IDEC Sport and Heart of Racing on pole for Le Mans in LMP2 and LMGT3

Credit: Stephen Power

Esteban Masson has given the No.29 Forestier Racing by Panis pole position in LMP2 for the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans, however a penalty from yesterday means the No.28 IDEC Sport will start first on Saturday. Mattia Drudi in the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin taking another LMGT3 Le Mans pole.

Hyperpole 1

We lost four LMP2s and 10 LMGT3s yesterday evening in Qualifying, the rest of grids had to go again though to find their spot on Saturdays grid. Five more in each category would lose their chance at pole in the first of two sessions, with the top 10 progressing to Hyperpole 2. The drivers had 20 minutes to find their best lap time.

After each of the teams were forced to put their lowest graded drivers into the cars yesterday, today they had free choice. The big question was; Put the quickest driver in first to secure the top 10? Or maybe take the risk and go all in for pole, should they get through.

In LMGT3 the No.34 Corvette was due to take part in the session, but were excluded due to excessive rear strake wear on the car. The No.62 Qatari Iron Lynx Mercedes took their spot in this session.

Laurin Heinrich in the No.4 Crowdstrike by APR car went to the top in LMP2 and LMP2 Pro-Am after the first round of laps, ahead of Ben Barnicoat in the No.183 and No.14 of Mathias Beche, both also Pro-Am entries.

In LMGT3 it was Augusto Farfus in the No.32 BMW flying clear. Both BMWs and both Fords put their quickest drivers in for this session, so they were just banking on getting into the top 10.

In the drop zone in LMP2 was the No.9 Proton of Kaku Ohta, No.22 United of Gregoire Saucy, No.37 CLX of Theodor Jensen who had a spin on the Mulsanne, No.30 of Richard Verschoor and the No.99 of James Allen.

Allen and Saucy quickly went to eighth and 10th respectively, putting the No.222 United of Oliver Jarvis and the No.26 Vector Sport of Vladislav Lomko.

In LMGT3 it was the No.62 Mercedes of Julian Hanses, No.92 Porsche of Ricardo Pera, No.54 Ferrari of Francesco Castellaci who also had a spin in the final sector, No.77 Ford of Sebastian Priaulx and the No.61 Mercedes of Rui Andrade

Verschoor in the No.30 Duqiene car that topped Qualifying yesterday in the hands of Doriane Pin went to sixth, putting Saucy in the No.22 back into the drop zone.

Many GT3s began to pit with a couple of minutes to go, the tyres running out of juice. Those left on circuit were the first to take the checkered flag, with not many notable improvement. But Priaulx in the No.77 Ford was 15th and last, but jumped all the way up to seventh. That knocked the sister No.88 of Logan Sargeant out of Hyperpole.

With that Tom Dillmann in the No.43 Inter Europol car topped LMP2 on a 3:33.7, and Zachaire Robichon in the NO.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin on a 3:53.1 that finished first in LMGT3.

LMP2 Drop Zone

11th No.22 United Autosports

12th No.222 United Autosports

13th No.26 Vector Sport

14th No.37 CLX Motorsport

15th No.9 Proton Competition

LMGT3 Drop Zone

11th No.88 Ford

12th No.62 Iron Lynx Mercedes

13th No.61 Iron Lynx Mercedes

14th No.54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari

15th No.92 Manthey Porsche

Hyperpole 2

Credit: Evan Roberts

So then there were 20. 10 in each class were ready to battle it out for pole position. 15 minutes were put on the clock for the drivers to set their best possible laps.

Before the light even went green, the No.78 Akkodis ASP Lexus had a problem with the driver side door which wouldn't close properly. After almost three minutes, the door shut and Jack Hawksworth got on his way.

Julian Andlauer in the No.30 Duqiene car went to the top of LMP2 in the first runs, two tenths ahead of Job van Uitert in the No.28 IDEC Sport machine. Alessio Rovera in the No.21 Ferrari and No.74 Kessel of Dennis Marschall made it a Ferrari 1-2 in LMGT3. But the latters time was deleted for track limits.

Van Uitert came on his second lap and went quicker than Andlauer by eight tenths of a second. Esteban Masson in the No.29 Forestier Racing car cleared that time by half a second though to go onto provisional pole position.

Quickly after came the LMGT3s again, with Mattia Drudi coming through to put the No.27 Heart of Racing car to the top by 1.1 seconds, with no answer coming from the Ferraris.

Alex Quinn in the No.4 improved to second in LMP2 cutting the time gap to Masson, but the Frenchman went even quicker again. Jack Doohan in the No.24 Nielsen Racing car slotted into second, six and a half tenths back. It wasn't over though, Masson, Quinn and van Uitert got another lap in before the checkered flag.

No improvements in LMGT3 left the No.27 of Drudi on pole position, ahead of Rovera and Jose Maria Lopez in the No.87 Lexus. Hawksworth in the previously broken Lexus was fourth, ahead of the No.32 and No.69 BMWs in fifth and sixth.

Van Uitert in the IDEC car went to second, three tenths behind Masson. No one else improved though, leaving Forestier in first. The Forestier's one place grid drop awarded the No.28 IDEC Sport the pole position for Saturday. Doohan was third, ahead of the No.43 Inter Europol of Nick Yelloly and Quinn in the No.4.

LMP2 Hyperpole Results

1st No.28 IDEC Sport

2nd No.29 Forestier Racing by Panis

3rd No.24 Nielsen Racing

4th No.43 Inter Europol Competition

5th No.4 Crowdstike by APR (Pro-Am pole)

6th No.30 Duqiene Team

7th No.14 TDS Racing

8th No.99 AO Racing

9th No.183 AF Corse

10th No.343 Inter Europol Competition

LMGT3 Hyperpole Results

1st No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin

2nd No.21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari

3rd No.87 Akkodis ASP Lexus

4th No.78 Akkodis ASP Lexus

5th No.32 WRT BMW

6th No.69 WRT BMW

7th No.74 Kessel Racing Ferrari

8th No.23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin

9th No.91 Manthey Porsche

10th No.77 Ford