Antonio Giovinazzi secured pole position for the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Lone Star Le Mans after prevailing over Cadillac’s Jack Aitken in a remarkable dead heat during Hyperpole at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
The Ferrari AF Corse driver produced a 1m52.445s in the No. 51 Ferrari 499P before Aitken matched the time exactly in the No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R. With Giovinazzi setting the benchmark first, the Italian earned his second COTA pole in three years and maintained Ferrari’s unbeaten Hypercar Qualifying record at the circuit.
Charles Milesi finished only 0.029s behind in third for Alpine Endurance Team, while FP2 and FP3 pacesetter Harry Tincknell took fourth for Aston Martin THOR Team. Just 0.050s covered four cars from four manufacturers, producing the closest top-four Hyperpole margin across the opening 106 FIA WEC events.
2026 FIA WEC: Lone Star Le Mans: Hypercar: Qualifying
Nielsen leads Ferrari as top 10 battle goes to the wire
Nicklas Nielsen put Ferrari at the top during the opening 12-minute Hypercar Qualifying phase, producing a 1m52.020s in the No. 50 499P to lead Victor Martins by just 0.054s.
Giovinazzi followed another 0.031s behind in third, placing both factory Ferraris comfortably inside the Hyperpole positions. Mathieu Jaminet continued Genesis Magma Racing’s promising weekend by taking fourth in the No. 19 GMR-001, while Milesi put the No. 35 Alpine fifth.
Aitken safely advanced the No. 38 Cadillac in sixth, although the car remained 0.578s away from Nielsen’s benchmark before its dramatic improvement in Hyperpole.
Tincknell faced a considerably tighter battle. Aston Martin had led both FP2 and FP3 with the No. 007 Valkyrie, but the Brit remained around the elimination positions as the session approached its conclusion. He eventually found more than half a second to climb to seventh and secure a place in the shootout.
Toyota and Genesis get both cars through
Toyota Racing secured two Hyperpole places despite failing to feature at the very front during the practice sessions. Ryō Hirakawa put the No. 8 TR010 Hybrid eighth, only 0.008s behind Tincknell, while Kamui Kobayashi took ninth in the No. 7.
Mathys Jaubert completed the top 10 in the No. 17 Genesis, putting both of the manufacturer’s GMR-001s through to Hyperpole for only the second time during its debut WEC campaign.
The margins proved extremely small around the cut-off. Jaubert’s 1m52.735s left him only 0.106s ahead of Dries Vanthoor, who became the first driver eliminated in 11th.
BMW misses Hyperpole as Kubica starts 14th
BMW M Team WRT endured another difficult session after struggling for outright speed throughout the COTA weekend.
Vanthoor narrowly missed the cut in the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8, while championship leaders Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde will start even further back after the No. 20 qualified 13th.
Neither Peugeot TotalEnergies entry progressed either. The No. 94 9X8 took 12th, while the No. 93 finished 16th.
Defending COTA polesitter Robert Kubica could not extend his run of front-row starts at the circuit. The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari, which Kubica shares with Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson, finished 14th after qualifying on the front row in each of the previous two editions.
The second Cadillac also suffered an early elimination, with the No. 12 taking 15th, while the No. 009 Aston Martin completed the 17-car order.
Hypercar Qualifying classification
- Ferrari #50 — Ferrari AF Corse — 1m52.020s — 6 laps
- Alpine #36 — Alpine Endurance Team — +0.054s — 6 laps
- Ferrari #51 — Ferrari AF Corse — +0.085s — 6 laps
- Genesis #19 — Genesis Magma Racing — +0.437s — 6 laps
- Alpine #35 — Alpine Endurance Team — +0.532s — 7 laps
- Cadillac #38 — Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA — +0.578s — 6 laps
- Aston Martin #007 — Aston Martin THOR Team — +0.643s — 7 laps
- Toyota #8 — Toyota Racing — +0.651s — 6 laps
- Toyota #7 — Toyota Racing — +0.709s — 6 laps
- Genesis #17 — Genesis Magma Racing — +0.715s — 6 laps
- BMW #15 — BMW M Team WRT — +0.821s — 7 laps
- Peugeot #94 — Peugeot TotalEnergies — +0.927s — 6 laps
- BMW #20 — BMW M Team WRT — +0.978s — 8 laps
- Ferrari #83 — AF Corse — +1.023s — 7 laps
- Cadillac #12 — Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA — +1.060s — 7 laps
- Peugeot #93 — Peugeot TotalEnergies — +1.200s — 7 laps
- Aston Martin #009 — Aston Martin THOR Team — +1.487s — 7 laps
2026 FIA WEC: Lone Star Le Mans: Hypercar: Hyperpole
Giovinazzi takes pole in extraordinary dead heat
The 10-minute Hyperpole session produced one of the closest battles in FIA WEC history as Ferrari, Cadillac, Alpine and Aston Martin all fought for the top position.
