The DSC Editor-in-Chief took the opportunity at Interlagos to sit down with the team principal of Genesis Magma Racing and chairman of Hyundai Motorsport, Cyril Abiteboul, for an extended ‘catch-up’ after some rapid-fire programme achievements at Imola, Spa, Le Mans and in Brazil.
The GMR-001s have been showing real pace as their debut season progresses, both in qualifying (both made Hyperpole 2 at Le Mans, with one making it there in Brazil too) and the race, where they have been far from easy prey for the established order.
In reliability terms too, the cars are progressing, one car completing Le Mans and Interlagos producing another landmark with both cars home without a delay needing garage attention.
After describing himself as a ‘glass half empty’ guy, Cyril took the cue to give an early ‘school report card’ for his Genesis Magma Racing group:
“I’d say it was a serious student who has done his homework in the time that was available. There was a tendency to start late, a bit last minute. But remains pragmatic on what’s expected from him or her. So, overall, I would say 14 out of 20.”
With all of that in mind, and knowing that your experience of the sport coming into this programme was at the very highest level, you’re coming to a series that you fully well knew was operating at a very high level, tell me about the emotional side of it first, the human side? You must be impressed with what your group has achieved?
“Yeah, I think so, and by the way, it’s definitely one of my favourite parts. Frankly, first the human side, and also the very start of a project.
“I think it’s really the most exciting because you really see on a day-to-day basis the result, the impact of your work. I mean, we always glorify that word impact. Everyone’s talking about having an impact and leaving a mark, but I think it’s really something that you can see at the start of a project like this.
“You know I’ve been involved in other projects a bit like this one. Not exactly like this one. This one was really an opportunity to start a company from scratch because we’ve got a proper base in Germany. We’ve got 12 years, 13 years of WRC, we were not starting from scratch.
“But it was very clear that for this programme we need to have a fresh start, and that’s really something that is really nice. And yeah, for sure, there’s been some very emotional moments.
“I would say the first one, Imola, was really emotional. The end of it was really, really something, and I don’t know why, but there was a collection of things happening in that race.
“And part of the first point is what’s really nice is that every race so far there has been a positive. Sometimes you have to sort of look hard to see the positive. But actually, in those ones, there’s always been some positive. First finishing and good pace in the first one, then in Spa the first point, and then in Le Mans, the car being able to finish.”
Aside from those achievements, let’s talk about Qualifying, let’s talk about Hyperpole – because I can tell you that your performance there has been a pleasant surprise. I was not expecting that!
“No, neither did we. No one was expecting that from us, I think!
“I think the car is good. We know we have a good platform. All six drivers, and they’re a great line-up; they’re all super. You know, immediately they said from the get-go that straight out of the box, the car is a good race car. There’s nothing wrong with the car; it was reacting well, behaving well, and it was predictable. So you know, we’ve been very pragmatic in the development strategy of the car, being extremely focused on what matters for this type of championship, not making our life too difficult, knowing again that the time we had to prepare was very limited.
“And then I think that’s when we started to add a layer of software, which is something that we are massively battling against this weekend. I mean when the car moved from analogue to digital, this is where the problems started.
“But, honestly, it’s been a collection of positive emotions, driven by the fact that there is a little human story behind every single one of the achievements that you seen from the outside.”
There’s two games in play here, of course. One is the performance of the team, of the car and the success of the championship. But the other thing is you’re here with a brand, and you’re a challenger brand coming into a crowded marketplace.
And I have to say, personally, professionally, I have been really impressed with the way in which you guys are operating on that front.
Are you happy with the progress, and, more to the point, are the guys paying the bills happy with the impact being made?
“Absolutely. I mean, frankly, I know it can be seen as maybe a bit of a boring part of motorsport, but I think it’s actually a very important part of motorsport because, frankly, without that there is simply no one to pay the bills and therefore there is no motorsport. I’m absolutely super happy with it, super, super proud about it because there’s two or three sides to it.
“Firstly, there is a brand, Genesis, and I think we have an opportunity to make an impact for the benefit of that brand immediately.
“Just as one example. After Le Mans, you had 300,000 people attending the event who had probably never heard about Genesis before, who now know much more about Genesis. So talking about impact, talking about return on investment, that’s one thing.
“The second thing, there is a group, Hyundai Motor Group. Altogether with Hyundai, Genesis and Kia, we are the third largest car maker in the world, and there is definitely a sense of pride for all 200,000 people of this group and the leaders that were in attendance in Le Mans and were super happy to be suddenly part of that fantastic show on a classic motorsport stage against many brands that we admire, that we massively respect.
“And, on top of that, there is a country, Korea, which obviously has a limited motorsport legacy and culture, and being given that opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be doing that.
“Bringing a country which is arguably one of the most exciting and up-and-coming countries in many areas, K-pop, electronics, food, fashion, lots of things, and being able to a pioneer and to bring that country into global motorsport is absolutely unique, and I do believe that there is a bit of that in all the motivation that we have as a team.”
