Genesis at 6 Hours of São Paulo
Autódromo José Carlos Pace
São Paulo, Brazil
10–12 July 2026
Reliability Milestone Marks Positive Weekend in São Paulo
Genesis Magma Racing can take valuable lessons and experience from the 6 Hours of São Paulo, the first fly-away event in its debut season in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Both GMR-001 Hypercars showed strong reliability to complete a race without technical issues for the first time, but penalties and small mistakes limited the results the team could achieve.
Reliability was the headline the team wanted from Brazil, and both cars delivered it. After the data gathered across the gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans, bringing both GMR-001 Hypercars to the flag with no chassis, engine or systems trouble was the clearest sign yet of the progress made since April. It is the first race weekend of the season in which neither car has needed the garage, and for a project still in its opening months that steadiness counts for a great deal, even when it is not reflected in the classification.
Though the team was always aware of the challenge of the unique Interlagos track, to leave Brazil without a second haul of points is a frustrating end to the weekend. Both GMR-001 Hypercars showed strong pace during the Free Practice and Qualifying sessions, including when Mathieu Jaminet topped Friday afternoon’s FP2 before he qualified the #19 entry seventh on Saturday.
"It was a tough day because we were actually doing well. We were in the mix, but it was just one of those races with too many little issues.[...] I also got a penalty after racing aggressively with the Toyota, but that was just one of several issues. Some of them were self-inflicted, but the potential of the GMR-001 Hypercar was good. The positive is that both cars finished reliably. Now we just need to look at the issues, learn from them, and come back stronger."
"It was nice to be back at home driving at Interlagos. It's a privilege to drive in front of my home crowd. And the whole energy that the Brazilian people bring, it's amazing. Unfortunately, we couldn't give them a better result. We were a bit out of the race for my stints with everything that had happened up until then. Nevertheless, we were trying to bring the car home with no issues, which is a big step for the team, and I got to have fun in the last two stints."
Behind the Scenes
Pipo Derani takes us inside Interlagos for a special track guide ahead of his home race, sharing the hints, tips and secrets that define a lap of one of motorsport’s most iconic circuits.
As Genesis Magma Racing arrives in Brazil for the 2026 6 Hours of São Paulo, Round 4 of the FIA World Endurance Championship, Pipo explains the unique character and challenges of Interlagos from a driver’s perspective and what it takes to tackle the circuit in the GMR-001 Hypercar.
A New Continent, A New Challenge: Genesis Magma Racing Heads to São Paulo
Round Four of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship takes place across three days of intense track action. The weekend opens on Friday 10 July with Free Practice 1 and 2, giving teams their first indications of tyre wear and baseline setups on the tricky, high-traction surface.
For Genesis Magma Racing, this is new ground in every sense. The GMR-001 has tested its character at Imola, Spa-Francorchamps, and Le Mans - three circuits with very different demands, but all of them European. São Paulo is something else entirely: the team’s first race on South American soil, in front of one of the most vocal and informed crowds in motorsport, and at the midpoint of an eight-race championship where every point now carries the weight of a season taking proper shape.
For Genesis Magma Racing, this event represents the critical midpoint of the eight-round 2026 season. Arriving immediately after the grueling trial of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, São Paulo acts as a complete shift in competitive requirements. It demands that the team pivots instantly from long-range straight-line endurance back to short-circuit agility and hyper-reactive race execution.
Experience WEC moments
Feel the pace before Interlagos — cockpit-view highlights from previous races
Precision Meets Relentless Pressure
At just 4.309 kilometers, it stands as the shortest circuit on the modern World Endurance Championship calendar. Yet, what it lacks in pure distance, it more than balances out with technical complexity. For Genesis Magma Racing, arriving in Brazil as a Hypercar manufacturer represents a distinct kind of pressure. This is a track that tests the agility, mechanical traction, and cooling efficiency of a racing car to its absolute limits.
The layout consists of 15 corners 10 left and 5 right weaving down into the center of the valley floor before launching back up the hill. Because it runs anti-clockwise, the lateral forces place an unusual, intense load on the left side of the driver's neck and subject the right tyres to immense, continuous stress. Hypercar drivers are expected to shift gears approximately 38 times on every single lap, requiring absolute precision to keep the power delivery smooth.
Genesis Magma Program
WEC is where performance technology becomes measurable. Where reliability isn’t a claim - it’s a result.
WEC is where performance technology becomes measurable. Where reliability isn’t a claim - it’s a result.
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