GENESIS MAGMA RACING SEES POSITIVES AMONG LESSONS LEARNED IN BRAZIL

Sao Paulo, Brazil, 12 July 2026:  Genesis Magma Racing can take valuable lessons and experience from the 6 Hours of São Paulo, the first fly-away event in its debut season in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Both GMR-001 Hypercars showed strong reliability to complete a race without technical issues for the first time, but penalties and small mistakes limited the results the team could achieve.

Strategy Showed Potential; Cut Short by Penalties 

In a busy first stint, the difficulty of racing through traffic on the WEC calendar’s shortest track was clear. Both Genesis Magma Racing entries, started by André Lotterer and Daniel Juncadella, lost ground navigating around the GT-class runners. More costly, however, were the early penalties collected by both cars, including a drive-through for the #19, that dropped them down the order.

In response, the team chose to extend the stints of both cars. The energy advantage gained saw both cars rise up the order as they were among the last cars to pit. Lotterer briefly assumed the lead in a fleeting GMR-001 Hypercar 1-2 before pitting to complete the opening drivers’ double stints after just over two hours.

As the race ran without the interruption of anything more disruptive than a short Full Course Yellow, however, the team was never able to make the most of the good strategy despite the flawless reliability of both cars. The potential for rain, as clouds lowered around the circuit in the final two hours of the race, largely held off — even as the GMR-001 Hypercar’s Two-Line design headlights cast an increasingly prominent beam.

The #17 crew was unable to make up for the time lost in the first half of the race, despite the choice to shorten Mathys Jaubert’s second stint to install home hero Pipo Derani. Derani — the only Brazilian driver in the top class — pushed all the way to the checkered flag on his home track, though could only be rewarded with a 15^th place finish.

After a strong middle stint from Mathieu Jaminet, where the #19 car again climbed as high as second, Paul-Loup Chatin took the final double stint for the trio still waiting for their first WEC points. The team’s strategy brought him to the pits for the final time with 45 minutes remaining, and though some of the teams running ahead were forced into an extra, late, stop, it was not enough to allow Chatin to gain any places from 13^th.

Though the team was always aware of the challenge of the unique Interlagos track, to leave Brazil without a second haul of points is a frustrating end to the weekend. Both GMR-001 Hypercars showed strong pace during the Free Practice and Qualifying sessions, including when Mathieu Jaminet topped Friday afternoon’s FP2 before he qualified the #19 entry seventh on Saturday.

Genesis Magma Racing Team Management Quotes

Cyril Abiteboul, Genesis Magma Racing Team Principal, said: “The 6 Hours of São Paulo was quite a different race from the previous ones for us. The biggest positive was clearly the level of reliability. Getting both cars through the race without any technical issues was a main target coming here after all the data accumulated in Le Mans. It's great to see that in a limited amount of time, we've been able to react and address issues from the first part of the season. On the other side, this good reliability exposes more directly our overall performance and, unfortunately, we've seen clearly our current limitations in different aspects of our operations and package. The positive is that we accumulated more data on a very specific track, with lots of opportunities to learn and build upon for what's coming next. If we can carry this reliability, then the next focus will be on cleaner race execution so that we can start climbing up into the classification.”

Gabriele Tarquini, Genesis Magma Racing Sporting Director, said: “We cannot be happy about the race result. There were small mistakes that came from the team and drivers cost us some penalties during the race. But there are some big positives. The car was reliable from the first corner until the end. No problem coming from chassis, engine or systems. That's very good. It's the first time that we haven’t faced a problem with reliability. This track is unique and we don't have any data from previous years, and we never tested on this track. That has probably cost us some performance, because our pace was a little bit up and down. To finish out of the point is a shame after a very good Qualifying and Free Practice, but we need to learn from mistakes and keep improving race by race, session by session.”

Justin Taylor, Genesis Magma Racing Chief Engineer, said: “It was a difficult race. Interlagos is a tight circuit, and we saw a lot of contact and penalties throughout the field, and we weren't immune to that. Despite the result, it was another important step forward for us. For the first time, both cars completed the race without going into the garage, and that's a significant milestone for the team. Everything we focused on worked as expected, particularly in terms of reliability and reacting better to changing conditions. We still have work to do, but we're continuing to move in the right direction. Of course, we wanted to finish in the top 10 and add to the points we scored earlier this season, but that will have to wait until Austin.”