Giovinazzi delivered his decisive 1m52.445s late in the session and moved the No. 51 Ferrari to the head of the times. Aitken still had one final opportunity and responded with a remarkable lap that matched the Italian’s benchmark to the thousandth of a second.
However, FIA WEC regulations awarded pole to Giovinazzi because he had recorded the identical lap first. The result marked only the second qualifying dead heat in championship history after Porsche and Toyota recorded identical four-lap averages at Shanghai in 2014. It was the first tie under the championship’s current single-lap Qualifying format.
Giovinazzi also became the first repeat Hypercar polesitter of the 2026 season and secured Ferrari’s 10th outright FIA WEC pole. The additional championship point reduced the No. 51 crew’s deficit in the Drivers’ standings to 17 points.
Milesi puts Alpine within 0.029s
Milesi ensured the fight involved more than Ferrari and Cadillac by producing a late 1m52.474s in the No. 35 Alpine.
The Frenchman finished only 0.029s from pole and secured third, while Tincknell continued Aston Martin’s strong COTA weekend by placing the No. 007 Valkyrie fourth on a 1m52.495s.
Only 0.050s therefore separated Giovinazzi, Aitken, Milesi and Tincknell, with four different manufacturers occupying the opening two rows. The margin represented the closest top four in an FIA WEC Hyperpole session, beating the previous benchmark established at Imola earlier in 2026.
Nielsen completes Ferrari top five
Nielsen could not reproduce his session-leading Qualifying lap when the field returned for Hyperpole, but his 1m52.873s still secured fifth for the No. 50 Ferrari.
Martins followed only 0.013s behind in sixth, placing both Alpine A424s inside the leading six and continuing the rookie’s impressive pace across the weekend.
Hirakawa took seventh for Toyota ahead of Jaubert’s No. 17 Genesis. Kobayashi then put the second Toyota ninth, leaving the championship-leading manufacturer with its two cars on the fourth and fifth rows.
Jaminet completed the Hyperpole order in the No. 19 Genesis, meaning both of the manufacturer’s cars secured top-10 starting positions.
Hypercar Hyperpole classification
- Ferrari #51 — Ferrari AF Corse — Antonio Giovinazzi — 1m52.445s — 6 laps
- Cadillac #38 — Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA — Jack Aitken — +0.000s — 6 laps
- Alpine #35 — Alpine Endurance Team — Charles Milesi — +0.029s — 6 laps
- Aston Martin #007 — Aston Martin THOR Team — Harry Tincknell — +0.050s — 6 laps
- Ferrari #50 — Ferrari AF Corse — Nicklas Nielsen — +0.428s — 6 laps
- Alpine #36 — Alpine Endurance Team — Victor Martins — +0.441s — 6 laps
- Toyota #8 — Toyota Racing — Ryō Hirakawa — +0.540s — 6 laps
- Genesis #17 — Genesis Magma Racing — Mathys Jaubert — +0.561s — 6 laps
- Toyota #7 — Toyota Racing — Kamui Kobayashi — +0.848s — 5 laps
- Genesis #19 — Genesis Magma Racing — Mathieu Jaminet — +1.050s — 6 laps
Ferrari maintains perfect COTA Hypercar pole record
Ferrari has now taken Hypercar pole at every Lone Star Le Mans since the 499P first raced at COTA in 2024. Giovinazzi secured the position that year before Kubica put the No. 83 AF Corse entry on pole in 2025, with Giovinazzi now returning to the top spot in 2026.
The No. 51 starts Sunday alongside the No. 38 Cadillac, but the exceptionally tight Hyperpole margins leave Alpine and Aston Martin directly within striking distance from the second row. Toyota and Genesis also put both cars into the top 10, while BMW, Peugeot and the second Cadillac face recovery drives.
The 2026 Lone Star Le Mans will begin at 13:00 local time on Sunday, 6 September, with six hours of racing at the Circuit of The Americas.
See LMGT3 Qualifying and Hyperpole report
