Paul-Loup Chatin exclusive: ‘’I knew Genesis was the right place for me - without IDEC Sport I don’t think I’d still be a racing driver’’
- Marios Gantzoudis
- 2 hours ago
- 10 min read
When the Genesis Magma Racing project was first officially announced in December 2024, few could have expected what the programme would have delivered in its first three races.
Even with all the veteran staff and drivers, not many would have predicted points by the second round and both cars in Hyperpole 2 at Le Mans, the most prestigious endurance race of them all.
Paul-Loup Chatin, driver of the No.19 GMR-001, knows that despite the headline results, the team needs to work even harder to achieve the desired result, which as he describes it is ‘’to take the best elements out of each other, in order to create the strongest team and win together’’.
Speaking exclusively to DIVEBOMB, the 34-year old Frenchman emphasized that one thing time and time again.
Preparing for Le Mans and ‘’really special’’ Hyperpole appearance
In the most recent World Endurance Championship (WEC) race, the iconic Le Mans 24 Hours, Genesis stunned the motorsport world when both its cars, the No.17 and No.19, managed to not only escape elimination from the Hyperpole sessions, but get to Hyperpole 2 as well.
There, the No.19 in the hands of Chatin managed to qualify in an astonishing 6th place, ahead of many series mainstays. ‘’We weren't necessarily expecting that in our first year at Le Mans, which is why we were so proud of the job we did throughout the entire week.
“We stayed focused on ourselves and worked to put everything together for qualifying, and that's exactly what we achieved’’, says Chatin when asked about the feat.
‘’To put both cars into Hyperpole was something really special for the whole team. Realistically, in your first year at Le Mans, it's very difficult to expect a great result at the end of the race. So it gave everyone involved in the project a huge boost. It showed that when you work hard, it pays off, and it also demonstrated the potential of the car.
‘’But qualifying is one thing, racing is another. We enjoyed the moment and celebrated it because it was a huge achievement for the team. To reach Hyperpole with both cars in only Genesis' third race was something special. But as soon as that was over, we went straight back to work and focused on race pace’’.
This was, as the Frenchman then went on to explain, also down to the hard work the team put in before the weekend had started, both in the simulator and the Le Mans Test day.
‘’Before Le Mans, we spent a lot of time working in the simulator. Le Mans is always a special event—the one you want to perform well in, both for yourself and for the team. When you're at the beginning of a project like this, preparation becomes even more important.
‘’I think we approached it in the right way. We arrived at the Test Day with a lot of humility and focused entirely on ourselves. We had a clear run plan, and the objective was simply to improve step by step—lap after lap, run after run, session after session.
‘’The goal was to gather as much data as possible, analyse it and become better every time we went out on track. I think that's exactly what we achieved.
“The simulator was an important part of that process, but it's also still under development. It's already a valuable tool, but there's still a lot for us to learn’’, he pointed out, before adding: ‘’After Le Mans, we also did a lot of correlation work using the data from the race to improve the simulator and make it even stronger for next year.”
What was ultimately possible at Le Mans?
Results wise, the 24-hour race did not go as planned, with both cars losing time due to reliability issues. The No.17 car’s race ended after 263 laps due to a suspension failure, while the No.19’s effort was heavily derailed by a power cycle issue during the night hours.
Still though the team persisted and the car finished the race, albeit 13th and nine laps down on the winning Toyota. Chatin believes that the team had the necessary pace to get points.
‘’Before the issue we had during the night, we were running between fifth and eighth. Looking at our pace and the way the race unfolded, I honestly believe that finishing seventh—just behind the No.35 Alpine, which finished sixth—was achievable.
‘’If we had been able to continue at the pace we showed during the first 10 or 12 hours without any issues, I think it was possible. That's why I'm so proud. To have that kind of pace in our first Le Mans, against this level of competition, was a really strong achievement’’.
Chatin believes that the performance of Genesis at Le Mans gives the team ‘’a lot of confidence for the future, provided we keep working hard and continue putting everything together’’, despite the fact that the final result may not fully reflect it.