Anouck Abadie, Genesis Magma Racing Team Manager, said: "This is the first time that both cars have finished without any major issues, so that's a big first step. We can be happy about that. Weekend after weekend, we keep taking positives away. We learn a lot every race, and that's really important for the future. I think we've shown that both the team and the car are capable of delivering. We've improved the reliability of the car, which is a very good step forward, and as a team we've proved that we can do it while continuing to learn. Of course, it's not the result we were hoping for, but from our own perspective it's already a positive outcome. We'll use the summer break to train, come back stronger in Austin, and see if we can improve again."

Driver Quotes - #17 GMR-001 Hypercar

André Lotterer said: “It was a tough day because we were actually doing well. We were in the mix, but it was just one of those races with too many little issues. It was one of those days where we could have achieved more. The car felt good, but there are still a few things we need to understand. I also got a penalty after racing aggressively with the Toyota, but that was just one of several issues. Some of them were self-inflicted, but the potential of the GMR-001 Hypercar was good. The positive is that both cars finished reliably. Now we just need to look at the issues, learn from them, and come back stronger. Still, I had fun in the car. It’s all part of our journey. Sometimes you don’t have a perfect day, but we keep learning and moving forward.”

Mathys Jaubert said: “So, the race is done here at the 6 Hours of São Paulo. Overall, it was another weekend where we learned a lot as a team. Once again, it showed that the car is very strong over one lap, but we still have a lot of work to do over long stints and in race conditions. Overall, we expected to score points, and that was the target. We didn’t achieve that, but we still finished the race without any issues with both cars, which was another big target for the weekend. We had a few penalties and an issue with one tyre, but overall it was a productive weekend. Now the focus shifts to the next step, with the test in Austin followed by the race there.”

Pipo Derani said: “It was nice to be back at home driving at Interlagos. It’s a privilege to drive in front of my home crowd. And the whole energy that the Brazilian people bring, it's amazing. Unfortunately, we couldn't give them a better result. We were a bit out of the race for my stints with everything that had happened up until then. Nevertheless, we were trying to bring the car home with no issues, which is a big step for the team, and I got to have fun in the last two stints. It was a good team effort. I'm looking forward to coming back here next year. We learned a lot this weekend. We showed some promise, but we have things to learn still. That's part of the game. And the positive is that I got to drive at home.”

Driver Quotes - #19 GMR-001 Hypercar

Dani Juncadella said: “Obviously, it was a disappointing result. My stint was probably about the wildest two hours I’ve ever had in a race car. I had a really good start and made a few positions, but we kept finding ourselves in the wrong place at the beginning of the race in traffic, and then we received a penalty for a Full Course Yellow infringement, which dropped us even further back. I also had contact with an amateur Ferrari that was completely lost, and that really killed our chances today. Unfortunately, all of that put us a lap down, and we stayed there for pretty much the rest of the race. From then onwards, the final four hours were actually quite okay, but we had simply lost too much time earlier in the race to recover.”

Mathieu Jaminet said: “Finishing P13 is not ideal when you’re starting from P7, but it’s only our fourth race, so I’m not too disappointed. It was one of those days. We had a few issues here and there, and there are a lot of things to improve. We made a few mistakes as a team, and it shows just how competitive this championship is. I feel this is a race where we have a lot to learn. There’s plenty to analyse and a lot of data to go through. It’s only our fourth race, so at the end of the day I’m not too disappointed. There are a lot of lessons to take away from both cars, in the way we approached the race and how we operated throughout the weekend. It’s all part of the process. We keep learning, we keep growing, and we’ll come back fighting stronger next time.”

Paul-Loup Chatin said: "It was a difficult race, honestly. We decided to double-stint the tyres to try and gain track position, but the grip was really poor and I was never able to switch the tyres on. The conditions were tricky. There was a lot of drizzle, but the track remained dry, which made it difficult to find the right balance. I tried a lot of different things, but in the end we learned a lot today. Now we need to understand what happened and come back stronger. There are still plenty of positives to take away. Overall, we've shown that the car has strong reliability and performance, but we were missing some pace in the race. We'll analyse why, learn from it and come back stronger in Austin."

2026 6 Hours of São Paulo Results – Hypercar class