The boss of Hyundai’s racing division, Cyril Abiteboul, confirmed to reporters that the GMR-001 sports prototype for endurance racing will receive an eight-cylinder turbo engine. The specialist admitted that at first Genesis wanted to rely on a V6, but due to lack of time it had to take a simpler path and take ready-made units from WRC rally cars.
LMDh endurance racing regulations only limit the combined powerplant output to 500 kilowatts (680 hp) and require the use of standard Xtrac gearboxes with a Bosch motor-generator and Williams Advance Engineering battery. But the participants choose the type of gasoline engine themselves, so they could consider different options for the Genesis GMR-001.
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According to Abiteboul, the V8 from the rally turbo-fours will allow it to inherit advantages in weight, energy efficiency and even ease of maintenance in case of problems. Still, the main argument in favor of the V8 was the development time: creating a new V6 in 14 months is a big risk. Making a V8 from two in-line fours is a proven mechanism. This is what BMW did, for example, when they took a couple of engines for DTM cars.
The Genesis sports prototype will debut in 2026, and the Korean brand is aiming to win Le Mans. The ingredients for success seem to be there: the chassis will be developed by the famous company Oreca, the basis for the engine will be a successful “rally” unit, and one of the drivers will be Andre Lotterer, a three-time marathon winner. However, in the entire history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, only three non-European teams have won it (Ford, Mazda and Toyota), so it will not be easy for the South Korean brand.
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