Heartbreak and Inheritance: Cadillac JOTA Penalty Hands BMW M Team WRT Le Mans Pole as Stevens, Nato and Delétraz Promoted to Front Row
June 12, 2026The tension around the circuit ratcheted up a notch on Thursday the 12th as the multi-stage Hyperpole shootout got underway at 8.00pm. With a modified format for the 2026 season with each of the three drivers taking a session, assuming the car got through to the final 10.
In LMP2 Tom Dillman in the #43 Inter Europol Competition set the early baseline with Zach Robichon in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin controlling the LMGT3 field. In a surprise turn of events, both United Autosports entries failed to make the final ten as did the #26 Vector Sport entry, the #37 CLX Motorsport machine and the #9 Proton Competition car. Proton Competition’s woes continued in the LMGT3 class where the #88 Ford Mustang missed the cut-off.
IDEC Sport Inherits LMP2 Pole Following Post-Session Penalty for Panis Racing
Once the clock reset for the final Hyperpole 2 shootout, track evolution triggered frantic, last-minute changes. In LMP2, Esteban Masson executed a flawless, high-risk lap aboard the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis machine, setting a 3:32.855 to head the timing sheets. However, late post-session drama reshaped the grid with the Panis entry handed a one-place grid penalty stemming from a Wednesday night infraction, meaning that it is the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca – driven by the rapid Job van Uitert – that inherited the official LMP2 pole position with a stellar 3:33.242. Neilsen Racing’s Jack Doohan rounded out the top three.
In LMGT3, the evening belonged to Aston Martin with factory star Mattia Drudi producing a masterclass behind the wheel of the #27 Heart of Racing entry, setting a superb 3:52.433 and becoming the only driver to drop below the 3:53 barrier. Drudi secured back to Le Mans class poles for the America with Alessio Rovera claiming a strong second for the #21 AF Corse Ferrari, a little under a second behind Drudi.
Aitken Denied Hyperpole Glory After Post-Session Penalty Deletes Pole Lap
The premier class delivered some of the most dramatic, high-stakes twists witnessed in modern Le Mans history, Hyperpole 1 started as a frantic sprint to make the top ten cut off. Charles Milesi laid down an immense marker for French hopes, piloting the #35 Alpine A424 to the top of the timing screens with a 3:23.018, just ahead of the hard-charging #38 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac. High-profile casualties saw the flagship #7 Toyota Hybrid dramatically missing the transfer bubble entirely.
Hyperpole 2 quickly escalated into a ferocious dual with Dries Vanthoor initially grabbing the headlines, driving the #15 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid to a blistering 3:22.564. On the final flyers, Jack Aitken tore up the sector splits in the #38 JOTA Cadillac, crossing the line just .005 seconds faster than Vanthoor to ignite wild celebrations on the JOTA garage.
However, euphoria quickly dissolved into heartbreak as the stewards hit the #38 Cadillac with a severe penalty for failing to comply with the mandated pit lane start procedure at the beginning of the evening, resulting in the deletion of Aitken’s pole-winning time and dropping the car to tenth.
As a result, BMW inherited a historic first Le Mans pole position of the modern Hypercar era and promoted the sister #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entry of Will Stevens, Norman Nato and Louis Delétraz onto the front row of the grid with the #35 Alpine rounding out the top.
The 2026 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans gets underway at 4.00pm local time on Saturday the 13th.
