– Thrilling qualifying at the Lone Star Le Mans, the fifth round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC): Antonio Giovinazzi set the fastest time in the Ferrari #51 (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi; 1.) with 1:52.445 minutes. Jack Aitken in the Cadillac #38 (Bamber/Bourdais/Aitken; 2.) matched the time to the thousandth of a second. Since Giovinazzi set the time first, the pole goes to AF Corse. (Results Lone Star Le Mans 2026)
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In the brutal Texan heat well above 30 degrees Celsius, the lead changed hands several times. However, Giovinazzi was far from satisfied with his lap: “The regular qualifying actually went better. In the Hyperpole, I got some pick-up on the tires and didn’t put in a perfect lap. But it was enough to put the car on pole.”
Aitken set exactly the same time one lap later. “I was surprised that the tire came back again. Actually, it has a very narrow peak in this heat. I did a cooldown lap and then attacked again, and the delta times were not bad. It was a positive surprise.”
The ultra-close gaps continued in the second row. Charles Milesi in the third-placed Alpine #35 (da Costa/Milesi/Habsburg) was only 0.029 seconds behind, Harry Tincknell in the Aston Martin #007 (Tincknell/Gamble; 4.) only 0.050 seconds.
Only behind them did the gaps widen: the second factory Ferrari and the second Alpine were already over four tenths behind. Toyota and Genesis each brought both cars into the Hyperpole but fought for the lower positions in the top session among themselves. (All info on WEC in Austin 2026)
Both BMWs miss Hyperpole
Six manufacturers brought at least one car into the Hyperpole, only two manufacturers were collectively eliminated in qualifying. Besides Peugeot, both BMW cars were eliminated, including the championship leaders in the BMW #20 (Frijns/Rast/S. van der Linde; 13.). The #15 (Magnussen/Marciello/D. Vanthoor; 11.) missed the Hyperpole by 0.106 seconds.
“Except for Le Mans, we have had problems in qualifying all year. But it has already shown in the last races that we have been quite strong in the race,” says Rast.
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Peugeot, unlike the competition, only did one warm-up lap. This led to tricky scenes. “An Aston Martin was still warming up its tires and then there was probably a misunderstanding. The tires were fully up to temperature on the lap, but I didn’t quite get it all together,” said Imola polesitter Malthe Jakobsen.
A huge disappointment was experienced by Marco Sörensen in the Aston Martin #009 (Riberas/Sörensen; 17.), who could not get beyond last place. In 1:53.507 minutes, the Dane was 0.828 seconds slower than his own time from the third free practice.
Aston Martin dominates GT qualifying
In LMGT3, Aston Martin had reason to celebrate: Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello set the fastest lap in the LMGT3 Hyperpole in 2:05.103 minutes, securing the second pole position of the season for the Heart-of-Racing Aston Martin #23 (Newell/Barrichello/Adam; 1. LMGT3) and the third for Aston Martin. Zach Robichon completed the front row for THOR in the Heart-of-Racing Aston Martin #27 (James/Robichon/Drudi; 2. LMGT3).
In the second row were Timur Boguslawski in the Manthey Porsche #91 (Cottingham/Boguslawski/Güven; 3. LMGT3) and Ben Tuck in the Proton Ford #77 (Powell/Tuck/Priaulx; 4. LMGT3). Both set exactly the same time to the thousandth of a second, but the Porsche driver did it earlier and was therefore awarded the third starting position.
German Finn Gehrsitz put the Garage-59 McLaren #58 (West/Gehrsitz/Goethe) in fifth place on the grid. Eight of the nine manufacturers were represented in the Hyperpole, with Ford and Aston Martin even qualifying both cars.
The bronze drivers, as usual, fought among themselves for entry into the Hyperpole. Surprisingly, all previous season winners were eliminated: Peter Dempsey in the TF-Sport Corvette #34 (Dempsey/Yoluc/Eastwood; 12. LMGT3), Yasser Shahin in the Manthey Porsche #92 (Shahin/Pera/Lietz; 13. LMGT3), Antares Au in the Garage-59 McLaren #10 (Au/Fleming/Kirchhöfer; 14. LMGT3), and Ben Keating in the TF-Sport Corvette #33 (Keating/Edgar/Catsburg; 17.).
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The race starts on Sunday at 8 PM CEST.
