BMW will start from pole position at the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans after the stewards disallowed Jack Aitken's lap time at the end of Hyperpole 2. The Briton had set a time of 3:22.559 in the Cadillac Hertz Team Jota #38, just five thousandths of a second faster than the 3:22.564 of Dries Vanthoor in the BMW M Team WRT #15, but a penalty stripped him of pole and handed it to the Bavarian team. Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Vanthoor will thus start from the first position on the Hypercar grid for the 94th edition of the French classic.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

Alpine confirms pace in Hyperpole 1 while Toyota is left out

Charles Milesi put the A424 #35 at the top of Hyperpole 1 with a time of 3:23.018, a lap that confirmed what had been seen on Wednesday and showed Alpine with more qualifying speed than in any other season. The Cadillac #38 of Aitken and the Genesis #17 of André Lotterer rounded out the top three in that session, which eliminated both Toyota GR010 Hybrids — the #7 in 14th and the #8 in 15th — as well as the Ferrari 499P #50.

Cadillac leads in numbers, BMW in position

Cadillac placed all three of its V-Series.R cars in Hyperpole 2. The #12 of Louis Delétraz, Will Stevens and Norman Nato will start second, 0.514 seconds behind the BMW, while the #101 of Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque will be fifth. Alpine will start third with the #35 of António Félix da Costa, Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg, just over a second off the reference time, while the BMW #20 of Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde occupies the fourth slot.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

Genesis breaks into the Top 10 on debut

Both GMR-001-Hypercars of Genesis, in their first participation at Le Mans, made it into the Top 10: the #19 of Mathieu Jaminet, Paul-Loup Chatin and Daniel Juncadella was sixth, and the #17 of Lotterer, Luis Felipe Derani and Mathys Jaubert closed the session in tenth place. Aston Martin put the Valkyrie #009 in seventh, and Ferrari, defending three consecutive victories, managed to keep only the 499P #51 of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi in eighth place. The #83, the outright winner in 2025, had been eliminated on Wednesday, while the #50 fell in Hyperpole 1.

Toyota and Ferrari to start from the middle of the Hypercar grid

Toyota, which won five consecutive editions between 2018 and 2022, had no representatives in Hyperpole 2. The GR010 Hybrid #7 will start 14th and the #8 15th, more than a second behind the Alpine that topped Hyperpole 1. It is the first time in several seasons that the Japanese manufacturer has not placed any car in the fight for pole. Ferrari, defending three straight wins with the 499P, also managed to qualify only one car for the final session: the #51 will start eighth, the #83 was eliminated on Wednesday, and the #50 fell in the first cut.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

IDEC Sport and Heart of Racing lead in LMP2 and LMGT3

In LMP2, the Forestier Racing by Panis #29 of Esteban Masson was fastest on track with 3:32.885, but a penalty for an infringement in Wednesday’s qualifying cost it a grid position and handed pole to the IDEC Sport #28 of Job van Uitert. In LMGT3, Mattia Drudi repeated his result from 2025 and put the Heart of Racing Team #27 at the front of the class, with the Aston Martin Vantage beating the Ferrari 296 of VISTA AF Corse #21 driven by Alessio Rovera.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

The session leaves BMW at the head of a grid where Cadillac had the greatest one‑lap pace but lost pole because of a penalty. Toyota and Ferrari, who together have won nine of the last ten Le Mans, will start from the second half of the Hypercar field. Genesis, on its absolute debut, placed both its cars inside the top ten. The race begins on Saturday, June 13 at 16:00 CEST.

