Genesis Magma Racing will make its North American racing debut at Lone Star Le Mans, round five of the FIA World Endurance Championship, held at the Circuit of the Americas.
The race comes after the series’ summer break, giving the team time to review its first-half performance following the 6 Hours of São Paulo.
Entering the six-hour race, Genesis will look to build on the pace it showed with Hyperpole appearances at both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the São Paulo round, while also trying to build on the operational consistency it found in Brazil, where both GMR-001 Hypercars finished a race without issue for the first time this season.
The team’s only points finish so far came from the #17 car of Pipo Derani, Mathys Jaubert and André Lotterer, who placed eighth at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in May, and avoiding the small mistakes that limited results in São Paulo will be central to improving on that in Texas.
A Test Session to Close an Experience Gap
A two-day test at COTA in late July gave the team a baseline setup and a read on the circuit’s demanding heat, which the team says will help offset its relative inexperience at a venue that has hosted eight previous WEC rounds.
That inexperience varies by driver: Lotterer has won Lone Star Le Mans before during the LMP1 era and finished sixth there in 2024, while Paul-Loup Chatin and Mathieu Jaminet have prior Hypercar experience at the track from recent WEC visits.
For Derani, Jaubert and Dani Juncadella, the July test marked their first Hypercar laps at COTA — and Jaubert’s first visit to the circuit altogether. Derani hasn’t raced there since 2016 despite a strong U.S. record as a two-time IMSA SportsCar champion, while Jaminet, the reigning 2025 IMSA champion, is marking his return to a circuit where he’s previously had success with a one-off helmet design.
A Deeper U.S. Connection
The GMR-001 Hypercar’s ties to the U.S. predate this race weekend. Genesis first showed a full-scale model of the car’s design at the New York International Auto Show in April 2025, wearing the red-and-orange livery that later became the car’s race colors at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The U.S. remains an important market for Genesis more broadly, particularly for its SUV and EV lineup, underscored recently by the brand’s global launch of the new GV90 flagship SUV in San Francisco.