The Hyundai Motor Group has announced its Genesis luxury brand will enter top-flight endurance racing, potentially as soon as next year.
Confirming it will develop a car compliant with the LMDh regulations instead of the Le Mans Hypercar code, Genesis will have the choice of sourcing its chassis from Oreca, Dallara, Ligier or Multimatic and then hybrid components from either Bosch, WAE and Xtrac, rather than starting from scratch.
Currently Alpine, BMW, Cadillac, Porsche and Lamborghini all race LMDh cars, while Ferrari, Peugeot and Toyota field cars developed under the LMH rules.
There’s no word yet on a design or specification, but it’s thought the Genesis hypercar racer will draw plenty of stylistic inspiration from the Genesis X Gran Racer VGT concept when it enters the World Endurance Championship (WEC) next year.
It’s also expected that an entry in the US-based IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship will also be on the cards.
Currently, Hyundai participates in the World Rally Championship and races in TCR touring cars to promote its Hyundai brand, but it's thought its entry into WEC and potentially IMSA will bolster the launch of its new high-performance Magma sub-brand it announced earlier this year.
There’s no word yet when Genesis plans to reveal its endurance racer but it's thought the big debut will happen in the coming months ahead of its 2025 season debut.