Genesis reveals V8 engine plan for LMDh contender

Genesis has revealed that its 2026 World Endurance Championship contender shall be powered by a twin-turbo V8 that builds on sister marque Hyundai’s expertise within the World Rally Championship.

Francois-Xavier Demaison, technical director of the Hyundai Motorsport organisation masterminding the Genesis LMDh programme, defined that the inner combustion part of the hybrid powertrain was being developed out of know-how employed in its inline four-cylinder 1.6-litre turbo used within the Hyundai i20 N Rally 1.

“We are able to say that the pistons, the cylinder liners, conrods, the combustion chamber and all of the valve prepare is a one-to-one from the rally engine to the LMDh V8 – however modified, in fact,” Demaison informed Motorsport.com within the wake of the launch of the Genesis programme on Wednesday.

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“We should change the cylinder spacing, for instance, however the principle components of the engine shall be very comparable, simply to keep away from any points.”

Demaison revealed that the brief timeline for the Genesis LMDh undertaking resulted within the choice to make use of confirmed know-how in an eight-cylinder powerplant that at 3.2 litres could have a capability double that of the Rally 1 four-pot unit.

He confused that designing an engine from scratch wouldn’t have been attainable given the 16 months between the sign-off of the undertaking on 1 September and the scheduled homologation of a automotive to be often called the GMR-001 Hypercar on the finish of subsequent 12 months forward of its race debut within the 2026 WEC.

“With the time we’ve it might have been too dangerous: we actually rapidly determined to play it secure,” he stated.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Crew Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Picture by: Pink Bull Content material Pool

Work began on the LMDh V8 shortly earlier than the sign-off of the undertaking and it’s deliberate to run on the dyno for the primary time in February previous to a scheduled roll-out of a automotive in the summertime.

Hyundai Motorsport president Cyril Abiteboul defined that the identical rationale had resulted within the choice to develop an LMDh based mostly on the ORECA chassis backbone quite than a bespoke Le Mans Hypercar.

“The preliminary expression of curiosity from company headquarters was to have bit extra freedom and authority on the design [which is allowed by the LMH rules],” Abiteboul informed Motorsport.com.

“However I stated it depends upon what sort of timing we’re speaking about: when you give us three years, sure; when you give us one 12 months, it is a no-go.

“Now we have been very pragmatic and humble, and I used to be very clear that from the place we’re beginning the best route was positively an LMDh.”

However he confused that Genesis can be conserving its choices open for what’s being billed as a long-term involvement on the pinnacle of endurance racing, each when it comes to the chassis and the engine.

“We’re already considering of a long-term plan and what might be the following powerplant after this one,” he defined.

The brief time to develop the GMR-001 was additionally behind the choice to go for what Abiteboul described because the “staged strategy” of coming into the WEC in 2026 adopted by an growth into the IMSA SportsCar Championship in 12 months two in 2027.

Cyril Abiteboul, Crew principal Hyundai World Rally Crew

Picture by: Vincent Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

It made sense to affix the WEC first, he added, as a result of the automotive shall be run by an in-house group to be often called Genesis Magma Racing, whereas when it enters IMSA it’s going to work with a associate group.

He defined that he needed Hyundai Motorsport to be “as shut as attainable to the product” throughout its first 12 months of racing.

“I don’t need to have any filter or firewall between us and the automotive,” he stated. “That’s behind the choice to do WEC [first]; we all know that in IMSA we are going to by no means have the ability to do it in a such a manner.”

Genesis will work with the French IDEC Sport group subsequent 12 months, collectively working an LMP2 ORECA-Gibson 07 within the European Le Mans Collection, because it gears up for its WEC entry, however Abiteboul confused that this has been devised as a step on the street to having what he known as a “self-sufficient” race group in GMR.

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Abiteboul revealed that there have already been discussions with potential companions for IMSA, however acknowledged that the formal means of figuring out a group to work with won’t start till the brand new 12 months.

Chip Ganassi Racing, which has ended its four-year collaboration with Cadillac in IMSA and WEC, has been rumoured to be one of many groups involved with Genesis.