Dries Vanthoor will start the 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans from pole position in the #15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 after Jack Aitken’s fastest lap was deleted for a procedural infringement ahead of the climactic Hyperpole 2 session. The #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R had entered the fast lane before he was instructed to do so — jumping the queue ahead of the two WRT BMWs — and though the matter was under investigation during the session itself, the penalty was only confirmed after the podium ceremony had begun. It marks BMW’s first overall Le Mans pole, and Vanthoor’s first in Hypercar.

Hyperpole 1

The revised 2026 format ran each segment with different drivers to those used in the opening qualifying session. Charles Milesi produced the standout lap of the first 20-minute segment, going from the drop zone to the top of the board on his final effort with a 3:23.018 in the #35 Alpine A424, just 0.073s clear of Earl Bamber in the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R. Mathys Jaubert was an impressive third in the #17 Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001, within a tenth of Milesi. Milesi’s late improvement cost Ross Gunn and the #007 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie a place in the second segment by just 0.013s, while Antonio Fuoco in the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P and Jules Gounon in the #36 Alpine also failed to advance. Both Toyota TR010 Hybrids — Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 and Ryo Hirakawa in the #8 — were eliminated and will start 14th and 15th.

 

Hyperpole 2

Vanthoor set the early benchmark in the #15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 with a 3:22.745, then improved to a 3:22.564 as the chequered flag fell. Aitken subsequently crossed the line with a 3:22.559 — five thousandths quicker — and was initially awarded the pole medal, but the lap was struck from the timesheets and he drops to tenth on the grid. Will Stevens salvaged front-row honours for JOTA with a 3:23.078 in the #12 Cadillac, followed by António Félix da Costa third in the #35 Alpine (3:23.620), Robin Frijns fourth in the #20 WRT BMW (3:23.764), and Filipe Albuquerque fifth in the #101 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac (3:23.778) — the latter on Medium compound tyres while the rest used Softs. Paul-Loup Chatin put the #19 Genesis sixth on the grid on a strong Le Mans debut, with Roman de Angelis seventh in the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie, James Calado eighth in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, and André Lotterer ninth in the #17 Genesis.

LMP2

Esteban Masson set the class benchmark in the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca 07 Gibson with a 3:32.855 — more than two seconds inside last year’s pole time — but the car will start second in class after co-driver Louis Rousset received a one-place grid penalty for impeding an LMGT3 car during Wednesday’s qualifying. That promoted Job van Uitert and the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca to LMP2 pole, the team’s second class pole in three years at Le Mans. Jack Doohan qualified third for Nielsen Racing (3:33.510), just ahead of Nick Yelloly in the #43 Inter Europol Competition machine that won last year’s race. Alex Quinn was fifth in the #4 CrowdStrike Racing by APR entry as leading LMP2 Pro/Am runner, with Julien Andlauer sixth in the #30 Duqueine Team car.

LMGT3

Mattia Drudi claimed back-to-back Le Mans LMGT3 poles with a new qualifying record of 3:52.433 in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo — nearly a full second clear of the field. Alessio Rovera was second in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo (3:53.412), followed by José Maria Lopez third in the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3, Jack Hawksworth fourth in the sister #78 Lexus — whose session opened with a frantic effort to get the car’s door to close — and the two WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evos of Sean Gelael (#32) and Parker Thompson (#69) in fifth and sixth.