Le Mans/WEC – Page 4 – Syndication Server

Penske Porsche revises 2025 IMSA, WEC line-ups

Porsche has revealed a new-look driver roster for Porsche Penske Motorsport’s 2025 FIA WEC and IMSA campaigns with its fleet of 963s. Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell will drive the No. 6 Penske-run 963 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar …

Porsche has revealed a new-look driver roster for Porsche Penske Motorsport’s 2025 FIA WEC and IMSA campaigns with its fleet of 963s.

Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell will drive the No. 6 Penske-run 963 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP class, while the No. 7 car will be shared by defending drivers’ champion Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy. Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre will support the full-season drivers at select Endurance Cup races.

In the WEC, Julian Andlauer has been promoted to the Hypercar factory team following a standout campaign with Proton Competition in 2024. He will share the No. 5 with Michael Christensen. The No. 6, meanwhile, will be shared by Vanthoor and Estre.

Both cars will run with just two drivers for the full season, a change from 2023 and ’24, with Jaminet and Campbell set to join the squad at La Sarthe.

These changes also include three key three departures from its driver stable, as 2024 drivers’ champion Dane Cameron, FIA WEC Hypercar drivers’ championship leader Andre Lotterer and Le Mans GTE Pro and Nurburgring 24 Hours winner Frédéric Makowiecki — a factory driver for 11 years — are all set to be released at the end of the year.

“I’d like to thank Dane Cameron, André Lotterer and Frédéric Makowiecki for their incredible work over the past few years. All three have played a significant role in us being able to celebrate great successes with the Porsche 963 on both sides of the Atlantic in just the second year of competition,” saidThomas Laudenbach, vice president of Porsche Motorsport. “We compete in 2025 with a changed line-up. Our squad continues to be among the top echelons of endurance racing internationally.

“Plus, we’re remaining dedicated to our very successful initiative by supporting another former Porsche Junior to climb to the top of the career ladder. Over the past few seasons, Julien Andlauer has impressed us at the wheel of every Porsche racing car from Weissach. He absolutely deserves this promotion into the works driver squad.”

Urs Kuratle, the director of LMDh factory motorsport at Porsche, said, “With the new line-up, I believe we’ve put together a winning combination for 2025. We’ll have two very experienced drivers in both series, plus two drivers in sister cars, all of whom have come up through the ranks of Porsche’s junior program and completely won us over as talented youngsters.

“I’d also like to thank Dane Cameron, André Lotterer and Frédéric Makowiecki. All three have contributed to getting the Porsche Penske Motorsport campaign to where it now stands in global endurance racing: at the top.”

Jonathan Diuguid, the managing director of Porsche Penske Motorsport, noted that the 2025 WEC and IMSA calendars opened the door for Porsche to mobilize its driver pairings more often.

“For 2024, we relied on consistency and continuity and made only a few targeted tweaks to the squad,” he said. “This decision proved to be right. Spurred by these successes, we’ll take a similar approach for 2025. The door has opened for (driver) involvement in both series.”

Ferrari Finali Mondiali celebrates Le Mans glory

The Imola city center and circuit were draped in Ferrari colours this weekend as the fabled Italian brand hosted its annual Finali Mondiali (World Finals) event and toasted its recent success at the Le Mans 24 Hours, hours before its Formula 1 team …

This year’s end-of-season meeting was as much of a celebration of Ferrari’s back-to-back Le Mans wins as it was a climactic race weekend for the European and North American Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli fields.

Throughout the week, Ferrari’s employees, customers and fans in attendance were granted access to a temporary Ferrari Exhibition in the paddock featuring 39 of the brand’s most significant race cars. This included rows of Formula 1 cars, the Ferrari 330 P4 which won the Daytona 24 Hours in 1967 and Risi Competizione’s 2024 Rolex 24 GTD-PRO winning 296 GT3.

The star attraction, though, was a display at the far end of the hall featuring both race-worn Le Mans-winning 499Ps, complete with the winning trophies.

