Genesis Delays IMSA GTP Entry Decision Amid Late WEC Start

Genesis Magma Racing team principal Cyril Abiteboul says the manufacturer has pushed back a decision about when to enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with its new GMR-001 amid the delayed start to the FIA World Endurance Championship season.

A GTP entry into the WeatherTech Championship has long been discussed by Genesis, with it originally looking to join the grid in 2027, a year after making its WEC Hypercar debut.

However, speaking at the end of last year, Abiteboul said that the manufacturer could wait until the middle of next season before joining the GTP ranks to give it more time to develop the LMDh-based prototype.

Now, with the planned Qatar WEC season-opener postponed from March until October amid the conflict in the Middle East, it means Genesis has a reduced amount of race mileage upon which to base a decision.

“The first thing we wanted to do is absolutely to secure our entry in WEC in terms of performance, in terms of readiness, in terms of reliability,” Abiteboul explained to Sportscar365.

“Unfortunately, I guess it’s another side effect of Qatar [date moving], we’ve also postponed our final decision on IMSA.

“We’re still very much keen on racing in IMSA, but we want to get it right here in WEC first before expanding.

“It’s very clear to see that, if you’ve got any reliability issues on your car, you don’t want to start having them all over the place all over the world, because that’s just chaos.

“Let’s secure, have a couple of races under our belt here first and, after Le Mans, we will be able to adjust the timing for entry in IMSA.”

When asked if that approach could mean Genesis ultimately waits until 2028 before joining the WeatherTech Championship ranks, Abiteboul replied: “We’re pragmatic, we’re focused, we want to do well.

“It’s not about spreading our resources too thin – we’re still a very young team, we’re still a very small team also – so focus, good execution, quality over quantity and, when we are ready, we will make the decision to expand into IMSA.

“As a premium brand, we need to make sure that everything we do is really at a certain standard.”

One example that Abiteboul cites in this regard is its brand identity – something he described as “a small detail but it’s a detail that shows the attitude we have.”

“And that [attitude] should apply also to expanding our program to IMSA,” he added.

Genesis enjoyed an encouraging WEC debut at Imola earlier this month, which Andre Lotterer described as a “first victory” when both GMR-001s made it to the checkered flag.

However, the No. 19 machine suffered a sensor issue early in the race that required lengthy pit repairs and did eventually finish 24 laps down.