Henri Dubois · Endurance Correspondent
Mathys Jaubert put the No. 17 Genesis on the brand's first pole in Hyperpole. Alongside him starts the Toyota that can leave Barcelona with two titles.
Before the weekend, Genesis was the only Hypercar team that knew the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from its own testing. On Saturday afternoon at the 6 Hours of Barcelona, the brand was at the very front for the first time. Mathys Jaubert lapped the No. 17 Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 in 1:30.166 in Hyperpole, securing the brand's first pole in the World Endurance Championship. According to Dailysportscar, he is the youngest polesitter in the history of the championship. He shares the car with André Lotterer and Pipo Derani.
Qualifying: a delay and a Genesis benchmark
Qualifying started a quarter of an hour late because the track needed repairs at the final corner. Almost as soon as the session went green, the second Genesis, the No. 19, stopped after pit exit with a loss of power. Yet in the end it was precisely this car that topped the order with a 1:30.479, 0.144 seconds ahead of the No. 8 Toyota and 0.179 seconds ahead of the No. 17. The top ten were covered by 0.932 seconds.
How tight the fight for Hyperpole places was became clear at Aston Martin THOR Team. Alex Riberas missed out by just 32 thousandths in the No. 009 Valkyrie, while Harry Tincknell, fastest in second practice, starts 12th in the sister car. Antonio Giovinazzi lost his best lap in the No. 51 Ferrari of Ferrari AF Corse for exceeding track limits and ended up 13th. The two BMWs of BMW M Team WRT finished 14th and 16th, the two cars of Peugeot TotalEnergies 15th and 17th.
Hyperpole: Jaubert ahead of Hirakawa
In Hyperpole, Jaubert set the benchmark at 1:30.329 on his very first flying lap and then improved once more. Ryō Hirakawa got within 0.170 seconds in the No. 8 Toyota. Mathieu Jaminet put the No. 19 third, even though he had to stop briefly on track again after his fast lap. That puts two Genesis cars in the top three.
Charles Milesi was fourth in the No. 35 Alpine of Alpine Endurance Team, ahead of Will Stevens in the No. 12 Cadillac of Cadillac Hertz Team Jota and Robert Kubica in the No. 83 Ferrari of AF Corse. Behind them come Victor Martins in the second Alpine, Antonio Fuoco in the No. 50 Ferrari, Nyck de Vries in the No. 7 Toyota and Jack Aitken in the second Cadillac. According to Sportscar365, Fuoco would have been fourth without a lap deleted for exceeding track limits.
What the grid means for Sunday
For Toyota, the starting position is favorable. The No. 8, ten points ahead of the No. 7 in the drivers' standings, starts from the front row, the No. 7 from ninth. Anyone hoping to wrap up the drivers' and manufacturers' titles in Barcelona needs, above all, a clean race without incidents, and a spot at the very front of the field is the safest place to start one. Ferrari, by contrast, starts its best car, the No. 83 of AF Corse, only from sixth, with the factory cars eighth and 13th. BMW, Toyota's closest pursuer in the manufacturers' standings, has to take up the race from 14th and 16th.
Whether Genesis can defend pole over six hours is another question. A fast lap on fresh tires says little about how a car handles a double stint with this circuit's high tire degradation. According to Dailysportscar, Marco Sørensen also expects rain during the race. If that happens, the cards will be reshuffled anyway.