“I haven’t focused on the other cars around them (in the exhibition)!” 2024 Le Mans winner Nicklas Nielsen told RACER. “Coming here is always special, but it’s even more special when you can see the car you won Le Mans in. Having the two cars here is a very nice sight.”

The No. 50, which won this year’s edition, was also presented on stage during Saturday night’s annual Ferrari Gala Dinner. After a brief photocall, the three winning drivers — Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina — plus the full set of senior management and the 2023 winners, received a standing ovation from a crowd made up of more than 1,000 VIP guests.

Throughout the weekend, there were frequent reminders that we are currently living through a golden era for Ferrari in sports car racing. Perhaps the most impressive examples of this came during the non-competitive sessions for Ferrari’s base of XX Program, F1 Clienti and Sport Prototipi Clienti customers.

A year on from the reveal of the 499P Modificata — an extreme, track-only version of Ferrari’s FIA WEC challenger — 10 examples were on site and running in Imola. Federica Santoro, the head of Ferrari’s XX and Monoposto Heritage programs, told RACER that the astonishing set of $5.4 million Modificatas in the paddock this past week represented “the majority of the models that exist.”

“We’ve done a good job of delivering these cars to a select number of customers who are already a part of our other non-competitive programs,” she explained. “It’s a complex car, so we need to take it slow with these drivers, make sure they learn how to drive it step by step. As part of this, we make sure they have time with our official drivers and go through data to ensure they enjoy the experience. But in terms of pleasure, because it’s free of regulations, it’s really enjoyable car for the drivers.”

The headline event of the weekend came earlier today after the Finale Mondiale winner-take-all sprint races: the Ferrari Show. This year, it began in central Imola with a road run featuring two of the three 499Ps which are currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar category — the No. 50 and No. 83.

The tifosi lined the streets for the occasion, catching a glimpse of their heroes as the cars cruised to the circuit to join an array of Ferrari road and race cars taking part in the various demo runs.

The trackside show that followed was held in front of packed grandstands featuring a huge number of notable cars. The cast included the Rolex 24 class-winning Risi 296 GT3, the AF Corse Francorchamps Motors 296 GT3 which finished second in the centenary Spa 24 Hours, a number of cars from the F1 Clienti and XX Program stable, GT cars from Club Competizioni GT, a brand-new F80 supercar and all 10 of the 499P Modificatas.

“We had 33,000 people on site, which was really impressive considering the climate,” Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s sports car boss, said in summary during a press conference this afternoon. “It’s always a pleasure to come to this circuit, the local region always helps us hold this unique event.

“Only Ferrari could organize a show like this at a very intense time emotionally, after winning Le Mans twice in two attempts against high-level competition.”

No change to factory Ferrari 499 line-ups for 2025

Ferrari AF Corse’s factory FIA WEC Hypercar line-ups will stay the same for the 2025 season, following the news last week that 2024 Le Mans winners Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina have had their contracts extended. Speaking with the press today at …

Speaking with the press today at the brand’s end-of-season Finali Mondiali press conference, Ferrari sports car boss Antonello Coletta said he is “very satisfied” with the performance of the six drivers, who all have a Le Mans win with the 499P on their resume.

“Nothing is going to change on the No. 50 (Fuoco, Molina and Nicklas Nielsen) or No. 51 (James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi & Alessandro Pier Guidi),” he said when asked about Ferrari’s 2025 driver roster. “But we haven’t finalized the line-up for the No. 83 (the privately funded 499P entered by AF Corse).”

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Arthur Leclerc — the younger brother of Ferrari F1 driver Charles — will get a first taste of the 499P in the Bahrain WEC rookie test next month, but Coletta said he will not take up a full-season drive next year in the third car.

“Next year the line-up for the No. 83 will be for full-season drivers. Arthur is doing the rookie test but he is not a choice for next year — our goal is to keep him growing so he will be ready to catch more opportunities in prototypes,” Coletta explained. “We want to help our drivers grow and we are doing the best we can.”

