European Le Mans Series LMP2 team IDEC Sport has a huge year ahead of it. Partnered with Genesis, it will spend the 2025 European Le Mans Series season helping the South Korean brand prepare for its FIA WEC Hypercar debut with the GMR-001 in 2026.
It will be a year full of challenges, but IDEC Sport team principal Nicolas Minassian feels Genesis has made a sensible decision to dip a toe into the ACO racing water before joining the world championship.
So why IDEC Sport and where was the connection first made?
“Last year I contacted Cyril (Abiteboul, the Genesis Magma Racing team principal) because I wanted to meet him,” Minassian told DSC in Dubai. “He is someone who has done great things in his life. We met and at that time I didn’t even know they were going to do this type of racing. Then when they announced they were going to, we stayed in contact because there was synergy there and the feeling was good between each other.”
In addition to providing Genesis with key knowledge and experience racing at a high level in prototypes, Minassian added that IDEC Sport’s location – a stone’s throw from ORECA’s headquarters and Circuit Paul Ricard – was another key selling point in Genesis’ decision to partner up for 2025.
“We know Le Mans, the regulations, we have a relationship with the ACO and FIA. It means they don’t have to start from scratch,” he said. “And as everything moved forward, the choice to go to ORECA and set up near Paul Ricard, with our knowledge of racing in sportscars in LMP2, it makes sense.
“We are here to guide them, we are here to help them put it all together. You don’t do it by clicking a finger.”
For next season the ELMS is oversubscribed, with a record 44-car full-season entry and a separate reserve list. However, IDEC was lucky enough to be granted a second LMP2 entry, meaning it will return to competing as a two-car team in the top class for the first time since 2021.
Interestingly, according to Minassian, this new relationship for the team has coincided with a wider plan. IDEC’s vision for 2025 included scaling up to a two-car effort in LMP2 before its Genesis partnership was confirmed.
“We were going to go with two cars anyway,” he revealed. “In the end, the priority was to have the Genesis car on the grid, and we filled up a second entry.
“It was planned for a long time, but it’s difficult to get an entry now in the ELMS. We had two cars in the past and as we were not going to run in LMP3 we looked at two in LMP2. We did two in 2018, 19, 20 and 2021. And we want to stay like this.”
While the #18 of Logan Sargeant, Jamie Chadwick and Mathys Jaubert is the nominated car for Genesis’ drivers, once the ELMS season gets underway Genesis’ staff – who are being embedded into the IDEC Sport team to gain experience in ACO rules racing – will work across both cars.
In terms of numbers, Minassian confirmed it will be 50 per cent IDEC and 50 per cent Genesis in the back of the garage.
“It will be a mix. There is one car with more people, but some Genesis people will be on the other car. In each area of the car, there will be an experienced person from IDEC. Even if some of them haven’t done the ELMS or Le Mans, they will be with someone who has done it. This gives them experience.”
The driver line-up certainly turned heads when it was revealed. All three, according to Abiteboul, are being evaluated and will have a fair chance to earn a place in Genesis’ factory stable in the future. Minassian is looking forward to helping all three get up to speed.
“The great thing is that there is a conversation,” he concluded. “We are working together, they are not imposing things. They want to give opportunities to drivers.
“To give a chance to a young driver from a different background is a great way to forge someone. Logan was their idea, Jamie we spoke about it and we tested them. They adapted quickly and were fast. And Mathys is a surprise, with no single-seaters, just Porsche Cup and Caterham 7s, now he’s going to be in an LMP2.
“It’s about exploring drivers, the target is not just to go and win, the target is to develop drivers.”
