Hyundai's Le Mans challenger will be powered by WRC-derived engine

Hyundai is set to compete in the World Endurance Championship under its luxury arm Genesis. Recently, they revealed their challenger called the GMR-001 which was built under the LMDh regulations.

With the brand’s first foray into sportscar racing, the Korean manufacturer has announced they will use technology derived from its World Rally Championship program.

The Genesis GMR-001 will be powered by a 3.2-liter, twin-turbo V8, which was made by bolting together two 1.6-liter inline four-cylinder engines that powered the Hyundai i20 N Rally 1 and Thierry Neuville to his first WRC championship.

FX Demaison, technical director of Hyundai Motorsport said that the pistons, cylinder liners, conrods, the combustion chamber, and all the valve train are exactly the same from the rally engine to the LMDh V8. Of course, the crankshaft will be different as it will be designed to make the two 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine blocks work together.

Given the short timelines for the Genesis LMDH project, Hyundai decided to use proven technology for its WEC campaign. The Korean manufacturer will have to complete the car for homologation next year before they make their debut in the 2026 season of WEC.

To get its feet wet with endurance racing, Genesis Magma Racing will run an LMP2 Oreca-Gibson 07 race car in the European Le Mans series with the French IDEC Sport team next year.