André Lotterer has hailed an ‘aggressive’ strategy during the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps earlier this month, that enabled Genesis Magma Racing to overcome technical trouble to score its first points in the FIA World Endurance Championship at only its second attempt.
Having achieved its stated ambition of getting both cars to the finish line in the 2026 curtain-raising outing at Imola, Genesis headed to Belgium bidding to build upon that form and put to good use all of the lessons it had learned in Italy with its pair of GMR-001 Hypercars.
Despite the longer lap – 7.004km compared to Imola’s 4.909km – in qualifying in the Ardennes, Mathieu Jaminet narrowed the Korean marque’s deficit to the benchmark time from 1.170secs to 1.016secs. Notably, in putting the #19 entry 14th on the grid, the Frenchman outpaced both the #51 Ferrari and #8 Toyota – the top two finishers from the season-opener.
With the car Jaminet pilots alongside countryman Paul-Loup Chatin and Daniel Juncadella losing seven laps to electrical gremlins on race day, Saturday marked the sister crew’s time to shine.
After Lotterer took to the wheel of the #17 Genesis for the start of the six-hour contest, a tactical decision to short-fuel Mathys Jaubert for his second stint vaulted the Frenchman up to tenth. He impressively went eighth-quickest out of the 47 Hypercar drivers to complete a racing lap – barely a third-of-a-second adrift of the outright pace – before making way for ‘Pipo’ Derani with just over two-and-a-half hours remaining.
Facing a problem that left the car down-on-power, the team made another audacious call at the final stop under Virtual Safety Car conditions, leaving the Brazilian on used tyres in order to save time in the pits and move further up the order. He exploited it perfectly.
Over the course of a frenetic last half-hour, Derani briefly rose as high as sixth prior to settling into eighth place. Artfully defending during the closing stages against Cadillac’s Norman Nato and four-time world champion Sébastien Buemi in the Imola-winning Toyota – both on fresher rubber – he doggedly clung on to tally Genesis’ first points at the international pinnacle of endurance racing competition.
“We were battling some issues from the moment I got in the car,” the two-time IMSA title-winner explained. “I was trying to survive, understand what we could do to improve and get to the chequered flag. I kept pushing for a strategy to gain track position to try and maybe hold the cars behind, because it was the only way we would get to the points.
“I kept my head down and was fighting to manage the energy while asking the engineers the numbers, and in the end, we did it. It’s still such early days for us, and I’m very proud of the team, bringing the first points home for Genesis Magma Racing. It might have been ‘just’ a P8, but it felt like a victory.”
“It’s very emotional for the team,” agreed Lotterer. “The strategy came towards us and we were a bit aggressive, but we took it. It was a very big day for Genesis Magma Racing and the whole brand, to score our first points so early in this journey.
“Pipo did some amazing defending. It was really tough for him, being longer on the tyres and needing to manage some issues with the car, but he kept his cool and did a really good job. What we did at Imola was already a great achievement. We had similar aims to reach the finish at Spa and establish ourselves in this championship, but secretly, I had hopes for our first points – and they came.”
Having once again brought both cars to the flag – with the delayed #19 GMR-001 in 13th place – Genesis Magma Racing was able to gather further crucial data and experience regarding the prototype’s balance and behaviour in varying situations. The squad will head next to the 24 Hours of Le Mans – round three of the 2026 FIA WEC campaign on 10-14 June, and the season’s undisputed flagship event – aiming to maintain its upward curve.
“We are still a very young team, and this result is an extremely emotional moment for every single member,” reflected Team Principal, Cyril Abiteboul. “I hope it will make the entire Hyundai Motor Group proud. As we had some issues with power and energy consumption, we decided to make an aggressive strategic move towards the end of the race with a very short stop for the #17 GMR-001 Hypercar – perfectly executed by the pit crew – and it played out very nicely.
“We need to continue consolidating our foundation so that we can be here and beyond on a regular basis, but it’s great that it’s coming now because it also gives us the momentum to tackle the issues we’ve been facing before the next major milestone in our programme at Le Mans.”
“It’s an amazing result for all of Genesis Magma Racing,” echoed Sporting Director, Gabriele Tarquini. “We were under a lot of pressure at the end, but ‘Pipo’ protected his position superbly. He did a fantastic job, as did André and Mathys. Despite improvements since Imola, the #19 car unfortunately had some problems again, but step-by-step, we’re climbing the hill.”
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