‘’I'm very proud of the team, and I have no doubts about the people around this project. We're surrounded by experienced, committed people who all share the same goal—to win together. I'm convinced we're on the right path.”
The right people in the right areas
Those same people were a huge draw for the ex-Alpine driver in the first place. He says people like team principal Cyril Abiteboul, sporting director Gabriele Tarquini and others were ‘’a big part of the reason’’ he decided to join the project instead of continuing with Alpine.
‘’I know we have the right people in the right places, with a huge range of experience across different areas of motorsport. If you want to win in Hypercar today, you need that.
“Endurance racing isn't just endurance anymore—it's a 24-hour sprint race. You need experience from different disciplines, and I think that's one of the keys to success’’, explained Chatin.
‘’What also makes me really happy is that there are no egos within the team. It's the same with the engineers, the mechanics and the drivers. Everyone is happy to be here, everyone shares the same objective, and that's to win together. We all try to bring out the best in each other and build the strongest team possible’’.
Leaving Alpine and joining Genesis
Invited to comment on his decision to leave Alpine, where he spent his first two seasons in Hypercar, Chatin explained that ‘’I chose Genesis because I believed it was the right place for me and for my future. It wasn't linked to what would happen with the Alpine project’’.
He admitted however that despite having no knowledge of the subsequent decision of the team to withdraw at the end of 2026, that ‘’whenever there's a change in top management, you know it can have an impact on a programme.’’
‘’We've seen that happen with other manufacturers in the past, and unfortunately it's happened again. I'm genuinely sad that Alpine will stop at the end of the year’’, he noted.
‘’I wasn't expecting that, but the change in top management may have helped reinforce my decision. I had the opportunity to stay with Alpine, a team I'd worked with for many years, and I also had the opportunity to join Genesis’’.
‘’I always push myself to be the best because it's such a competitive environment. As soon as we started talking [with Genesis] and everything moved in the right direction, I knew it was the place to be”, he stated.
Despite the news of Chatin officially joining Genesis came out in late November last year, he was contractually barred from any driving activities, until his Alpine deal expired at the end of 2025.
Still though, despite having expressed his frustration about not being able to sample the GMR-001 early, even at that stage he appeared confident of quickly catching up to things and having trust in the people at the team.
When asked about that period of time, Chatin explained that there were ‘’plenty of reasons why I chose Genesis, but one of the biggest was the people involved in the project—the engineers, the drivers, the management and the mechanics’’.
‘’That's why I never had any doubts about the potential of the car. I spoke with the people involved, and it was clear that the foundations of the car were very strong. The work that had gone into its development was also really impressive’’.
Another driving force behind this approach was “Having familiar engineers’’, he explained. It was another important factor. My performance engineer worked with me at Alpine on car No.35, and now he's with me on car No.19. We know each other very well, he understands what I expect from a car, and he knows how to help me get there’’.
‘’The same applies to my race engineer. We worked together at IDEC Sport during the 2022 ELMS season in LMP2, so moving to Genesis felt like a very natural decision.’’
‘’I was confident in the people I would be working with. When you join an environment where you already know the people—and you know how good they are, both professionally and personally—it makes your life much easier. That's why it was such an easy move for me.”
First driving the GMR-001
The Frenchman finally got behind the wheel of the GMR-001 at the Lusail circuit in Qatar in early 2026 and when quizzed on the speed at which a driver adapts to new machinery he was quick to point out that ‘’every driver would give you a different answer. Personally, I only need two or three laps’’
He then recalled that as he had only driven the Alpine A424 before in terms of Hypercar, his reference points were all based on that. ‘’After just two laps in the Genesis, it was immediately obvious how different it was and why.’’
‘’I was actually a little surprised by how different the car felt, but at the same time it was perfectly logical. There is a difference in generation between the two cars, despite the fundamentals being the same’’, he explained.
‘’Even when Alpine updated its car for 2026, I never had the opportunity to drive that version because it was already known that I was leaving the team. So, in reality, I was comparing a 2024 philosophy with a 2026 philosophy, which isn't completely fair.’’
