The Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 Hypercar is set to make its debut next week at the 24h of Le Mans. It is the very first 24h race that the Korean luxury brand will participate in. Speaking exclusively to Motorsport Week, Jaminet explained how he feels “less pressure” with Genesis than he did with Porsche ahead of the French endurance classic.
Mathieu Jaminet made the decision to leave Porsche as a works driver after the 2025 season, after having won the IMSA title in the GTP category. This season he joined the newly formed Hypercar effort of Genesis, who have no motorsport heritage and are starting their motorsport presence with a clean slate: “Yeah, my first Le Mans with a different brand. Actually, I’ve only ever done Le Mans with Porsche in the past,” said Jaminet.
“I’m excited because it’s the very beginning of Genesis. It’s a brand-new brand. Also in the European market, you know, they just arrived. I think this event will really help to create a fan base and understand, for a few people, what we actually do, the road cars we produce.
“We came here with a special liveries that’s actually pretty cool, you know, and I feel like, yeah, they’re super sick. I hope the fans are going to enjoy it and that more people will cheer for us after that event for the rest of the season.”
The main difference is the pressure. Coming in with a new car means less pressure to fight for the win. Jaminet described the difference between coming to France with Porsche and Genesis clearly: “I mean, I do feel a difference in terms of pressure. Obviously, when I showed up here in the past with Porsche, the goal was pretty clear.
“You don’t come here to be second; you are coming here to win. And there was a lot of pressure on the team and the drivers to actually perform.
“And I feel today is like my first Le Mans, it’s a bit more relaxed, but some pressure will come with time, also for us.
“But we are so early in the program that at the moment, it’s really about trying to just get to the end, have a clear week, a clear race, and just improve step by step and learn for the future to make sure when we come back next year, and the year after that we’re actually here to try to do a podium or win the race. So, I’m taking it really chill this year.
The cancellation of the first round of the championship is felt by Genesis
Le Mans will mark the first longer race for Genesis, as the opening round of the WEC in Qatar was canceled. Jaminet admits that not having done a race longer than 6 hours will be a test of reliability for the car: “For sure, not going to Qatar. It’s going to hurt for this race.
“We know we have a few reliability problems with the car. And yeah, missing 10 hours of racing in Qatar is not helping. On the other hand, despite not going to Qatar, we had very good preparation, and this is what made our Spa race and Imola race successful as well.
“We cannot win everywhere. It’s always a compromise. We prepared the best we could for this one. We’re going to be fighting somewhere. I think close to the others. If we have some technical issues, we learn, and we keep going for the future.”
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