Summary of the Article
- Jack Aitken's final lap in the #38 Cadillac narrowly edged out Dries Vanthoor's BMW by a mere 0.005s, establishing the tightest pole margin in Le Mans history.
- A pit lane release violation led to the #38 receiving a penalty and being pushed back to 10th position, allowing the #15 BMW of Vanthoor, Magnussen, and Marciello to take pole.
- Cadillac demonstrated impressive performance, placing three V-Series.Rs within the top six, while Ferrari and Toyota encountered difficulties during their sessions.
The Hyperpole session for the 2026 Le Mans 24 Hours was packed with drama: a last-minute change for pole, the narrowest margin ever recorded, and a penalty that shifted the final results. The chaos of Le Mans was epitomized on Thursday evening at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
The Sequence of Events
Dries Vanthoor established the early lead in Hyperpole 2, with the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 achieving the first sub-3m23s lap of the week at 3m22.745s. He further improved to 3m22.564s, and with five minutes left, no other driver was within two seconds of the Belgian. BMW seemed ready to claim pole for the first time in the hybrid era until Jack Aitken executed an astonishing final sector lap.
Aitken, piloting the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, captured pole by just 0.005s on his final flying lap. This margin — five thousandths of a second over 13.6 kilometers — is noted as the closest in Le Mans history. Aitken shares driving duties with Sébastien Bourdais and Earl Bamber, who maintained a competitive pace throughout Hyperpole 1 to ensure the #38’s viability.
Will Stevens secured a Cadillac 1-3 finish, recording a time of 3m23.078s in the sister #12 entry, followed by the #35 Alpine of Antonio Felix da Costa in fourth and Robin Frijns’ #20 BMW in fifth.
A Penalty Altered Everything
The celebrations for Hertz Team JOTA were brief. The #38 was reviewed post-session, and the stewards ruled against them: the car was penalized and relegated to 10th on the grid due to a pit lane release infraction — the car departed too early.
The #15 crew — Vanthoor, Kevin Magnussen, and Raffaele Marciello — will begin at the forefront of the Hypercar lineup on Saturday.
Frijns Experienced a Challenging Night
BMW’s #20 finished in fourth place, not meeting the team's ambitions. Robin Frijns commented on his performance: “We aimed to be in the top five, and we finished P4. That puts us in a better starting position, which is positive. However, my lap times were not up to par. I need to enhance my performance for the race.”
While fourth place is a respectable starting spot, Frijns is aware of the need for improvement, and such candidness is vital at Le Mans — vehicles that struggle in qualifying can emerge as formidable competitors by race day.
Summary of the Article
- Jack Aitken’s final lap in the #38 Cadillac narrowly edged out Dries Vanthoor’s BMW by a mere 0.005s, establishing the tightest pole margin in Le Mans history.
- A pit lane release violation led to the #38 receiving a penalty and being pushed back to 10th position, allowing the #15 BMW of Vanthoor, Magnussen, and Marciello to take pole.
- Cadillac demonstrated impressive performance, placing three V-Series.Rs within the top six, while Ferrari and Toyota encountered difficulties during their sessions.
The Hyperpole session for the 2026 Le Mans 24 Hours was packed with drama: a last-minute change for pole, the narrowest margin ever recorded, and a penalty that shifted the final results. The chaos of Le Mans was epitomized on Thursday evening at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
The Sequence of Events
Dries Vanthoor established the early lead in Hyperpole 2, with the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 achieving the first sub-3m23s lap of the week at 3m22.745s. He further improved to 3m22.564s, and with five minutes left, no other driver was within two seconds of the Belgian. BMW seemed ready to claim pole for the first time in the hybrid era until Jack Aitken executed an astonishing final sector lap.
Aitken, piloting the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, captured pole by just 0.005s on his final flying lap. This margin — five thousandths of a second over 13.6 kilometers — is noted as the closest in Le Mans history. Aitken shares driving duties with Sébastien Bourdais and Earl Bamber, who maintained a competitive pace throughout Hyperpole 1 to ensure the #38’s viability.
Will Stevens secured a Cadillac 1-3 finish, recording a time of 3m23.078s in the sister #12 entry, followed by the #35 Alpine of Antonio Felix da Costa in fourth and Robin Frijns’ #20 BMW in fifth.
A Penalty Altered Everything
The celebrations for Hertz Team JOTA were brief. The #38 was reviewed post-session, and the stewards ruled against them: the car was penalized and relegated to 10th on the grid due to a pit lane release infraction — the car departed too early.
The #15 crew — Vanthoor, Kevin Magnussen, and Raffaele Marciello — will begin at the forefront of the Hypercar lineup on Saturday.
Frijns Experienced a Challenging Night
BMW’s #20 finished in fourth place, not meeting the team’s ambitions. Robin Frijns commented on his performance: “We aimed to be in the top five, and we finished P4. That puts us in a better starting position, which is positive. However, my lap times were not up to par. I need to enhance my performance for the race.”
While fourth place is a respectable starting spot, Frijns is aware of the need for improvement, and such candidness is vital at Le Mans — vehicles that struggle in qualifying can emerge as formidable competitors by race day.