Instead, the 24-year-old Scuderia Ferrari development driver — who has been racing in the ELMS LMP2 class and Italian GT this year — looks set to continue competing in GT3 next season.

“Next year he will probably be in the GT3,” Coletta said of the younger Leclerc. “We haven’t taken a final decision. But it’s clear that our dream and his dream is to go ahead in the most important championship.”

The potential for Charles Leclerc to compete at Le Mans in the future was also addressed, but Coletta stressed that he remains fully focused on his Formula 1 commitments.

“We know that Charles Leclerc would like to do Le Mans, but he is absorbed in F1 and bringing him in for one race would be a penalty for a team running the whole championship,” he said.

ELMS victors get 2025 Le Mans entries

Following the final round of the 2024 European Le Mans Series at Portimao on Saturday, five automatic invitations were confirmed for the 2025 running of the Le Mans 24 Hours. By winning the LMP2 teams’ championship, AO by TF has secured an …

Following the final round of the 2024 European Le Mans Series at Portimao on Saturday, five automatic invitations were confirmed for the 2025 running of the Le Mans 24 Hours.

By winning the LMP2 teams’ championship, AO by TF has secured an invitation to the French classic, while Inter Europol Competition claimed an invitation of its own by finishing second in the class standings.

AF Corse, meanwhile, earned an invitation with the LMP2 Pro-Am win for the No. 83 ORECA, after winning the class title in dramatic circumstances on the final lap of the race.

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LMP3’s championship-winning outfit – RLR MSport – will also have the opportunity to enter next year’s Grand Prix D’Endurance in LMP2 following its triumph over Eurointernational and Team Virage in the nail-biting finale.

And finally, in LMGT3, after a title showdown during the weekend between nine of the 11 cars in the class, Iron Lynx came out on top with its Lamborghini Huracan and has been awarded an automatic invitation to enter the Le Mans 24 Hours in the LMGT3 class.

The title was sealed on the final corner of the final lap when Andrea Caldarelli darted past Iron Dames’ Michelle Gatting to narrowly take the class win and crown from Ferrari team Kessel Racing.

This set of five invitations adds to the pair handed out a week ago at Petit Le Mans. There, driver Nick Boulle claimed the Jim Trueman Award after his title-winning campaign with Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports and AWA racer Orey Fidani won the Bob Akin Award for his efforts in GTD, granting him the chance to enter a car in the LMGT3 class next year.

Two additional invitations are also up for grabs over the winter in the Asian Le Mans Series, where the LMP2 and GT title-winning teams will be granted a space apiece on the 2025 Le Mans entry list.

Ferrari locks in Hypercar line-up for another season

Ferrari has announced that it has renewed the factory contracts for six drivers currently in its endurance racing stable – Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessio Rovera and Lilou Wadoux – on Saturday at its Finali Mondiali …

“We are very happy to have renewed the contracts for the core of our official drivers, a choice that guarantees continuity and stability for our team, one of the fundamental aspects allowing us to achieve major results,” said Antonello Coletta, the global head of Ferrari Endurance and Corse Clienti.

For Fuoco and Molina, this news follows their overall victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours back in June with the No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P.

“I’m really proud of this news, we started this program with Ferrari three years ago, we have a lot more to achieve,” Fuoco said. “Winning Le Mans is a good result but we want more, so we decided to continue on this project and I really hope we have more good results in the future.”

Molina added: “It’s very important to have continuity on what we built up in the last three years. The results are there and this always helps.

“This is a very positive matter for the future and I am really happy to continue my career at Ferrari for the coming years, I am really proud to continue with this group in this brand. We need to keep working, we have more to achieve.”

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These contract extensions follow the multi-year renewals announced between November 2023 and January 2024 for three of its current factory Hypercar drivers, 2024 Le Mans winner Nicklas Nielsen and Centenary Le Mans winners James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi.

This news does not confirm the five drivers in question for factory 499P drives next year (that decision and announcement will come later), however, you can reasonably expect that they will return to the FIA WEC’s top class for the third season of the program.

As for the other four drivers whose renewals were made public today, their extensions follow successful 2024 seasons and standout results racing with Ferrari. Serra and Rigon won the GTD PRO class at the Rolex 24 At Daytona with Risi Competizione at the start of the year.

Rovera, 29, has been competing around the world in the FIA WEC, GT World Challenge Europe, IMSA and in the ELMS’ LMP2 Pro/Am class. He will fight for the P2 Pro/Am class title today in Portimao with AF Corse.

Wadoux, meanwhile, has been competing in both IMSA’s LMP2 class and Super GT GT300 during the year. With a second-place finish at the Sugo 300 km in September, the 23-year-old became the first female driver to stand on the podium of the Japanese championship since it took this name in 2005.

Pourchaire among new additions to WEC rookie test

Four new drivers have been named for the forthcoming FIA WEC rookie test in Bahrain next month, which will be held the day after the eight-hour season finale. Peugeot will run a pair of former Formula 2 drivers – 21-year-old Théo Pourchaire …

Four new drivers have been named for the forthcoming FIA WEC rookie test in Bahrain next month, which will be held the day after the eight-hour season finale.

Peugeot will run a pair of former Formula 2 drivers — 21-year-old Théo Pourchaire (pictured above), who won the 2023 F2 title with ART Grand Prix and showed well in several IndyCar races this season with Arrow McLaren, along with 23-year-old Clément Novalak, who currently drives for Inter Europol Competition in the ELMS. Both Frenchmen will get behind the wheel of the 2024 9X8 during the day’s running.

“For Team Peugeot TotalEnergies, these rookie tests in Bahrain bring a fresh perspective, even though reconditioning the cars after the race requires a lot of work from the entire team,” said Olivier Jansonnie, the technical director of Peugeot Sport. “It is always very motivating and rewarding to see young drivers arrive with wide eyes, discovering the team, the car, etc.”

“We selected two different profiles. Théo is single-seater oriented with an already impressive track record. Clément has more endurance experience with notable results in ELMS, particularly a second place in LMP2 at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans. His statistics in this discipline impressed us.

“I think it’s an interesting combination. They will be guided by Paul di Resta and Malthe Jakobsen, who also went through this process before being appointed full-time next season. It is always very interesting for us to get technical feedback from fresh perspectives.”

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At Alpine, F2 and Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins will get behind the wheel of an A424 for the first time.

“I am super happy with this opportunity, and I am very grateful to Alpine Endurance Team for allowing me to continue learning in the world of motorsport,” he said. “It is an opportunity for me to continue to build my experience with new engineers and a new car, as well as an opportunity to show my potential.

“Although I am very focused on my single-seater journey, it is a challenge that I accept with pleasure and I hope that we will maximize the rookie test day, both on my side for learning, but also to allow the team to have good data as part of their development.”

Philippe Sinault, team principal of the Alpine Endurance team, feels Martins will bring a new dynamic to the team for the test.

“He is an excellent driver we know well, an Alpine Academy member and who has worked a lot with the Formula 1 team in the simulator,” he said. “We want to give him a new experience behind the wheel of an endurance prototype.”

Lamborghini factory driver Franck Perera also has been confirmed to test the SC63.

“I am really looking forward to stepping in the car and going back to Bahrain for the first time since 2004 in F3 with Prema,” he said.

This foursome of drivers join standout European Le Mans Series youngsters Reshad de Gerus and Gillian Henrion, who became the first two drivers confirmed for the test earlier this month.

De Gerus, a current LMP2 driver with IDEC Sport, is set to drive a car provided by the title-winning Hypercar manufacturer, while Henrion, an LMP3 driver, will steer Manthey PureRxcing’s LMGT3 championship-winning Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).

