Hyundai finally confirms Genesis will race at Le Mans

Although no timeframe has been announced, the confirmation will end months of what could barely be called speculation. Even Hyundai’s motorsport boss Cyril Abiteboul had stopped really trying to hide the fact that Hyundai was going to make the sportscar switch in recent months.

Little detail came with the announcement, which was largely confined to an Instagram post from the World Endurance Championship. That said: “Hyundai’s luxury brand Genesis has today made official its intention to join endurance racing in the near future. Potential FIA World Endurance Championship entry remains subject to WEC Selection Committee approval.”

An additional statement from Hyundai added: “The LMDh program will add a new pillar to Hyundai Motorsport’s portfolio. Since its establishment in 2012, Hyundai Motorsport has been competing in WRC and TCR with Hyundai N brand. Genesis, the premium brand of the Hyundai Motor Group, will add endurance racing to the disciplines of its motorsport activities.”

Abiteboul joined the WRC team last season and was soon promoted to oversee all of Hyundai’s motorsport efforts. Since then, rumours that it’s long-running rally programme might feel the axe in favour of sportscar racing have become rife.

Hyundai’s involvement in sportscar racing has been speculated about since the previous generation of IMSA rules, when a DPi programme was rumoured but never came to fruition. Now, it is expected to join the grid in both WEC and the American-based IMSA sportscar championship from the start of the 2026 season.

As of the announcement, no information about which chassis supplier Hyundai/Genesis would go with has been announced, and no information about its engine has emerged either.

Hyundai Group had made moves to push its Genesis luxury sub-brand toward the motorsport world over the last year. The hiring of Jacky Ickx as an official ambassador and the launch of its sporty MAGMA spec and a Nürburgring taxi service have all fed into the move to make Genesis a more motorsport-based brand.

What we now have to see is whether the decision to race in WEC with Genesis branding helps to keep Hyundai’s presence in the World Rally Championship, given it will be Hyundai’s only top-level motorsport exposure. That team is currently leading the WRC Drivers’ Championship, with Thierry Neuville now a heavy favourite for the title.