– A thrilling Hyperpole in the Hypercar class brought the expected pole for Ferrari, but it was much closer than anticipated. It seemed as if Ryo Hirakawa in the Toyota #8 (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa; 2nd) had already pulled off the sensation and dethroned Ferrari, but at the last moment Antonio Giovinazzi in the Ferrari #51 (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi; 1st) struck back. (Results)
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1:30.127 minutes was enough for pole position, as the reigning world champion was exactly 0.011 seconds faster than Hirakawa with the very last attempt. Hirakawa had previously snatched pole from Antonio Fuoco in the Ferrari #50 (Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen; 3rd) by 0.029 seconds.
Also within a tenth of a second of the pole time was Malthe Jakobsen in the Peugeot #94 (Duval/Jakobsen/Pourchaire; 4th). The Lions confirmed their good form from the free practice sessions, while the #93 (di Resta/Vandoorne/Cassidy; 15th) was clearly stuck in qualifying.
Surprisingly, the fifth starting position went to the Cadillac #12 (Stevens/Nato), as the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari is actually Cadillac’s weakest track of the year. Behind the second Toyota came the Alpine #35 (da Costa/Milesi/Habsburg; 7th), followed by the private AF-Corse Ferrari #83 (Ye/Kubica/Hanson; 8th). Robert Kubica was only 0.381 seconds off pole, yet seven cars lined up between him and Giovinazzi.
The two BMW M Hybrid V8s made it into the Hyperpole but only played a supporting role there. They start from the fifth row. (This is how the practice sessions went at the WEC opener)
Alpine, Cadillac, and Peugeot each had to write off one car after the qualifying session for the fight for pole. Aston Martin experienced its first disappointment of the year. Both Valkyries failed to make it into the Hyperpole and start from twelfth and fourteenth places.
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As expected, the two Genesis GMR-001s did not make the jump into the top 10 on their debut and start from the very back. Surprisingly, Mathieu Jaminet in the #19 (Jaminet/Chatin/Juncadella) on medium tires was faster than Andre Lotterer in the #17 (Lotterer/Derani/Jaubert) on softs.
An objective assessment of the results is not possible as the WEC is keeping the 2026 Balance of Performance (BoP) secret.
Garage 59 on pole at first attempt
In LMGT3, as usual, the amateurs had to qualify the cars in qualifying for the Hyperpole, where the silver drivers then took over. In the Hyperpole, Antares Au in the Garage-59 McLaren #10 (Au/Fleming/Kirchhöfer) prevailed and set the best time in 1:41.181 minutes. Thus, Garage 59 celebrates pole position at their WEC debut.
Behind them follow the two Lexus RC F LMGT3s in second and third places as well as the two WRT BMWs in fourth and fifth positions. A Mercedes-AMG, Ferrari, Porsche, surprisingly the previously troubled Ford, and a Corvette made it into the Hyperpole. Only Aston Martin missed the jump into the Hyperpole.
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The race starts on Sunday at 1 p.m.
