Genesis hires Tarquini to management team as WEC programme takes shape

Touring car legend Gabriele Tarquini has been named sporting director of the new-for-2026 Genesis World Endurance Championship Hypercar squad.

The 63-year-old has taken the new role at Paul Ricard-based Genesis Magma Racing after a stint as team manager at the BRC Racing Team TCR operation, as predicted by Autosport last summer.

Tarquini moved into management following his retirement from the cockpit aged 59 in 2021 after four seasons racing for the Italian squad in the TCR World Touring Car Cup.

“When I stopped racing in 2021, the natural evolution was to work in motorsport, starting in the world I know – touring cars,” said Tarquini, who won the 1994 British Touring Car Championship with Alfa Romeo and the 2009 World Touring Car Championship with SEAT.

“I’ve had some very successful seasons, but joining Genesis Magma Racing is a new challenge for me.

“I have a lot to learn about WEC, but I will use all my experience as a driver, a coach and a team manager to be prepared for next season.”

Tarquini, who made a single Le Mans 24 Hours start over his long career back in 1985, was one of a number of appointments announced by Genesis, the prestige brand of South Korean automotive giant Hyundai, on the eve of this year’s 24 Hours on Friday.

Justin Taylor, engineer on the 2023 Le Mans-winning Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar and a veteran of Audi’s LMP1 campaigns, has been confirmed as chief engineer after joining the Genesis set-up from Chip Ganassi Racing last month.

Anouck Abadie, a former racer in the French Formula Academy series, takes the team manager roles after departing the Swiss Kessel Racing GT team at which she had held the same job since 2022.

Team principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “Anouck, Justin and Gabriele are fantastic additions to the Genesis Magma Racing team.

“They all have great experience in motorsport, which will be complemented by additional endurance racing expertise of the other team members we will recruit in the coming months.”

Taylor and Abadie have already been incorporated into the so-called Genesis trajectory programme run by IDEC Sport, starting with this weekend’s Le Mans WEC round.

IDEC is running an LMP2 ORECA-Gibson 07 together with Hyundai Motorsport to help the gear-up for Genesis’s Hypercar next year.

What is being termed as a ‘Race Base’ is being established by GMR at Paul Ricard on an industrial park operated by IDEC’s parent company.

Warren Scheckter, nephew of 1979 F1 world champion Jody, has been named as commercial, marketing and communications manager.

Mia Sharizman has been recruited as GMR’s driver programme advisor, having formerly run Renault’s young driver scheme in 2016-22.

The Genesis GMR-001 Hypercar, developed on the ORECA chassis spine, is on schedule to run for the first time in August, as announced on the launch of the LMDh programme late last year.

Andre Lotterer, who is racing the trajectory IDEC P2 entry at Le Mans with Jamie Chadwick and Mathys Jaubert, and Pipo Derani are the only confirmed drivers so far.