In their second driver lineup announcement in as many days, Genesis Magma Racing have dispelled any further transfer rumours by signing the French duo of Mathieu Jaminet and Paul-Loup Chatin to compete with their GMR-001 Hypercar project in the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It comes just 24 hours after they announced that Jamie Chadwick will become the team’s test and reserve driver next year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both are statement signings for multiple reasons, cheif among them being that both have two years of Hypercar experience under their belt with existing teams. Paul-Loup Chatin spent the previous two seasons with Alpine’s own Hypercar effort in WEC, helping them to fourth in the manufacturers standings in the marque’s debut season. He, alongside Alpine teammates Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi also secured the A424’s first ever victory in September’s 6 Hours of Fuji after a late strategy call proved a race winning move. The 34 year-old is also an European Le Mans Series champion in both 2014 and 2019, and his signing brings yet another experienced, skilled member to a rather shrewd lineup for the Korean brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mathieu Jaminet’s signing meanwhile is an even more seismic one, having been poached from Porsche as the German brand scales down it’s Hypercar programme. Having been with the Stuttgart marque since 2019, he graduated to their 963 lineup in 2023 and has since plied his trade jointly in IMSA and WEC. While his WEC outings have been hampered by an off-colour 963, his IMSA endevours have simply been brilliant. He is of course the current IMSA GTP driver’s champion, an accolade he shares with Matt Campbell, and only adds to the existing expertise in a huge way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Make no mistake, if Genesis’s transfer strategy is anything to go by they’ll be expecting results immediately. You just don’t sign up this level of talent without taking endurance racing seriously. Arguably it’s yet another similarity to Ferrari, who recently won the 2025 World Manufacturers crown in WEC, their first World Championship sportscar title since 1972. Even when the GMR-001 was launched fans and pundits alike were keen to point out the striking resemblance to the Scuderia’s triple Le Mans winning 499P with the front bodywork and rear wing design clearly having taken inspiration from arguably the most successful Hypercar of the lot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But doppelganger or not, there’s far too much being shown off here for the existing WEC teams not to take notes, and if this car can prove as quick as it looks Genesis might find themselves posing a serious threat to the likes of Cadillac, Ferrari and Toyota. And it’s not like the sight of a Genesis on the podium is completely out of the question, either. Just look at the fan faveourite Aston Martin Valkyrie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having missed it’s slated debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and being embarassingly off the pace at it’s first outing in the 1812kms of Qatar back in March, few would have suggested it would lead a race overall when the championship returned to the Middle East in Bahrain a mere eight months later. Even fewer that in just it’s fifth IMSA start it would score an incredible podium and genuinely have the pace to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And yet here we are, the Valkyrie having found its stride amidst the twilight of the 2025 Sportscar season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In their announcement Genesis confirmed that their business is done, and all that’s left for them to do is concentrate on preparing as well as possible for their debut in Qatar next year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aston have shown the way, it’s now the job of Genesis to write a whole new blueprint for sportscar success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thumbnail credit – Lukas Riech via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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