Genesis Magma Racing has has reached a significant milestone in the development of the GMR 001 Hypercar (GMR 001) with a successful engine installation and fire-up. The chassis is being built at chassis partner Oreca’s workshop.
This achievement marks a pivotal step in the build of the team’s first development vehicle, which will play a central role in the on-track testing program taking place across the remainder of the year.
Work to build the GMR-001 development chassis began immediately after the Le Mans 24 Hours. The initial build work was completed by Oreca’s experienced technicians, with mechanics and engineers from Genesis Magma Racing involved at key stages.
The installation and fire-up of the V8 twin-turbo engine was one key moment. “In a project like this, you have certain dates circled and this was one of them,” said team principal Cyril Abiteboul. “The car fire-up was the GMR-001 coming to life – a huge step in the story of Genesis Magma Racing. To reach this point on schedule is already a huge achievement and a perfect way to start the next stage of the development process.”
The car fire-up marked the latest landmark in the development of the GMR-001 powertrain. As well as running the engine through a rev range in each of the seven gears in the transmission, engineers were also able to test the car’s hybrid system, charging the batteries from the engine and then directing the energy to the rear driveshafts, as would happen on track.
Work on the engine began in June 2024 with Hyundai Motorsport’s powertrain department starting work on the design, which is derived from the motor in the team’s championship-winning FIA World Rally Championship entries.
The engine was first successfully fired-up in February. Since then, engineers have put the engine and transmission through months of testing on different dynos to validate simulations of performance and efficiency. The successful integration of the engine into the GMR-001 chassis now opens the way to the next stage of testing and development work, with the first track running planned for the end of August.
Genesis Magma Racing technical director François-Xavier Demaison said, “The car build has been about bringing everything together – all the expertise we have within Genesis Magma Racing and at Oreca.
“It’s now when we can start physically connecting all the different strands of development work that we’ve been following for the last year with our Powertrain and Design teams. The successful GMR-001 fire-up is confirmation of our work so far, but also the start of the next stage of the development that comes with testing.”
The final stages of the car build are continuing, with Oreca and Genesis Magma Racing staff now completing the first car for the start of testing, before switching focus to the chassis to accelerate the development of the GMR-001 before the homologation process for the 2026 season begins.
In related news, GM has revealed the second in a series of three Chevrolet Corvette concept design studies to debut in 2025. The California Corvette concept, a one-of-one hypercar, blends “racing-simulator inspiration with iconic Corvette cues”, the auto maker said. Read the full story here