Aitken's Record Le Mans Pole
Jack Aitken secures Cadillac Le Mans pole by 0.005s, setting new Hypercar record.
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Key Points
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The 2026 Hyperpole format begins with a 20-minute, 15-car stage where drivers are swapped for the session—i.e., “Each session would feature a different driver, and not the driver that participated in last night’s first Qualifying session.”
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Cadillac’s #101 Wayne Taylor Racing entry (Filipe Albuquerque) broke with the field by running Medium tires, posting 3:23.778 for 6th fastest—“after breaking the mould by using the Medium tires while the rest used Softs.”
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Among the LMDhs, the Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie topped the class: Roman De Angelis drove the #009 to 3:31.089 for 8th on the Hypercar/overall grid.
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The Toyota TR010 Hybrids that missed the Hyperpole 2 cut will still be placed 14th and 15th on the grid: Kamui Kobayashi in #7 and Ryo Hirakawa in #8.
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Paul-Loup Chatin delivered a standout Le Mans debut: he qualified 7th overall in the Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 (#19), finishing “1.3 seconds off Aitken’s pace.”
Jack Aitken put the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA on pole for the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans with a 3:22.559 lap — a new Hypercar class course record — beating BMW's Dries Vanthoor by just 0.005 seconds in Hyperpole 2 Autosport. Aitken was stepping in for injured regular Alex Lynn, making the result even more remarkable. The pole fight was the closest in Hypercar history, with less than three-tenths of a second covering the top six cars — all of them Cadillacs.
The drama did not end there. After the session, the #38 car was placed under investigation by race director Eduardo Freitas for failing to follow instructions during the session's opening rollout Autosport. The outcome threatened to hand pole to Vanthoor and shatter Cadillac's perfect 1-through-6 grid sweep.
Aitken Beats Vanthoor by a Heartbeat in Final Shootout
Vanthoor led for most of Hyperpole 2. He crossed the line with a 3:22.564 and looked set to take pole for BMW. Then Aitken came around on his final flying lap and edged him by just five-thousandths of a second — the width of a coat of paint. Vanthoor said: "Five-thousandths of a second. It's a heartbeat. We did everything right, but Cadillac found a magic tenth in the final sector" Speedsport.
Aitken described the lap as surreal. "To be here in the JOTA colors and extract that kind of time — under the pressure of replacing Alex [Lynn] — is surreal," he said. "The car was on a knife-edge." Behind the top two, Alpine's Charles Milesi took third at 3:22.810, just 0.251s off Aitken's record time.
Cadillac Locks Out the Top Six, One Car Goes Rogue on Tires
Cadillac placed all four of its Hypercars in the top six grid positions. Earl Bamber took fourth in the #2 factory entry at 3:23.102. Sebastien Bourdais was fifth in the #3 at 3:23.455. The sixth spot went to Filipe Albuquerque in the #101 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac — but he got there a different way than everyone else Autosport.
Albuquerque ran Medium tires while the entire rest of the field used Softs. He posted a 3:23.778 — good enough for sixth. "We wanted to see if the Mediums could hold the peak across two flying laps," he said. "We gave up a bit of initial bite but learned plenty for the race." That data could prove vital come Saturday's 24-hour battle.
Toyota Shocks the Paddock by Missing the Final Shootout
Both Toyota TR010 Hybrids failed to advance from Hyperpole 1. Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 and Ryo Hirakawa in the #8 will start 14th and 15th on the grid. Paddock insiders called it a "catastrophe of tire management," with both drivers reportedly struggling with front-axle energy recovery during their out-laps. It raises serious questions about whether Toyota's car has fallen behind the newer LMDh designs from Cadillac and BMW The New York Times.
Meanwhile, two newcomers shone. Paul-Loup Chatin qualified seventh overall for Genesis Magma Racing in the GMR-001, finishing just 1.3 seconds off Aitken's pole time on the manufacturer's Le Mans debut. Roman De Angelis took eighth in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie #009 with a 3:31.089, topping all non-Cadillac LMDh runners Speedsport.
Pole Under Threat: The Investigation Into the #38 Car
Race control launched an investigation into the #38 JOTA Cadillac after the session. The charge: Aitken was sent to the pit lane exit four minutes before the start of Hyperpole 2, in breach of race director instructions Autosport. The penalty initially handed pole to Vanthoor and deleted Aitken's record lap. However, the penalty was later overturned, restoring Cadillac to the top spot au.motorsport.com.
European journalists focused heavily on the breach, suggesting the #38 may have gained an advantage by finding cleaner air or better tire preparation before the session began. The episode underscored just how fine the margins were across the entire Hyperpole — 0.005 seconds separated first from second, and a procedural slip nearly cost Cadillac everything.
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