Both drivers were nominated to drive in the test by the WEC as a reward for their efforts while competing in the ELMS this season.

This story has been updated following confirmation of Perera’s participation in the test.

Le Mans bound: Boulle and Fidani win Trueman and Akin Awards

In the slew of championships earned Saturday at Motul Petit Le Mans, the season finale for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, were two particularly coveted awards among the gentlemen drivers: The Jim Trueman and Bob Akin Awards. Given to the highest placing Bronze driver in the LMP2 (Trueman) and GTD (Akin) categories, the best part of winning them to most drivers is the automatic entry into the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This year’s winners were Nick Boulle for the Trueman Award and Orey Fidani claiming the Akin Award in his first season of GTD competition.

Boulle wasn’t sure at the start of 2024 that he was going to compete a full season of LMP2 in the WeatherTech Championship. But as the year went on in Inter Europol’s first foray into IMSA competition with now-five time champs PR1 Mathiasen Motorstports, promising results kept him in the game. The reward was a victory at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and second in the first IMSA endurance race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, along with the LMP2 championship with full-season co-driver Tom Dillmann.

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The championship and Trueman Award were far from a sure thing through much of Saturday’s 10-hour race. The team needed a third-place finish to guarantee that Gar Robinson couldn’t overtake them for the Trueman Award. Boulle, Dillmann and Kuba Smiechowski finished fourth, but with Riley Motorsports in second, it was enough.

“Certainly I was paying attention to that as the race wound down,” said Boulle. “Tom pointed out that potentially could have been more aggressive and taken some risks later in the race with a few minutes to go, and pointed it out that one finishing position — our finishing position guaranteed [of winning the Trueman] was two back [of Riley], and that went away. Yeah, I guess we have a trip to France next year.”

A fourth place for Boulle and company at Petit Le Mans was enough to secure the Trueman Award for him and the LMP2 championship for the team. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

Boulle should be in good hands with Inter Europol at Le Mans; the Polish team won the 2023 edition of the 24 Hours.

“It’s great that Nick also won the Jim Trueman Award, and with that, our goal is to have two cars at Le Mans next year,” said team manager Sascha Fassbender. “We’re all very happy, and I am already looking forward to the Rolex 24, where we run as Inter Europol Competition.”

Fidani’s season got off to a rough start as AWA learned the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. But by the fourth race of the season, he was leading the Akin Award standings and stayed there for the duration of the season, finishing ahead of last year’s winner, Brendan Iribe.

“I couldn’t be happier or more proud right now,” said Canadian Fidani. “This is the goal we set for ourselves at the very beginning of this program coming together, and we worked tirelessly to see it through. No matter what happened throughout this season, we were always focused on the Bob Akin championship and getting a 24 Hours of Le Mans entry, and we never lost sight of the big picture. I can’t thank Andrew and the entire AWA crew enough for all they’ve done. I love everybody on this team from the bottom of my heart. I’m so excited and I can’t wait to show what we can do in France!”

Steady progress with AWA’s Corvette paid off at Petit for Fidani. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

Fidani was so zeroed in on winning the award and the Le Mans entry that he went to France this past June to race in the Le Mans Cup race that ran as a support race to the 24 Hours. He’s expected to run the 2025 race in a Corvette.

“Congratulations to Orey Fidani and all of AWA on securing the Bob Akin Award and an automatic entry into the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans,” said Christie Bagne, Corvette Z06 GT3.R program manager. “To see their hard work and effort lead to this accomplishment is something in which they and everyone at Corvette Racing can take a high level of pride. We’re excited for AWA’s future and can’t wait to welcome them to Le Mans next summer.”

The 2023 winners of the Trueman and Akin Awards were George Kurtz and Brendan Iribe. Kurtz, with Colin Braun and Nicky Catsburg, had a rough 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans with a DNF, a far cry from 2023 when Kurtz, Braun and James Allen took the Pro-Am title in LMP2. Iribe captured the pole for the LMGT3 class, but he, Frederik Schandorff and Ollie Millroy finished 13th.

