The Grand Prix of Endurance is back, the City of Le Mans preparing to become motorsport’s ultimate battleground for the 94th time. Having defeated the defacto Kings of Le Mans and banished Porsche to the USA, Ferrari seek a fourth consecutive crown for the first time since 1964. Yet with the field having closed the performance gap and arriving hungrier than ever, it will be no easy task for the Scuderia – but it never has. Who will emerge from the Porsche curves at 4.00pm on Sunday? It’s time for the oldest endurance test of them all to begin… 

LMP2

— Hyperpole 1

Defending class winners Inter Europol are into the second part of Hyperpole having set the fastest time in the 15 minute session for the #43.

Tom Dillmann, who was part of the lineup that took class honours last year set a barnstorming 3.33.762 to be top of the pack heading into Hyperpole 2, beating fellow gold rated driver Laurin Heinrich, who took second for the #4 Crowdstrike crew.

Third was FP3’s top time-setter Ollie Gray for the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis entry, with Nico Muller getting the Pro/Am Inter Europol #343 up to fourth.

With a last gasp lap from Mathias Beche securing fifth for the #14 TDS entry, sixth place was IDEC Sport’s #28 with Valerio Rinicella at the wheel.

Ben Barnicoat put his #183 AF Corse Pro/Am entry seventh ahead of Richard Verschoor, who took yesterday’s fastest LMP2 to a comfortable eighth in the #30 Duquiene entry, with the top ten being completed by the #99 of AO Racing and the #24 of Nielsen Racing

Eliminated were both United Autosports cars, the #26, CLX Motorsports youthful trio after a Theodore Jensen spin in the #37 and the #9 Proton Competition of Jonas Reid.

— Hyperpole 2

Esteban Masson has broken the 3.32 barrier to take pole position in LMP2 at the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Improving in the #29 Forestier Racing By Panis entry on both his final laps he’d already taken pole position provisionally before securing it with a barnstorming 3.32.855, with Jack Doohan’s late heroics in the #24 Nielsen entry third behind Job Van Uitert’s own in the #28 IDEC Sport entry, with Nick Yelloly fourth for defending race winners Inter Europol in the #43.

Rouding out the top five was Alex Quinn for Crowdstrike Racing in the #4, with yesterday’s provisional pole-sitters Duqueine Team sixth with their #30 car.

Seventh went the way of Porsche expat Kevin Estre for TDS Racing’s #14 entry ahead of another ex-Porsche man Dane Cameron in the #99 for AO Racing.

LMGT3

— Hyperpole 1

In LMGT3 it was Aston Martin heading into Hyperpole 2 with something to shout about, as Eduardo Barichello put his #23 on provisional pole.

The Brazilian was just 017sec ahead of Augusto Farfus’s #32 BMW with third going the way of Ayhancan Guven’s #91 Porsche that’s under investigation for a power spike in the middle part of the session.

The sister #27 Aston was fourth as next came the Lexus pairing, #78 ahead of #87 who were separated by just 0.2sec.

In seventh was the only Ford progressing into the fight for pole as on the last available opportunity Seb Priaulx snuck his #77 in by a mere tenths. Rouding out the top ten were the two progressing Ferraris of Kessel Racing (#74) and AF Corse (#21) with the #69 BMW in tenth.

Those who failed to evade the drop zone were the #88 Ford by just 0.2sec, both remaining Mercedes who will start alongside each other on Saturday in eleventh and twelfth, #62 ahead of #61, and finally the #54 AF Corse Ferrari and surprisingly in last place the #91 Porsche that won this class back in 2024.

— Hyperpole 2

For the second year in a row Mattia Drudi is on pole position in LMGT3 for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, going fastest in his Heart of Racing #23 Aston Martin ahead of Alessio Rovera’s #21 AF Corse Ferrari and the Lexus pairing, #87 ahead of #78 continuing their strong run so far this week.

Next were the two BMWs, with #32 ahead of a much improved effort from Sean Gelael behind the wheel of the #69, with Dennis Marschall’s #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari seventh.

Completing the top ten was the second #23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of the returning Johnny Adam, a former class winner here most recently in 2020. Only one Porsche made it into the second part of Hyperpole, with Timur Boguslavsky putting the #91 in ninth at his first Le Mans. Ben Tuck was tenth in the sole Ford Mustang GT3 competing in the top-ten shootout.

Next up are the two Hypercar Hyperpole sessions.

image credit: T GOUREAU, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons