Giovinazzi edges Aitken in Hyperpole dead heat at COTA
Ferrari and Cadillac set identical times
Ferrari has taken pole for the 2026 Lone Star Le Mans by the slimmest of margins after ending Hyperpole in a dead heat with Cadillac.
After a hotly contested session, the No.51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi took pole from the No.38 Cadillac of Jack Aitken.
Incredibly, both drivers set identical times to the thousandth of a second; however, Giovinazzi was awarded Hyperpole having set his time first. This marks the first time pole has been determined by such a margin since 2014 6 Hours of Shanghai.
Despite voicing disappointment with his lap, Giovinazzi did enough to secure a second pole of the season. One that has enabled the No.51 AF Corse crew to close to within 17 points of the championship lead.
Alpine’s solid pace in free practice carried over into qualifying; Charles Milesi pushed but ultimately missed out on pole by just 0.029s. He will start third, one place ahead of Harry Tincknell in the No.007 Aston Martin, who was also able to capitalise on his team’s strong form in free practice.
Just five hundredths of a second separated the top four, making this one of the most hotly contested Hyperpoles of the season. Nicklas Nielsen in the No.50 Ferrari was unable to keep pace with the leading quartet and had to settle for fifth ahead of the No.36 Alpine of Victor Martins.
A last-ditch effort from Ryo Hirakawa did little to boost morale as the Toyota driver could only manage seventh. Genesis rounded off the top ten with the No. 17 and 19 cars in eighth and 10th respectively; they were split by the No. 7 Toyota.
Sign up for The Pit Stop Endurance
Incredible stories from across the world of endurance racing
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Having come into this weekend as championship leaders, BMW endured a frustrating qualifying session. The No.15 car driven by Dries Vanthoor slipped out of the top ten at the end of qualifying as Tincknell and Milesi improved, while the No.13 BMW of Kelvin van der Linde qualified 13th.
Having qualified on the front row for the last two years and taken pole in 2025, Robert Kubica in the No.83 AF Corse Ferrari will likely be disappointed with 14th; behind him was the No. 12 Cadillac of Will Stevens, the No.93 Peugeot of Stoffel Vandoorne and the No.009 Aston Martin of Marco Sorensen.
After topping the timesheets in FP2, as the Heart of Racing Team underlined their position of strength by locking out the front row in LMGT3 Hyperpole, Eduardo Baricello made it three consecutive poles for the team and outpaced Zacharie Robichon by 0.181s.
Timur Boguslavinsky in the No.91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche took third ahead of the No.77 Proton Competition Mustang of Ben Tuck. An encouraging result given the team’s struggles in free practice.
Fifth went to the No.58 Garage 59 McLaren of Finn Gehrsitz, while the No.21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari of local hero Simon Mann took sixth.
Elsewhere, the Iron Lynx Mercedes were unable to make an impact; the leading No.61 car of Rui Andrade could only manage eighth, while the No.79 car of Johannes Zelger qualified last.
Notably, the top four in the LMGT3 standings all failed to make it to Hyperpole.
The No.92 Manthey Porsche of Yasser Shahin had to settle for 13th, three places ahead of the No.69 Team WRT BMW driven by Anthony McInstosh, while the championship-leading TF Sport Corvette of Ben Keating qualified 16th.
The 2026 Lone Star Le Mans will begin at 13:00 local time.
Ferrari has taken pole for the 2026 Lone Star Le Mans by the slimmest of margins after ending Hyperpole in a dead heat with Cadillac.
After a hotly contested session, the No.51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi took pole from the No.38 Cadillac of Jack Aitken.
Incredibly, both drivers set identical times to the thousandth of a second; however, Giovinazzi was awarded Hyperpole having set his time first. This marks the first time pole has been determined by such a margin since 2014 6 Hours of Shanghai.
Despite voicing disappointment with his lap, Giovinazzi did enough to secure a second pole of the season. One that has enabled the No.51 AF Corse crew to close to within 17 points of the championship lead.
Alpine’s solid pace in free practice carried over into qualifying; Charles Milesi pushed but ultimately missed out on pole by just 0.029s. He will start third, one place ahead of Harry Tincknell in the No.007 Aston Martin, who was also able to capitalise on his team’s strong form in free practice.
Just five hundredths of a second separated the top four, making this one of the most hotly contested Hyperpoles of the season. Nicklas Nielsen in the No.50 Ferrari was unable to keep pace with the leading quartet and had to settle for fifth ahead of the No.36 Alpine of Victor Martins.
A last-ditch effort from Ryo Hirakawa did little to boost morale as the Toyota driver could only manage seventh. Genesis rounded off the top ten with the No. 17 and 19 cars in eighth and 10th respectively; they were split by the No. 7 Toyota.
Sign up for The Pit Stop Endurance
Incredible stories from across the world of endurance racing
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Having come into this weekend as championship leaders, BMW endured a frustrating qualifying session. The No.15 car driven by Dries Vanthoor slipped out of the top ten at the end of qualifying as Tincknell and Milesi improved, while the No.13 BMW of Kelvin van der Linde qualified 13th.
Having qualified on the front row for the last two years and taken pole in 2025, Robert Kubica in the No.83 AF Corse Ferrari will likely be disappointed with 14th; behind him was the No. 12 Cadillac of Will Stevens, the No.93 Peugeot of Stoffel Vandoorne and the No.009 Aston Martin of Marco Sorensen.
After topping the timesheets in FP2, as the Heart of Racing Team underlined their position of strength by locking out the front row in LMGT3 Hyperpole, Eduardo Baricello made it three consecutive poles for the team and outpaced Zacharie Robichon by 0.181s.
Timur Boguslavinsky in the No.91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche took third ahead of the No.77 Proton Competition Mustang of Ben Tuck. An encouraging result given the team’s struggles in free practice.
Fifth went to the No.58 Garage 59 McLaren of Finn Gehrsitz, while the No.21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari of local hero Simon Mann took sixth.
Elsewhere, the Iron Lynx Mercedes were unable to make an impact; the leading No.61 car of Rui Andrade could only manage eighth, while the No.79 car of Johannes Zelger qualified last.
Notably, the top four in the LMGT3 standings all failed to make it to Hyperpole.
The No.92 Manthey Porsche of Yasser Shahin had to settle for 13th, three places ahead of the No.69 Team WRT BMW driven by Anthony McInstosh, while the championship-leading TF Sport Corvette of Ben Keating qualified 16th.
The 2026 Lone Star Le Mans will begin at 13:00 local time.
Read Next
Early signs are positive for Aston’s updated WEC Hypercar
There is good correlation between projected data and real life running
Aston Martin on top after FP2 in Texas
Aston Martin set the fastest time of the day on Friday
How Texas heat could affect Lone Star Le Mans strategies
Drivers might not be able to last for two full stints
Ford's WEC challenger makes its on-track debut
The car completed its first run at Paul Ricard