FIA approves additions and changes to WEC sporting and technical regulations

Multiple key sporting and technical regulations for the FIA World Endurance Championship have been approved today by the FIA World Motor Sport Council during its third meeting of 2024. During the gathering – the council’s third of the year – the …

Multiple key sporting and technical regulations for the FIA World Endurance Championship have been approved today by the FIA World Motor Sport Council during its third meeting of 2024.

During the gathering — the council’s third of the year — the following additions and changes to the rules have been confirmed ahead of the 2025 season:

Leader lights will be replaced with multicolor LED display panels fitted on each side of the cars, offering wide viewing angles and capable of displaying a range of information. This change has been made to “enhance the fan experience.”
The homologation period for the Hypercar class cars has been extended by two years, through the end of the 2029 season.
The lifespan of the current-gen LMP2 cars has also been extended. Their homologation will last until the end of 2027. These cars will continue to have a presence in the European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Any driver having driven less than 45 minutes in total during a race will not score FIA WEC championship points – this is a reduction from the previous limit of 60 minutes.
Each Hypercar manufacturer must nominate two cars to score points in the world championship.

The meeting was chaired by President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, with World Council members joining in person at the FIA offices in Paris, and via video conference.

Bourdais rejoins Cadillac WEC team for Bahrain 8 Hours

Sebastien Bourdais has been confirmed for his third FIA WEC Hypercar outing of the season, placed in joining Cadillac Racing’s Hypercar line-up for the 8 Hours of Bahrain on Nov. 2. The Frenchman, who won IMSA’s Petit Le Mans season finale last …

Sebastien Bourdais has been confirmed for his third FIA WEC Hypercar outing of the season, placed in joining Cadillac Racing’s Hypercar line-up for the 8 Hours of Bahrain on Nov. 2.

The Frenchman, who won IMSA’s Petit Le Mans season finale last weekend, will share the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R with Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn next month, adding to his WEC appearances with the team at Qatar and Le Mans earlier in the season.

“It’s good to get back in the car with Alex and Earl,” said Bourdais, who competed with Cadillac Racing full time in the Ganassi-run V-Series.R in IMSA’s GTP class. “We started off the season really well [in Qatar] and while we ultimately didn’t get the result because of circumstances [a post-race disqualification], the car was very competitive in the race and we certainly deserved a good finish.

“Unfortunately, it’s been a bit of a tough season in terms of results — there has always been something getting in the way — but performance-wise, it seems like the car is in a really good window. It’s pretty light, good on power and competitive, so there is definitely something to play for and if we could send it off on a high, that would be pretty cool.”

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Bourdais, who has four Champ Car titles on his resume, has previous experience at the Bahrain International Circuit to draw from via previous starts in both Formula 1 and WEC’s LMP2 category.

“Bahrain is a really big challenge,” he said. “It’s an extremely abrasive racetrack. Tire degradation is very high and using the tire the right way to make it function without making it slide is critical. You have to do it with setup, dampers, traction control, you name it, but we’ll try to find some recipes that work and hopefully, we’ll wind up in a good spot.”

The Frenchman’s return to the grid is one of a number of changes to the 36-car entry for the eight-hour finale. Elsewhere in the top class, Alpine Endurance Team has mixed up its crews following Nicolas Lapierre’s appointment as sporting director, with Paul Loup Chatin back in the No. 35 A424 prototype to race with Ferdinand Habsburg and Jules Gounon after skipping Fuji, and Charles Milesi moving across to the No. 36.

In LMGT3, Danish youngster Conrad Laursen, who will fight for the European Le Mans Series LMGT3 title this weekend in Portimao, replaces Clemens Schmid aboard Akkodis ASP Team’s No. 78 Lexus RC F LMGT3.