WEC Hyperpole 2 HYPERCAR Le Mans 24H 2026

Pos	class	#	drivers	team	car	Gap
1	HYPERCAR	#15	Kevin Magnussen Raffaele Marciello Dries Vanthoor	BMW M Team WRT	BMW M Hybrid V8	-
2	HYPERCAR	#12	Louis Delétraz Will Stevens Norman Nato	Cadillac Hertz Team Jota	Cadillac V-Series.R	+0.514
3	HYPERCAR	#35	António Félix Da Costa Charles Milesi Ferdinand Habsburg	Alpine Endurance Team	Alpine A424	+1.056
4	HYPERCAR	#20	Robin Frijns René Rast Sheldon Van Der Linde	BMW M Team WRT	BMW M Hybrid V8	+1.200
5	HYPERCAR	#101	Ricky Taylor Jordan Taylor Filipe Albuquerque	Cadillac WTR	Cadillac V-Series.R	+1.214
6	HYPERCAR	#19	Mathieu Jaminet Paul-loup Chatin Daniel Juncadella	Genesis Magma Racing	Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar	+1.259
7	HYPERCAR	#009	Alex Riberas Marco Sørensen Roman De Angelis	Aston Martin Thor Team	Aston Martin Valkyrie	+2.165
8	HYPERCAR	#51	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi	Ferrari AF Corse	Ferrari 499P	+2.517
9	HYPERCAR	#17	André Lotterer Luis Felipe Derani Mathys Jaubert	Genesis Magma Racing	Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar	+3.552
10	HYPERCAR	#38	Sébastien Bourdais Earl Bamber Jack Aitken	Cadillac Hertz Team Jota	Cadillac V-Series.R	+4.301

WEC — Hyperpole 2 LMP2-LMGT3 Le Mans 24H 2026

Pos	class	#	drivers	team	car	Gap
1	LMP2	#29	Louis Rousset Esteban Masson Oliver Gray	Forestier Racing by Panis	Oreca 07 - Gibson	-
2	LMP2	#28	Paul Lafargue Valerio Rinicella Job Van Uitert	IDEC SPORT	Oreca 07 - Gibson	+0.387
3	LMP2	#24	David Heinemeier Hansson Edward Pearson Jack Doohan	Nielsen Racing	Oreca 07 - Gibson	+0.655
4	LMP2	#43	Jakub Smiechowski Tom Dillmann Nicholas Yelloly	Inter Europol Competition	Oreca 07 - Gibson	+0.723
5	LMP2	#4	George Kurtz Alexander Quinn Laurin Heinrich	Crowdstrike Racing by APR	Oreca 07 - Gibson	+0.773
6	LMP2	#30	Doriane Pin Julien Andlauer Richard Verschoor	Duqueine Team	Oreca 07 - Gibson	+0.847
7	LMP2	#14	Tobias Lutke Mathias Beche Kévin Estre	TDS Racing	Oreca 07 - Gibson	+0.860
8	LMP2	#99	Pj Hyett James Allen Dane Cameron	AO by TF	Oreca 07 - Gibson	+1.425
9	LMP2	#183	François Perrodo Matthieu Vaxiviere Ben Barnicoat	AF Corse	Oreca 07 - Gibson	+1.837
10	LMP2	#343	Bijoy Garg Reshad De Gérus Nico Müller	Inter Europol Competition	Oreca 07 - Gibson	+2.183
11	LMGT3	#27	Ian James Zacharie Robichon Mattia Drudi	Heart of Racing Team	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3	+19.578
12	LMGT3	#21	François Hériau Simon Mann Alessio Rovera	Vista AF Corse	Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo	+20.557
13	LMGT3	#87	Petru Umbrärescu Clemens Schmid José María López	Akkodis ASP Team	Lexus RC F LMGT3	+20.759
14	LMGT3	#78	Tom Van Rompuy Hadrien David Jack Hawksworth	Akkodis ASP Team	Lexus RC F LMGT3	+21.014
15	LMGT3	#32	Darren Leung Sean Gelael Augusto Farfus	Team WRT	BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo	+21.546
16	LMGT3	#69	Anthony Mcintosh Parker Thompson Daniel Harper	Team WRT	BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo	+21.800
17	LMGT3	#74	Dustin Blattner Lorenzo Patrese Dennis Marschall	Kessel Racing	Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo	+21.822
18	LMGT3	#23	Gray Newell Eduardo Barrichello Jonny Adam	Heart of Racing Team	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3	+22.033
19	LMGT3	#91	James Cottingham Timur Boguslavskiy Ayhancan Güven	Manthey DK Engineering	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3	+22.755
20	LMGT3	#77	Eric Powell Ben Tuck Sebastian Priaulx	Proton Competition	Ford Mustang LMGT3	+22.811