Genesis Magma Racing left the 2026 Lone Star Le Mans with renewed confidence after the #17 GMR-001 claimed seventh at the Circuit of The America (COTA)s, delivering the Korean manufacturer’s best FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) result to date.
The result capped one of Genesis’ strongest weekends since entering Hypercar competition, with the GMR-001 showing front-running pace throughout practice before both cars reached Hyperpole for only the second time this season.
Although an early incident dropped the #17 of André Lotterer, Pipo Derani and Mathys Jaubert to the rear of the field, the trio recovered through a combination of pace, strategy and the race’s various interruptions. Eighth at the chequered flag subsequently became seventh after the #12 Cadillac received a post-race penalty.
The sister #19 of Mathieu Jaminet, Paul-Loup Chatin and Daniel Juncadella finished 15th, allowing Genesis to achieve its pre-race target of bringing both cars home on the lead lap without encountering technical or mechanical problems.
Genesis shows front-running pace throughout COTA weekend
Genesis offered an early indication of its potential during practice as Jaubert placed the #17 third-fastest in FP2 against the 17-car Hypercar field.
Jaminet went one better during the final practice session. The Frenchman placed the #19 second and finished just 0.004 seconds away from the outright benchmark, underlining the pace Genesis had found around COTA before qualifying.
That speed carried into Saturday’s session, where Jaubert and Jaminet guided both GMR-001s into Hyperpole. It marked only the second time Genesis had placed both cars inside the top-ten shootout during its debut WEC campaign.
The two cars ultimately secured eighth and tenth on the grid, leaving Genesis well positioned to challenge for points with both entries.
Lotterer charge halted by early contact
Lotterer immediately began moving forward when the race started, gaining three positions on the opening lap to move the #17 into fifth.
He then passed Ferdinand Habsburg’s Alpine for fourth and turned his attention towards Miguel Molina in the #50 Ferrari ahead. However, his attempt to take third unravelled when contact with Molina sent the Genesis into a spin.
Lotterer dropped to the rear of the Hypercar field and received a five-second penalty for the incident, undoing much of the progress from his opening laps.
Rather than allowing the setback to define its race, Genesis began working its way back through the order. Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car periods helped compress the field, while Lotterer, Derani and Jaubert gradually rebuilt their position during the remainder of the six-hour contest.
“I had a great start to move forward, and we managed to recover well from the early-race mishaps,” reflected Lotterer, while speaking to FIAWEC.com. “We had a good set-up all weekend and from my side, I had fun – the car was great to drive, and we were able to achieve some of our goals. We still need to improve some aspects, but we’re here to grow and to become stronger. We’ve learned more about what we need to do for the rest of the year.”
Late strategy gamble puts Jaubert back into contention
Genesis made another decisive move during the final pit-stop sequence with just over an hour remaining.
Rather than replacing all four tyres on the #17, the team changed only those on the left-hand side. The shorter stop pushed Jaubert higher up the order and gave the 21-year-old an opportunity to defend a points-paying position against rivals running fresher rubber.
Jaubert responded by fighting aggressively through the closing stages and kept the Genesis in contention despite the tyre disadvantage.
The #17 crossed the line eighth before the penalty for the #12 Cadillac promoted Lotterer, Derani and Jaubert to seventh, surpassing Genesis’ previous best result and adding another important points finish during its first season in the category.
For Derani, the outcome reflected both the progress Genesis has made and the opportunities that remain if the team can further refine its execution.
“We’ll obviously take this,” opined double IMSA title-winner Derani. “It was a crazy and very eventful race with lots of interventions. We were at the top, we were at the bottom and then here we are, finishing P7, taking home our best result and some other big positives as well.
“Considering it’s our first year, I couldn’t be happier. We could have done a couple of positions better, but that’s about it. I’m proud of how we evolved through the weekend, how we got this car to the chequered flag and how we continue to develop as a team. It was a great weekend for us and there are still a few more to go, so hopefully we can continue to improve.”
Reliability provides another important positive
The result also gave Genesis encouragement beyond its finishing position.
Both GMR-001s completed the race on the lead lap, fulfilling the target the team had set before the weekend. More importantly, neither car suffered a technical or mechanical problem despite the demanding conditions at COTA.
The race featured changing weather and particularly high temperatures, placing additional strain on both machinery and drivers.
For a programme still in its first WEC season, completing the six hours cleanly with both cars while simultaneously demonstrating stronger outright pace provided Genesis with another important reference as it continues developing the GMR-001.
Sporting Director Gabriele Tarquini acknowledged that the team could have achieved more with both cars, but viewed the overall performance as another significant step.
“Overall, I’m very pleased with the performance we showed,” the Italian summarised. “It was our best finish of the year, so obviously we are happy. We will continue to work on the details to take another step forward in the next races.
“Of course, I’m a little disappointed because we had the potential to have both cars in the top ten and scoring points, but from a race management point-of-view, it wasn’t easy since the weather conditions changed throughout and the drivers had to adapt, especially during the first part.
“The difference between all the cars was just a few tenths-of-a-second, which shows how tight the competition is. That makes the result even more encouraging, and gives us confidence that we can achieve even better results in the upcoming races.”
Genesis sees progress but identifies areas to improve
Despite recording its strongest finish so far, Genesis did not leave Austin believing the weekend had been flawless.
The #17 lost considerable ground through Lotterer’s early incident, while the #19 failed to convert its promising practice and qualifying speed into another points-scoring result.
Chief Engineer Justin Taylor therefore viewed the weekend as both evidence of the programme’s development and a reminder of the standards Genesis must reach to consistently compete near the front of WEC’s tightly contested Hypercar category.
“We’ve taken some big steps, but we’ve got a long way to go and this race will give us motivation for that,” added Taylor. “On the flipside, we made mistakes in several different areas, so it was a bit of a wake-up call. We need to polish up our procedures and be a bit smarter next time we come to the track to battle these guys.”
COTA nevertheless represented another encouraging step in Genesis’ first season. The team placed both cars in Hyperpole, came within four-thousandths of topping final practice, completed the race with both entries on the lead lap and left Texas with its best WEC finish.
With the GMR-001 increasingly demonstrating that it can operate closer to the established Hypercar contenders, Genesis now faces the challenge of turning that growing pace and reliability into consistently stronger results over the remainder of the campaign.
