Doonan “Eagerly Anticipating” Further Genesis LMDh Info

IMSA president John Doonan has welcomed Hyundai Motorsport’s announcement that it will enter top class sports car racing with an LMDh program under its Genesis brand, adding that the organization is “eagerly anticipating” more information but will “proudly welcome” the brand to the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTP class.

The Korean manufacturer formally committed to building an endurance racing prototype with an announcement made on Thursday, with the FIA World Endurance Championship separately confirming that Hyundai’s luxury brand Genesis is set to join the series’ Hypercar class.

It will do so by building a car to the LMDh ruleset, with ORECA understood to likely have been selected as the chassis partner for the project.

While Hyundai did not specifically mention either WEC or IMSA in its own announcement, the brand has been a manufacturer partner of IMSA since 2019 and has maintained a strong presence in the Michelin Pilot Challenge since then, claiming five consecutive TCR titles with Bryan Herta Autosport.

In a statement supplied to Sportscar365, IMSA president John Doonan welcomed Hyundai Motorsport’s LMDh announcement and stated that Genesis will be ‘proudly welcomed’ into the GTP ranks.

“All of us at IMSA are so thrilled that Genesis shared their plans to join the top category of endurance sports car racing today,” Doonan said.

“We’re eagerly anticipating more information from Genesis as details of their program become available, and we will proudly welcome them to the growing Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) category grid across the entire IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“To add another brand to the ranks of GTP is so special for our sport and most importantly for our fans.

“The commitment of so many manufacturers to the LMDh technical platform is a strong validation of where sports car racing is positioned and where we continue to head into the future.”

The WeatherTech Championship’s GTP class currently consists of five manufacturers: Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Porsche and Lamborghini, with Aston Martin set to join with the Valkyrie AMR-LMH next year.