There is also a double substitution in the No. 88 Proton Competition Mustang. Mikkel Pedersen and Christian Ried make way for 2018 European Le Mans Series LMGTE champion Giorgio Roda — returning to WEC for the first time since Le Mans back in June – and countryman Giammarco Levorato, himself a multiple ELMS race winner.

Iron Lynx’s Lamborghini Huracan will have factory driver Matteo Cairoli taking over from Franck Perera, making for an all-Italian line-up in the No. 60. It will be Cairoli’s first WEC start since Le Mans, where he formed part of the Lamborghini Iron Lynx Hypercar driver crew for its two-car effort.

Click here for the full entry list for the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain.

Genesis Hypercar/LMDh plans taking shape

Since Hyundai’s halo brand Genesis revealed last month that it will be going prototype racing in the future with an LMDh-spec challenger, it has stayed silent on the matter. But behind the scenes, the picture is becoming clearer as its new program …

For this bold new project, RACER understands that Genesis is targeting entries in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for its new car. (ED: Pictured above is the Genesis X Gran Racer VGT Concept)

On timing, there is less certainty, but it seems likely at this stage that in preparation for its move into Hypercar and GTP, it will commit some resources to a 2025 LMP2 program in the European Le Mans Series. This looks set to be a ‘white-label’ effort fielded by an existing team, which will be used to bed-in crew and management and get them up to speed with ACO rules and regulations ahead of its full factory debut.

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This satellite team appears likely to be composed of current ELMS staff and a reasonable number of incoming Hyundai/Genesis personnel; some are understood to be transferring from the Hyundai WRC program. RACER is aware that several teams have been in the mix to operate this toe-in-the-water campaign, including at least one not currently in LMP2 competition.

In a wider context, the decision to go LMP2 racing first is an important one. It strongly indicates that the Genesis FIA WEC program will be undertaken by an in-house team, not a service provider.

At the time of writing, RACER believes that Genesis has now whittled down its list of prospective teams for this effort to three.

IDEC Sport and TDS Racing (Panis Racing) look to be two of the final contenders for the effort in 2025, with Romain Dumas’ RD Limited – set to make its LMP2 debut in the Asian Le Mans Series – looking like the third.

All three tick an important box: they are based in southern France and boast high-quality staff and facilities. With Genesis’ forthcoming challenger known to be designed around an ORECA chassis, running the ELMS P2 team out of France makes sense and could have a knock-on effect on program roll-out and timings.

Additionally, RACER is aware that the factory team is likely to establish its operational home in the same region. However, some functions of the effort are set to remain in Germany, the current home of Hyundai’s European and global motorsport efforts at factory and customer levels.

On the IMSA side of things, the picture looks significantly different, as Genesis is searching for an established player to act as a service provider for its GTP entries. As a result, the entire North American effort is understood to be at a less advanced point.

Who will run the IMSA program? Chip Ganassi Racing – now a free agent following its split with Cadillac – has been frequently namechecked by RACER’s sources as a team in a strong position, but it appears that a final deal has not yet been done. There are rumblings that others remain in the mix, and a surprise is not out of the question.

As for the timeline, early signs point to a 2026 competitive debut for the new car, but whether or not it will race in both championships in year one remains to be seen.

The most sensible assumption is that the WEC will be a part of that initial roll-out, as the key technical partners and the team’s administrative HQ look set to be based in Europe.

On the other side of the pond, IMSA’s season-opening stretch at Daytona and Sebring would provide two high-profile events to kick things off, but provide a major challenge for the team’s supply chain, logistics and development. This is something that the factories involved in the initial roll-out of the GTP class back in 2023 noted.

Is it possible that Genesis targets a phased roll-out in North America later in 2026, or even, with a full season of WEC racing under its belt, in 2027? Whilst nothing is certain, it seems that both options are on the table.

And whilst we are some distance away from driver selection being necessary, there appears to have been some movement already. RACER has spoken to multiple top class drivers who have been in talks and it’s distinctly possible that we might see a name or two attached to the ELMS program.

Watch this space…