Genesis Magma Racing Brings Track and Street Performance to Its Fastest-Growing Market

“Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” is an intrinsically American concept coined by Bob Tasca Sr., the Ford dealer who played a major role in the development of the 1968.5 Mustang Cobra Jet. It appears that Genesis has inserted a page from Tasca’s playbook into its own as it continues to make inroads into the global luxury car market.

Genesis first launched in the United States at the end of 2015 and has been very successful for a relatively new brand. Not only has it launched critically acclaimed vehicles like the compact Genesis G70 sedan, the Genesis GV70 SUV, and the flagship Genesis G90 (all of which have won MotorTrend’s Car or SUV of the Year awards), but it has also continued to post impressive sales figures.

As it pursues an even higher ceiling and further volume in our market, Genesis sees motorsports as a new avenue toward brand expansion. That’s why the South Korean automaker’s participation in the Lone Star Le Mans as part of its efforts in the FIA’s World Endurance Championship (WEC) is so important.

The Business Model

Genesis’ vision for its WEC program is familiar to enthusiasts of traditional luxury automakers like Porsche, Ferrari, and Mercedes-Benz. Enter a race car with in-house engineering with the intention of trickling down both technology and brand cachet to road cars. That’s why it created Genesis Magma Racing (GMR) and the GMR-001 hypercar racer, which entered WEC for the first time this year.

Even if Genesis meets its most surface-level goal-winning races and hopefully even the championship-will this program help them sell cars? The automaker seems convinced that’s the case.

Genesis sees its Magma Racing division as the natural evolution of the brand, reflecting its core values and serving to increase awareness globally. Global brand awareness is key here; the World Endurance Championship is far more popular in France than it is in the United States, and success at Le Mans or in the series at large goes a long way to add brand appeal within the French market.

The South Korean luxury automaker has enjoyed five years of consecutive sales growth in the U.S. and now has 85 dealerships across the country. Last year, it sold more than 82,000 vehicles, a 10 percent increase over 2024. Sales continue to increase so far this year, as well.

Genesis sees performance vehicles as a new area of growth. The GV60 Magma is the brand’s first chance for shoppers to get their hands on a fully fettled SUV from its skunkworks. At the Lone Star Le Mans, the GV60 served as the touchpoint between attendees and the Genesis car company. The high-performance EV was on display in the paddock, and fans in the grandstands watched as VIPs rode shotgun with pro drivers.

Although Genesis is starting with the GV60 Magma EV, it’s planning to give customers what they want in terms of powertrains. Internal combustion, full electrification, and hybrid models are all on the table. Less clear is the future of the Magma GT, which has only been shown in concept form. The Magma GT is slated to use a 3.2-liter turbocharged V-8 engine derived from the same engine that powers the Genesis GMR-001.

When asked about the status of the Magma GT, spokesperson Jarred Pellat had this to say: “Well, for now, it’s a concept car, but as our chief creative officer, Luc Donckerwolke, always says, ‘We don’t just do show cars for the sake of doing show cars.’”

There’s no definitive timetable just yet. “I think it’s a great exercise for our team to really explore the possibilities,” Pellat continued. “And it’s complex. It’s not just about designing something; it’s also about making sure there’s market viability. There’s got to be business case made.”

Whatever Genesis Magma product follows the GV60, whether it’s the GT or, say, a hotted-up version of the GV70 SUV, won’t be intended as a volume model. Instead, Magma vehicles are meant to serve as halo products, a way to get a taste of Genesis Magma Racing’s on-track knowledge in a road car.

Meet the Team

For that formula to work, Genesis must do well in WEC racing. For a new team, it’s off to a good start. At least one of the two GMR-001 race cars has finished every event so far, and the No. 17 car scored points in its second-ever race at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Reliability from Genesis’ in-house-developed engine has been strong, as shown by the No. 19 car’s completion of the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Genesis also needs to perform in its fastest-growing market. Such was the hope going into the Lone Star Le Mans in Austin. As a six-hour race, Genesis Magma Racing needed raw pace as much as it needed endurance.

Providing that pace was a star-studded cast of champions and race winners. Car No. 17 is piloted by Pipo Derani, Mathys “Baby Driver” Jaubert, and André Lotterer, the latter being the team’s de facto leader given his experience as a WEC champion and Le Mans winner. Car No. 19 is driven by Paul-Loup Chatin, Mathieu Jaminet, and Daniel Juncadella. Having spent the weekend around these drivers, their candor, good humor, and camaraderie is palpable.

