, as we build infrastructure, is mainly to find others with experience in endurance racing, lots of things that they can help and assist us with. Building the team, building the cars. Managing traffic, managing strategies." "That's why I don't think that, you know, focusing on today's F1 drivers is a first priority, but that's actually something that we would be interested in in the future." While Genesis is set to run its own team in the Europe-focused FIA World Endurance Championship in 2026, the company plans to run the GMR-001 with a partner team in the North American IMSA championship starting in 2027. One thing Genesis has not done yet: name that partner team. "We are going through the process," Abiteboul says. "We also want to do things in the right way, in a properly transparent way. So it's an important decision, because we can see that this decision is one that can affect the program in the long term... [We have] a very, very robust process of request for quotation with a number of possible partnerships. We need to conclude that process, before summer.' The GMR-001 and the Genesis Magma Racing team are currently scheduled to debut with an expected two cars at the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship season opener. That race is roughly just 10 months away. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Genesis GMR-001 Le Mans Hypercar's V8 Is Two Turbocharged Rally Car Engines Stuck Together
It's pretty rare to see a genuinely new engine get developed these days even for race cars, especially from smaller automakers that don't have as big of a motorsport presence, so it was shocking when Genesis announced that its upcoming Le Mans Hypercar would be powered by a V8 engine. The Hyundai Motor Group hasn't made a V8 since 2021 when the Tau engine was discontinued, so would the company be coming up with a totally new motor for its GMR-001? Well, not exactly. Genesis Magma Racing team principal Cyril Abiteboul revealed that the LMDh racer's V8 was created by sticking two WRC-derived turbocharged four-cylinder engines together. Hyundai has competed in the World Rally Championship for the past 12 years, winning the manufacturer's trophy in 2019 and 2020, and Abiteboul was team principal since January 2023 and president since January 2024, so the move makes sense. Abiteboul says the decision to fuse the WRC engines together was largely due to timing and so Genesis wouldn't have to design something new from scratch: Anyone who knows about engines will appreciate that we only had six months to develop a complete engine. We elected to go with a V-8, precisely because the V-8 was a great opportunity not to have to redesign a complete engine from scratch and instead take inspiration from our [Hyundai Motor Group's] existing WRC [World Rally Championship] engine, a very competitive 1.6-liter turbocharged inline-four that we've been using for several years. We took that engine and made it two times four in line, which gives us a V-8. Those WRC motors make around 380 horsepower, though without restrictions that figure could surely be boosted up. Current WRC cars are hybrids, all using a spec motor that adds an extra 134 horsepower, but that system won't get carried over in the creation of the V8 as LMDh cars have their own spec hybrid system that uses a 67-hp electric motor. Genesis is also working with famed racing constructor Oreca on the GMR-001's development. Read more: GM Hopes A Clutch Pedal Is Enough To Make Enthusiasts Buy EVs We were in a dearth of cool top-end Le Mans race car designs following Audi's dominating diesel era, but with the LMDh and LMH classes we're finally seeing some wild designs again, and the Genesis might be the best looking one yet. Asked about the relationship between design and performance, Abiteboul said the two go hand-in-hand: One of the most famous French aero designers used to say that a nice airplane flies well, too. And I tend to believe that. Sometimes, technical regulations can induce you to design cars that are not necessarily very nice-looking because they are extremely sophisticated. I keep thinking of Formula One because that's where I spent the largest part of my life. There was a period of time when cars were packed with aerodynamic surfaces: lots of wing legs, shark legs and so on and so forth. But in the end, I believe there is no opposition between aesthetics and functionality. In any case, the car that wins is always the more beautiful one. Abiteboul added that maintaining Genesis' Korean identity is important for the Magma team. That's not just in terms of design (the Magma logo is even a reference to Korean characters), but in how quickly the GMR-001 is coming together. Since its initial debut in Dubai in December Genesis has only shown renderings and a half-scale model of the GMR-001 so far, but the real thing will be unveiled in April before testing begins in August, and it'll be racing in early 2026. "By all standards, we really compressed the timing of what is normally done to an extreme, because we also want to show the speed of Korean culture — or what I'd like to call, Genesis hyperspeed," said Abiteboul. When the GMR-001 hits the track in the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship season, it'll be up against competitors from Acura, Alpine, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche — Lamborghini has canceled its WEC Hypercar entrant, but Ford will be joining in 2027. Genesis will then join the IMSA SportsCar Championship for the 2027 season. The company will be fielding two cars in each. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
