Cyril Abiteboul (Genesis): "With the GMR-001, we have a car with strong potential."

How would you summarize 2025 for Genesis Magma Racing?

It's been a positive, busy, and constructive year, during which we not only delivered a very attractive sports car, but also built a racing team and established a foundation that will be crucial for our winter preparations. In all these areas, it's been intense, productive, but also very rewarding to be able to orchestrate so many changes in just one year.

What was the most difficult part of creating a team from scratch?

Building a team is always complex, especially when creating a brand new team in a new location. We had to identify the people we wanted to recruit, but most were already working elsewhere, so we had to present them with the vision not only of who we are today, but also of who we can become together, explaining the project and inspiring them to believe in it.

The other major challenge was obviously the powertrain. We had very limited time to design the specific parts needed to adapt our engine. WRC to the demands of endurance, in order to create the Genesis G8MR 3,2L Turbo V8. It was clearly a race against time. Everything happened very quickly, but we were able to stick exactly to the schedule we had set for ourselves, from the first crankshaft rotations on the bench in February until, last week, reaching our target of 8,000 km.

What role did the Trajectory Programme and the partnership with IDEC Sport play in the preparation of the Genesis Magma Racing team?

It was a good tool to allow us to discover endurance racing and for endurance racing to discover us. The season ELMS It was also an excellent opportunity to evaluate the drivers, which certainly influenced our choices for our lineup next year. It was also an opportunity for some team members to make the transition from rally towards circuit racing.

On the track, it was very positive. I'm usually a big fan of setting goals, but for the ELMS, we actually had few sporting targets. Then, when the success started to come, it was obviously very satisfying and attracted more attention both internally and externally, which was exactly the goal. I already remember the first race in Barcelona, ​​where we took our first win, and I received many messages, almost surprised by what we had already achieved. With IDEC Sport, we clearly did well with three wins out of six races, but you always want a little more, so we were all a bit frustrated with the final championship result, but again, that was never the main objective this season.

Can you summarize the car's track development?

From the shakedown onwards, there was a series of tests with clear plans and objectives, as well as an action plan between each session. It was intense, but very structured. Our approach was both ambitious and pragmatic – focused on problem-solving, and we did it exactly as planned. What was remarkable was how many things were right from the start, especially the chassis. The car's handling and its response to setup changes were immediately very good. ORECA provided us with a solid platform on which to build reliability and performance. There was a very good level of cooperation between us and ORECA, right from the first test where the Genesis Magma Racing staff were clearly outnumbered by ORECA, but a turning point came as our team grew. The handover of responsibilities was carried out in a very professional manner, another demonstration of the solid planning and execution this year by the team leadership, particularly Chief Engineer Justin Taylor and Team Manager Anouck Abadie.

What was the highlight of the year or a crucial point in the development of the car?

There have been several, I think. First, during testing at Circuit Paul Ricard this summer, when André and Pipo gave their initial feedback on the car's overall handling was positive. That was really encouraging – nothing is worse than having to fight for the car's balance. But development is far from linear. We've made some progress, but it's a very long process, and we know we're still a long way from being able to exploit its full potential in terms of lap times.

How significant is the engine having reached 8,000 km during the Barcelona test?

This is a major milestone because it shows that it's possible, that there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the engine or our development choices. It's a clear demonstration of our powertrain's ability to handle very tight deadlines, as well as challenging beginnings and problems for which solutions were successfully developed and implemented in a timely manner.

This is obviously motivating, because we know we have a product capable of reaching the necessary level. Quality control will be essential to ensure that this isn't a fluke, but something we can reliably reproduce, and that the powertrain technology becomes one of Genesis Magma's recognized strengths.

How does what the team has achieved compare to the objectives set at the beginning of the year?

Looking at what we were expected to deliver, I think we met expectations extremely well, but it will always be relative to the bar set by our competitors, and we won't be able to measure that until next year. With the GMR-001 Hypercar, we have a car with clearly strong potential. The team may be new, but it's full of people with enormous experience in different categories. And finally, our driver lineup is a very solid balance: three champions – André Lotterer, Pipo Derani, and Mathieu Jaminet – a rising star in Mathys, and very established professionals in Paul-Loup and Dani. We have exactly what we need – now it's up to us to make the most of it.

What are the next steps for the team and the development of the car at the start of 2026?

There will be several more days of testing before the first race. The aim is to get as much testing done as possible before the car undergoes homologation, because after that, modifications will be more limited. That's why the start of the year will be particularly busy. We need to carry out many more iterations on the software, which will be one of the main focuses, while also working on all the procedures that will be critical at the start of the season.

Our goal for the start of the year is to have both a reliable car and a reliable team – including the drivers – with no errors, and a focus on finishing races. If we achieve this, the next step will be to develop competitiveness. Again, it's all about planning to lay the solid foundations we'll need in the years to come.

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