‘’But after two laps I already had a very clear understanding of the differences. Once you've done 10, 20 or 30 laps, you naturally adapt, and those differences become less obvious because you've already started to forget the feeling of your previous car.”
Special and personal relationship with IDEC Sport
Alongside his duties in WEC with Genesis, Chatin continues to compete in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), a series he first entered all the way back in 2013, his first endurance endeavor, after leaving single seaters for good, winning the LMPC title at the first attempt with Team Endurance Challenge.
He subsequently has gone on to win a further two titles in LMP2, while establishing a long time partnership with IDEC Sport, one that has been going on since 2017, albeit with a part-time season spent at CLX in 2024.
With IDEC, Chatin won his third title in 2019, as part of a driving duo with Mexican Memo Rojas and Paul Lafargue, son of the team’s president and CEO of the IDEC Group, Patrice.
Invited to comment on his relationship with the team, Chatin delivered a powerful and emotional sentence, saying: ‘’IDEC is a very special team for me. It's like a second family. I have so much respect for what Patrice, Paul and Nicolas (Minassian) have done for me.
‘’Without them, I don't think I would still be a racing driver today. They opened their doors to me when I needed it most, and I'll always be grateful for that’’.
‘’Motorsport isn't an easy world, and sometimes you need the support of important people in your life. They've always been there for me, and they still are. I'm incredibly lucky to be part of this team. I'm not just racing for a team or a manufacturer—I'm racing with my friends.
‘’After eight years with Paul (Lafargue), I can honestly say he's one of my closest friends. We're always there for each other when we need it, and the trust between us is probably the most important thing’’.
The team has spent the last two years in a partnership with Genesis, with the ‘’Trajectory Program’’ aimed at developing new drivers. When asked about his role, Chatin explained that he tries not to ‘’manage them as they don’t need it’’ or be ‘’intrusive’’, but he states that he is always available should they need a piece of advice.
‘’They're all incredibly talented, and they're doing an amazing job. The level of drivers in the paddock today is incredible. Even though I have more experience, I'm still learning from them because you always learn from other people. That's why having two cars in the team is so valuable—it makes all six drivers better’’, he emphasized.
What does Chatin think of a potential IMSA entry for Genesis?
Alongside being a three time ELMS champion, Chatin has also managed to capture the IMSA LMP2 title, winning it in 2023 alongside Ben Keating, for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports. Despite that, when the Frenchman was invited to make a comment on Genesis’ public ambitions of a future IMSA GTP entry, he remained humble in his response.
‘’There are a lot of factors for the team to consider, so in the end it's not my decision.
‘’What I do know is that I'll always be there if they need me. If they want me to race in IMSA, I'd be very happy to do it. But we also have drivers like Mathieu Jaminet, who has a huge amount of IMSA experience, so I'm certainly not the only option.
‘’One thing I've learned throughout my career is that no driver is bigger than the team. If you think you're the best, someone will come along and do a better job than you. That's just the reality of motorsport.
‘’My job is simply to do the best I can for the team. If they ask me to join the IMSA programme, I'll be delighted, and if I can bring my experience, I'll be very happy to do so. As a competitor I will always push to do as many races as possible, especially for such a cool kind of championship with an amazing car like the GMR 001.’’, he noted.
Interlagos prediction
Rounding up the fascinating conversation, Chatin was asked to give a prediction about the next WEC round, at Interlagos.
‘’For me personally, a top-10 finish at Interlagos with a clean race would be a very good result. By that, I mean a top 10 based purely on pace, combined with strong driving, team operations and execution. If we're capable of achieving that, I think it would be a really positive result.”
All in all, Genesis Magma Racing has already surprised a lot of people in the endurance landscape with its performance and has gained the needed on track credibility to proceed with its ambitions.
Regardless of how this season unfolds and whether more points are coming by or not, the team has a lot of driven staff and drivers to move it along the correct lines and for sure, Paul-Loup Chatin will be one of them for the coming years, with his experience, teamwork and humility.
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