Will Stevens secured pole position for the 2026 World Endurance Championship (WEC) Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo as Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA locked out the Hypercar front row at Interlagos after a close Qualifying.
The British driver produced a 1m23.041s on his final Hyperpole lap in the #12 Cadillac V-Series.R, edging team-mate Jack Aitken by only 0.048s. Victor Martins, who was fastest in FP3, took third for Alpine, while less than one tenth of a second covered the first four cars.
Cadillac therefore recorded the two fastest times at São Paulo for the second successive year. The result also gave Stevens his first FIA WEC pole position and extended the V-Series.R’s run to three consecutive front-row starts in 2026.
2026 FIA WEC: 6 Hours of São Paulo: Hypercar: Qualifying
Aitken leads closely contested Qualifying phase
Aitken placed the #38 Cadillac at the top of the opening Qualifying phase with a 1m23.482s. However, Mathieu Jaminet finished only 0.009s behind in the #19 Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 as the South Korean manufacturer continued the strong form it had shown throughout the weekend.
Antonio Fuoco took third in the #50 Ferrari 499P, only 0.042s away from Aitken, while Charles Milesi placed the #35 Alpine fourth. Malthe Jakobsen followed in fifth for Peugeot before Stevens safely advanced in sixth with a 1m23.603s.
Martins, Robert Kubica and Dries Vanthoor also progressed for Alpine, AF Corse and BMW respectively. Harry Tincknell claimed the final Hyperpole place in the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie, with his 1m23.773s leaving him 0.291s behind Aitken.
Giovinazzi narrowly misses Hyperpole
Antonio Giovinazzi narrowly missed the top-10 cut in the #51 Ferrari. His 1m23.832s placed him 0.059s behind Tincknell and left only two of the three Ferrari 499Ps in Hyperpole.
Home driver Pipo Derani followed in 12th with the #17 Genesis, while Paul di Resta placed the #93 Peugeot 13th. The second Aston Martin of Marco Sørensen took 15th, between the two Toyota TR010 Hybrids.
Toyota endured another difficult session after struggling for outright pace throughout practice. Ryō Hirakawa placed the #8 car 14th after running straight on at the opening corner late in the session, while the championship-leading #7 Toyota took 16th. Sheldon van der Linde completed the order in the #20 BMW.
Hypercar Qualifying classification
- Cadillac #38 — Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA — 1m23.482s — 9 laps
- Genesis #19 — Genesis Magma Racing — +0.009s — 8 laps
- Ferrari #50 — Ferrari AF Corse — +0.042s — 8 laps
- Alpine #35 — Alpine Endurance Team — +0.064s — 7 laps
- Peugeot #94 — Peugeot TotalEnergies — +0.116s — 8 laps
- Cadillac #12 — Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA — +0.121s — 8 laps
- Alpine #36 — Alpine Endurance Team — +0.134s — 8 laps
- Ferrari #83 — AF Corse — +0.201s — 8 laps
- BMW #15 — BMW M Team WRT — +0.213s — 8 laps
- Aston Martin #007 — Aston Martin THOR Team — +0.291s — 8 laps
- Ferrari #51 — Ferrari AF Corse — +0.350s — 7 laps
- Genesis #17 — Genesis Magma Racing — +0.502s — 8 laps
- Peugeot #93 — Peugeot TotalEnergies — +0.528s — 8 laps
- Toyota #8 — Toyota Racing — +0.566s — 8 laps
- Aston Martin #009 — Aston Martin THOR Team — +0.669s — 8 laps
- Toyota #7 — Toyota Racing — +0.705s — 7 laps
- BMW #20 — BMW M Team WRT — +0.739s — 7 laps
The classification remained provisional following investigations into possible impeding and car-controller offences.
2026 FIA WEC: 6 Hours of São Paulo: Hypercar: Hyperpole
Stevens snatches pole on final lap
Aitken initially appeared set to convert his Qualifying pace into pole position after placing the #38 Cadillac at the head of the Hyperpole order. However, Stevens continued improving as the 10-minute shootout approached its conclusion.
The #12 driver delivered a 1m23.041s on his seventh and final lap, beating Aitken’s 1m23.089s by 0.048s. Stevens therefore secured his first FIA WEC pole and gave Cadillac its fifth pole position in the championship.
The result also ensured that four different cars had taken pole across the opening four rounds of the 2026 season. More importantly, Cadillac secured both positions on the front row as it pursued its first podium since winning at Interlagos in 2025.
Martins leads Alpine and BMW challenge
Martins placed Alpine within 0.067s of pole after producing a 1m23.108s in the #36 A424. The FIA WEC rookie finished only 0.019s behind Aitken and maintained his impressive pace after topping FP3 earlier on Saturday.
Vanthoor followed in fourth for BMW with a 1m23.135s, which left the Le Mans polesitter just 0.094s behind Stevens. Consequently, four cars from three manufacturers finished within one tenth of the benchmark.
Milesi placed the second Alpine fifth, only 0.033s behind Vanthoor. Alpine therefore secured two positions inside the top five and placed both A424s within 0.127s of pole.
Genesis matches best starting position
Jaminet took sixth in the #19 Genesis with a 1m23.341s. That performance matched Genesis Magma Racing’s best FIA WEC starting position and continued an encouraging weekend that had already included the manufacturer’s first practice-session lead.
Fuoco emerged as Ferrari’s leading driver in seventh, while Jakobsen put Peugeot eighth following the team’s difficult 24 Hours of Le Mans. Tincknell took ninth for Aston Martin before Kubica completed the Hyperpole order in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari.
Only 0.584s covered the 10 Hyperpole contenders, while Cadillac, Alpine, BMW, Genesis, Ferrari, Peugeot and Aston Martin all placed at least one car inside the decisive session.
Hypercar Hyperpole classification
- Cadillac #12 — Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA — 1m23.041s — 7 laps
- Cadillac #38 — Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA — +0.048s — 7 laps
- Alpine #36 — Alpine Endurance Team — +0.067s — 7 laps
- BMW #15 — BMW M Team WRT — +0.094s — 6 laps
- Alpine #35 — Alpine Endurance Team — +0.127s — 7 laps
- Genesis #19 — Genesis Magma Racing — +0.300s — 7 laps
- Ferrari #50 — Ferrari AF Corse — +0.346s — 7 laps
- Peugeot #94 — Peugeot TotalEnergies — +0.361s — 7 laps
- Aston Martin #007 — Aston Martin THOR Team — +0.537s — 7 laps
- Ferrari #83 — AF Corse — +0.584s — 7 laps
Cadillac leads Hypercar field into São Paulo race
Cadillac will start the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo with both V-Series.R entries on the front row. However, Alpine and BMW remain within one tenth of Stevens’ benchmark, while Genesis, Ferrari and Peugeot also showed enough pace to challenge during the race.
The Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo will begin at 11:30 local time on Sunday, 12 July.