Cyril Abiteboul is the team principal for Genesis Magma Racing and the president of Hyundai Motorsport. Despite Abiteboul’s experience and near celebrity as the former team principal of Renault F1, he takes a humble yet charismatic approach to leadership.

During a roundtable with the media, Abiteboul stressed the long-term nature of the Genesis Magma Racing project, going as far as mentioning the team’s desire to influence next-generation regulations for 2030. However, Abiteboul acknowledges that involvement in WEC is also an experimental endeavor for Genesis with an unknown outcome. For that reason, Genesis has gone for a fully factory-supported model rather than a strategy of partnering with customer teams.

“We really don’t want to have an intermediate filter of a racing team,” Abiteboul said. “We wanted really to have proper skin in the game. If it fails, [we want to] understand why it fails, what it fails, without proxy, without some intermediate body, which always makes things a little bit more difficult to understand and correct.” It also avoids hanging customer teams out to dry in terms of support if it ultimately decides to exit the series.

Magma Racing is a long-term investment for Genesis, and success of the program is not measured by this one season. That’s where six-time Le Mans winner and endurance racing legend Jacky Ickx comes into play. Far more than a brand partner in the sense of mere ambassadorship, Ickx was a constant presence during the Lone Star Le Mans race weekend. Not only does he serve the role of promoting the Genesis brand and rubbing elbows with VIPs, but Ickx also acts as something of a lightning rod of team spirit.

Ickx is highly visible over the course of the race weekend, both to speak with the media and to provide mentorship for the next generation of those working in the motorsports industry on the Genesis Magma Racing team. Part of his involvement can be chalked up to the persuasiveness of Donckerwolke, a keen racing enthusiast and one of the driving forces behind GMR, but also due to his desire to pay it forward.

“I’m not nostalgic about my past, but I am nostalgic about the people who made that story before,” Ickx said. “I didn’t pay enough attention to those who were making these wins possible. So, yes, I am nostalgic about the people who made it possible.”

Money, Meet Mouth

Armed with a wealth of experienced players, Genesis raced on U.S. soil for the first time in Texas. Like all things in racing, the six-hour campaign was anything but easy going. The weekend started strong, with both cars making into the Hyperpole final round of qualifying for the top 10. The No. 17 car qualified eighth; the No. 19 would start the race in 10th place.

An aggressive first stint by Lotterer in the No. 19 saw the GMR-001 advance to fifth place before a lunge for third ended in a spin that sent the team to the back of the field with a five-second penalty adding insult to injury.

Over the next five and half hours, the team chipped away at positions, managing tires and fuel. Derani ran a double stint, a feat in the fearsome Texas sun and choking humidity, helping the No. 19 car gain more ground.

As is typical in racing, uncontrollable variables can be as much of a boon as they can be a burden. In this case, GMR got a boost due to a Virtual Safety Car with a little more than an hour left in the race. The team used the opportunity to swap only the left tires for fresh rubber. It was up to Jaubert, the youngest on the team and ELMS Rookie of the Year, to finish the job in the final stint.

Jaubert’s clean drive saw the No. 19 GMR-001 advance back up to eighth place, finally reclaiming its qualifying position. After six hours, the leading Genesis crossed the finish line in eighth only to be bumped up to seventh due to a penalty issued to the No. 12 Cadillac. The No. 17 didn’t have the success in finishing order as the No. 19, but GMR’s second car still finished the race in 15 out of 17 cars in the Hypercar class.

With six more points in the bag, doubling GMR’s total to 12, the Korean automaker leaves Austin with yet another successful step forward in the World Endurance Championship. There’s still work to do; the team made mistakes with operating procedures that will need to be refined as it moves on to Japan for the 6 Hours of Fuji at the end of the September.

Next Steps

For now, Genesis Magma Racing will continue to focus its efforts on WEC. Its plans to enter IMSA next year have been postponed so the automaker can dedicate its resources to the program that’s already underway. Should this project prove to be a success, expect to see more Genesis race cars competing in more races and series in the U.S.

As for the next Genesis Magma road car to arrive in the United States, these performance models will be part of the automaker’s strategy to roll out 22 all-new or enhanced products by 2030. Hybrids are to be introduced by the end of 2026, and EREV models are due for 2027. We’re hoping the automaker sticks to its target to unveil the Magma GT by 2027 or 2028. After all, the Toyota GR GT needs a rival.