I’m not going to ask the boring question on IMSA; we know the answer to that is “not before 2028”
There is an exciting trajectory, though. We already know about GT and the potential for that coming on stream. Tell us a little bit, if you can, about the plan with the factory, with presumably customer sales in mind, whether that will be with GT or with this Hypercar? Is a customer program something that interests Genesis Magma Racing in Hypercar? Is that something that could be part of it?
“Well, I mean, first and foremost, we are here for the long term. And, being here for the long term, it’s an opportunity to plan and to build, and our intent is to build not just performance, not just factory drivers, but also to build a proper ecosystem around Hypercar, and around endurance racing.
“You talked about geographic expansion. You mentioned IMSA, and that’s one. There is also the Asian Le Mans Series, which could be one too when we are talking about expansion. We say that with all humility, but also interest in what some of the brands are capable of putting together, like Ferrari with the Modificata.
“We know that it’s also something that I believe McLaren is thinking of doing; they are not there yet, but I have full confidence in Zak and the commercial acumen of the McLaren brand team to put something very sensible together around that, and that’s an inspiration.
“We need to be a bit mindful because we are not there yet as a brand, but certainly if we do what we should be doing with that car, that can create interest for those cars, which are at the same time fantastically collectable, but also a fantastic experiential platform.
“So let’s see what we can do.
“And yes, then there is a GT, which is another opportunity. But right now it’s about doing our homework, making sure that there is a sustainable plan for the road car from an economic perspective, but also as a product, because again, it’s a segment where our group has never been before.
“So it’s not just about doing a spreadsheet and some accounting homework, it’s also making sure that we would be able to develop such a car with our co-operator Hyundai back in in Korea, and that’s where I do believe that motorsport has a role to play in order to bring the additional expertise that right now are not in the group, so that we can do this type of very niche project.”
On GT3. We saw some comments from Stéphane Ratel about the potential threat to GT3 and the four pillars he holds dear. The timing was interesting because of what AMG and Toyota are doing with their new cars, but the timing seemed to be around the reveal of this car?
“I’m not so sure. I think there is maybe a coincidence between those three events, and indeed this comment of Ratel.
“First and foremost, I have a huge respect for what he, and SRO, has built.
“Today it is a unique reference for GT racing. And when he says something, I think he’s a man who needs to be listened to. He knows what he’s talking about. He’s seen a lot. He’s seen those cycles. So we should absolutely pay extreme care and attention to what he says.
“And yeah, absolutely, cost control and ingenuity need to be at the forefront of what we do. But frankly, I think, you know, first and foremost for us, I don’t think we are there yet with brands like Mercedes-AMG, like Toyota, which are not in the first iteration for this type of product.
“For us, it would be a first. So you know, before starting to think about breaking the system, as they said, before breaking the law, let’s make sure that you understand the law!”
Are we talking not before ’29?
“No, It’s probably more of a ’29-30. No decision has been made. But we are not coming here to upset the system. We are coming here with every single part of humility, respect for the system that has been built before us that we would be honoured to join.”
You mentioned the Asian Le Mans Series. If we get to the stage where Hypercar becomes sustainable for that, and of course the Middle East issue has made a big dent in that. When do you think that might be a realistic prospect for Genesis?
“It’s not one for ’27. So the earliest will be in ’28. But again, there is a series of aspects that we need to align, a bit like IMSA. The first thing that we wanted to do is to make sure that we got a decent package that is, in particular, reliable and that is easy to utilise for what is a slightly more customer-oriented series.
“We need to make sure too that we’ll be able to find customers who understand how to operate the package without too many issues.
“We also need to be, as a team, mature enough to have enough capacity to support them, whether that is IMSA or the Asian Le Mans Series. And I would say we need also to be, as a brand, ready to make sure that people can understand the brand.
But I think that’s something that will be gently coming together. It may be that the year is ’28, if not then ’29. We don’t want to put ourselves in a corner, in a tough place, again. So far, we’ve been very pragmatic about what we were doing. The same should apply for any other expansion.
So the narrative I’ve understood is no expansion (of your programmes) before ’28, correct?
“It’s not before ’28. It cannot be before ’28. But to give you a positive indication, we are already starting to plan next year 2027, and for next year we are planning to do some serious testing campaign in the US, in particular have tracks which can be, you know, useful for both Le Mans debugging, but also, who knows, an IMSA entry in ’28.”
Might that be with a designated service provider? Is that something you’re ready to decide?
“We will need support. I don’t know the form, the shape, and I don’t know who yet. Frankly, my absolute focus, as I was talking about the student that we are, we are also serious and want to be head down and humble. We were very focused on first securing this entry in WEC, in particular up to Le Mans. Now we can start looking further ahead and broader, and that’s where discussion with possible partners in the US and investors in the US can restart.”
By the end of this year, what would you like to have achieved realistically?
“Well, we’re here to win, but our internal target is to have top five finishes by the end of the year, maybe in qualifying, maybe in a race. So let’s see if we do that.
“Having one car finishing Le Mans was also one of the targets that we set ourselves. That one is done.”
“Being ready in time, having your motivation completed. We had a set of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that we align with, as you know, is the case for any good modern organisation. So far we are delivering, but let’s see. That top five will be the final one, and let’s see if that’s possible.”
Images courtesy of DPPI & Genesis
