Q&A with Genesis Magma Racing drivers André Lotterer, Pipo Derani, Mathys Jaubert and Dani Juncadella

The first endurance test for the GMR-001 Hypercar at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve marked another key step in Genesis Magma Racing’s preparation for the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Following the three days of testing, the team’s four confirmed drivers for the season – André Lotterer, Pipo Derani, Mathys Jaubert and Dani Juncadella – reflect on their experiences.

What is the aim of completing an endurance test with the GMR-001 Hypercar?

Andre Lotterer: “When you are planning to race at Le Mans, it's a 24-hour race, so the car needs to be reliable. These tests are the first steps to stress the car over longer period of time and learn about all our components because everything is new. It's actually much more for the team, engineers and for the people who are behind the whole concept of the car than the driver.  Of course, for us, it's also good to get a feeling for the car over longer distances, especially learning a bit more about the tyre degradation and also comfort for the drivers. Usually at an endurance test you don't do that much setup work. Instead, you focus on having the car on track as much as possible. It was good that we have managed to do that relatively early on our testing journey which only started at the beginning of August.”

How has the development of the GMR-001 Hypercar moved forward compared to the first test with the car in August?

Pipo Derani: “Considering we've only done six test days, we're moving forward quickly. There’s obviously a lot, especially on the systems side, that we need to keep working on, but the Genesis Magma Racing team has been doing an amazing job so far. It's not an easy task to jump into a race series like the WEC, with so many other competitors who have been doing it for so long. To put a brand-new group of people together and make them understand each other is not easy, and so far I think we're making good progress. There are a few areas where we could be better than we are, but there are others where we are better than we expected to be.  That's part of the development and here we are, after only our sixth test day, already doing a 30-hour test. The GMR-001 Hypercar is going well so far. We had some issues to fix, but that’s expected – that’s why you do tests like this.”

 What were you first impression of driving the GMR-001 Hypercar?

Mathys Jaubert: “Driving the GMR-001 Hypercar for the first time was something very special. It's very powerful, much more powerful than anything else I’ve driven, but it is easy to drive. It's easy to find the rhythm in it. The driving style you need is closer to a GT than a single seater or Prototype, like the LMP2. I think it’s the weight, which is creating a lot of movement in the car and makes it really rewarding to drive fast. It was like I was dreaming. Since I was very young, I’ve aimed to enter the highest class of the endurance racing, and I'm very happy to be there and to share the car with amazing drivers such as Dani, Pipo and André.”

 How would you describe your first stints in the GMR-001 Hypercar at Portimão?

Daniel Juncadella: “My first laps in the GMR-001 Hypercar were an incredible experience. I loved it. From the get go, what an amazing car. You can tell what a great base we have, and it's only been like six of seven days of development on track. Of course, it was tough because I was jumping straight into an endurance test for my first ever laps in the car, but I think it was obviously a good test for my fitness and I think I did very well. I’m so happy to see that the fitness level is there already in the very first days with the team and I’m already looking forward to the next test. There is a bright future ahead.”

How does the GMR-001 Hypercar compare to the LMP2 and GT cars you have driven before?

Daniel Juncadella: “I think it's a pretty good combination of the LMP2 and a GT car. I would say in terms of driveability it may be closer to a GT in many aspects. However, we have no ABS in Hypercar, so that makes it tricky. The Hypercar has a lot of systems that you need to think of, a lot more technical things that you need to learn to understand than in the other cars. It has some downforce in high-speed sections, very close to what an LMP2 delivers but the GMR-001 Hypercar is a lot more powerful so that's really, really enjoyable.”

Which skills have you learnt with the Genesis Magma Racing Trajectory programme in LMP2 that you were able to use in your first Hypercar test ?

Mathys Jaubert: “I think the biggest thing I’ve learned during my season with the Genesis Magma Racing Trajectory programme in LMP2 and the European Le Mans Series is what I need to do in terms of feedback. What information do I need to give to the engineer and to all the staff to improve the car. This is something very important in this kind of test with the Hypercar, where we are at the start and we need to develop the car. As drivers we need to give great feedback, but be very clear and focus on a specific point. Having Mathieu Leroy as the engineer we are talking with makes it even easier. We’ve been working together all year in ELMS, so we know each other’s language, and he knows my strengths and what I want to have with the car.”

What extra information were you able to provide after driving the GMR-001 Hypercar in darkness for the first time?

Pipo Derani: “There are some things that are not the priority which jump up the order when you are driving at night for the first time. So we weren't particularly focusing on dimming the steering wheel display, for example, and then we got to the night for the first time and I couldn’t see anything. Later we would be able to do that ourselves in the car, with the settings we control as drivers, but those comfort things haven’t been something we’ve focussed on yet. It’s been more about the critical systems – the engine, the chassis and so on. Once we have our heads around those things we can make sure we have a look at the little things, making sure we put all those boxes away for the car to be complete and ready to go into competition.”

How would you sum up the results of the test?

Andre Lotterer: “It was very interesting test with a lot things to analysed and some questions to answer. We still covered a lot of mileage and gained a lot of information for the engineers to work with before the next test. The data from the software will obviously be downloaded and analyzed, and that stuff takes some time to fine tune, but the hardware went through a rough test really well. It proved we have solved some issues from the earlier tests, but we still have some other things to deal with – nothing dramatic, but things that we still need to fix before we start racing.”