WEC Barcelona qualifying: Jaubert puts Genesis on pole, title-leading Toyota second
The #8 Toyota starts second and its BMW title rival 13th, the Alpines line up fourth and seventh, and Thomas Fleming takes LMGT3 pole for Garage 59
Mathys Jaubert put the #17 Genesis on pole for the 6 Hours of Barcelona with a lap of 1:30.166 in Hyperpole, Genesis’s first pole in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Alongside him on the front row starts the car that leads the championship: Ryo Hirakawa set the #8 Toyota’s time, 0.170 seconds slower.
Start times (local, CEST and US Eastern) and how to watch: 6 Hours of Barcelona 2026 schedule and how to watch. Friday practice: WEC Barcelona practice results.
Genesis takes two of the top three places
Genesis had been fast all weekend without topping a session that counted. Jaubert was second in Friday’s second practice, the #19 was second in Saturday’s final practice, and in qualifying Jaminet was quickest of all with 1:30.479. In Hyperpole the order flipped: Jaubert improved by almost half a second on the #17’s qualifying time, and Jaminet’s 1:30.490 left the #19 third on the grid.
The Alpines continued the step they made on Saturday morning. Charles Milesi put the #35 fourth, 0.556 seconds off pole, and Victor Martins qualified the #36 seventh. On Friday afternoon the two A424s had been around two seconds off the pace.
Will Stevens is fifth in the #12 Cadillac, Robert Kubica sixth in the #83 Ferrari. Antonio Fuoco’s best lap in the #50 Ferrari, 1:30.552, would have put the car fourth, but it was deleted for track limits and the #50 starts eighth.
BMW’s title car starts 13th
The front row matters most for the title fight. The #8 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Hirakawa arrived on 89 points, ten clear of the sister #7, and starts second. Nyck de Vries put the #7 ninth.
The #20 BMW of Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde, third in the standings on 75 points, did not reach Hyperpole and starts 13th: it qualified 14th, but the #51 Ferrari drops one grid position after a stewards’ decision. The #15 BMW is 16th. Both Aston Martin Valkyries also missed the top ten: the #009 starts 11th and the #007, fastest on Friday afternoon, 12th.
Hypercar starting grid
| Grid | No. | Team | Drivers | Car | Time | Session |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #17 | Genesis Magma Racing | André Lotterer, Luis Felipe Derani, Mathys Jaubert | Genesis GMR-001 | 1:30.166 | Hyperpole |
| 2 | #8 | Toyota Racing | Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa | Toyota TR010 Hybrid | 1:30.336 | Hyperpole |
| 3 | #19 | Genesis Magma Racing | Mathieu Jaminet, Paul-Loup Chatin, Daniel Juncadella | Genesis GMR-001 | 1:30.490 | Hyperpole |
| 4 | #35 | Alpine Endurance Team | Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg | Alpine A424 | 1:30.722 | Hyperpole |
| 5 | #12 | Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA | Will Stevens, Norman Nato, Alex Lynn | Cadillac V-Series.R | 1:30.784 | Hyperpole |
| 6 | #83 | AF Corse | Yifei Ye, Robert Kubica, Philip Hanson | Ferrari 499P | 1:30.804 | Hyperpole |
| 7 | #36 | Alpine Endurance Team | Jules Gounon, Victor Martins | Alpine A424 | 1:30.814 | Hyperpole |
| 8 | #50 | Ferrari AF Corse | Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen | Ferrari 499P | 1:30.836 | Hyperpole |
| 9 | #7 | Toyota Racing | Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries | Toyota TR010 Hybrid | 1:30.953 | Hyperpole |
| 10 | #38 | Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA | Earl Bamber, Sébastien Bourdais, Jack Aitken | Cadillac V-Series.R | 1:31.065 | Hyperpole |
| 11 | #009 | Aston Martin THOR Team | Alex Riberas, Marco Sørensen | Aston Martin Valkyrie | 1:31.443 | Qualifying |
| 12 | #007 | Aston Martin THOR Team | Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble | Aston Martin Valkyrie | 1:31.464 | Qualifying |
| 13 | #20 | BMW M Team WRT | Robin Frijns, René Rast, Sheldon van der Linde | BMW M Hybrid V8 | 1:31.571 | Qualifying |
| 14 | #51 | Ferrari AF Corse | Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi | Ferrari 499P | 1:31.508 | Qualifying (one-place grid drop) |
| 15 | #94 | Peugeot TotalEnergies | Loïc Duval, Malthe Jakobsen, Théo Pourchaire | Peugeot 9X8 | 1:31.628 | Qualifying |
| 16 | #15 | BMW M Team WRT | Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello, Dries Vanthoor | BMW M Hybrid V8 | 1:31.650 | Qualifying |
| 17 | #93 | Peugeot TotalEnergies | Paul di Resta, Nick Cassidy, Alex Quinn | Peugeot 9X8 | 1:31.713 | Qualifying |
Positions 1 to 10 from Hyperpole, 11 to 17 from qualifying. Source: FIA WEC combined qualifying classification (Al Kamel).
Fleming puts the Garage 59 McLaren on LMGT3 pole
In LMGT3, Thomas Fleming took pole in the #10 Garage 59 McLaren with 1:40.933, 0.122 seconds ahead of the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche. The #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari is third.
The #33 TF Sport Corvette of Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar and Nicky Catsburg, which leads the LMGT3 teams’ standings on 86 points, starts fourth. Its nearest pursuer, the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin on 62 points, had a difficult qualifying and starts last in class. The #34 Racing Team Turkey Corvette was fastest in qualifying with Peter Dempsey at the wheel, but tenth in Hyperpole.
| Grid | No. | Team | Drivers | Car | Time | Session |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #10 | Garage 59 | Antares Au, Thomas Fleming, Marvin Kirchhöfer | McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo | 1:40.933 | Hyperpole |
| 2 | #92 | The Bend Manthey | Yasser Shahin, Riccardo Pera, Richard Lietz | Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 | 1:41.055 | Hyperpole |
| 3 | #21 | Vista AF Corse | François Hériau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera | Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo | 1:41.398 | Hyperpole |
| 4 | #33 | TF Sport | Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar, Nicky Catsburg | Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R | 1:41.447 | Hyperpole |
| 5 | #61 | Iron Lynx | Martin Berry, Rui Andrade, Maxime Martin | Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 | 1:41.625 | Hyperpole |
| 6 | #32 | Team WRT | Darren Leung, Sean Gelael, Augusto Farfus | BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo | 1:41.698 | Hyperpole |
| 7 | #87 | Akkodis ASP Team | Petru Umbrărescu, Clemens Schmid, José María López | Lexus RC F LMGT3 | 1:41.894 | Hyperpole |
| 8 | #77 | Proton Competition | Eric Powell, Ben Tuck, Sebastian Priaulx | Ford Mustang LMGT3 | 1:41.956 | Hyperpole |
| 9 | #88 | Proton Competition | Stefano Gattuso, Giammarco Levorato, Logan Sargeant | Ford Mustang LMGT3 | 1:42.222 | Hyperpole |
| 10 | #34 | Racing Team Turkey by TF | Peter Dempsey, Salih Yoluç, Charlie Eastwood | Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R | 1:42.774 | Hyperpole |
| 11 | #78 | Akkodis ASP Team | Tom Van Rompuy, Hadrien David, Esteban Masson | Lexus RC F LMGT3 | 1:43.124 | Qualifying |
| 12 | #91 | Manthey DK Engineering | James Cottingham, Timur Boguslavskiy, Ayhancan Güven | Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 | 1:43.169 | Qualifying |
| 13 | #54 | Vista AF Corse | Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Davide Rigon | Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo | 1:43.332 | Qualifying |
| 14 | #23 | Heart of Racing Team | Gray Newell, Eduardo Barrichello, Jonny Adam | Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 | 1:43.513 | Qualifying |
| 15 | #69 | Team WRT | Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson, Daniel Harper | BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo | 1:43.975 | Qualifying |
| 16 | #58 | Garage 59 | Alexander West, Finn Gehrsitz, Benjamin Goethe | McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo | 1:44.267 | Qualifying |
| 17 | #79 | Iron Lynx | Johannes Zelger, Matteo Cressoni, Lin Hodenius | Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 | 1:44.655 | Qualifying |
| 18 | #27 | Heart of Racing Team | Ian James, Zacharie Robichon, Mattia Drudi | Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 | 1:49.121 | Qualifying |
Positions 1 to 10 from LMGT3 Hyperpole, 11 to 18 from LMGT3 qualifying. Source: FIA WEC combined qualifying classification (Al Kamel).
Our hunch
A Genesis pole is a headline, but six hours at Barcelona will be decided by tyre wear and traffic as much as by one lap on new tyres. The car to watch is the one alongside. The #8 Toyota starts on the front row with its closest BMW rival 11 places behind, which is the kind of Saturday a title leader hopes for. If Toyota converts that into a clean race, the title could be close to settled before Monza.
The race starts on Sunday at 12:00 CEST, 11:00 UK and 06:00 ET
The 6 Hours of Barcelona starts on Sunday 18 October at 12:00 local time (CEST), 11:00 UK and 06:00 US Eastern, with the chequered flag at 18:00 CEST. It is the penultimate round of the season, before the finale at Monza on 8 November. Full start times and how to watch: 6 Hours of Barcelona 2026 schedule. Standings: FIA WEC standings 2026.
New to the series? Our guide FIA WEC explained: classes, Hyperpole and race strategy covers how a WEC race weekend works.
Sources: FIA WEC provisional starting grid (with the stewards’ one-place grid drop for the #51), classifications for Hypercar qualifying, Hypercar Hyperpole, LMGT3 qualifying and LMGT3 Hyperpole, the combined qualifying classification and the Hyperpole lap analysis, published by Al Kamel Systems; FIA WEC standings after Fuji.
More on the FIA WEC: WEC 2026 hub, every 2026 race result, championship standings, the Hypercar class explained and how Hyperpole works.
Can Genesis turn its first pole into a podium, or does the front-row Toyota take a big step towards the title? Tell us in the comments.
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