Henri Dubois · Endurance-Korrespondent
At the Lone Star Le Mans on the Circuit of the Americas, the Hypercar-class pole position came down to the thousandth of a second, while in the LMGT3 class, the car that qualified tenth in the regular session ended up posting the day's fastest lap, handing Heart of Racing Team an entire front row.
Friday afternoon found the Texas sun still high over Austin, the asphalt of the Circuit of the Americas already heated to temperatures where tire choice and cooling airflow matter more than chasing the last tenth from the cockpit. In this heat, the grid for Sunday's six-hour Lone Star Le Mans race was decided, and in both FIA WEC classes the picture shifted noticeably between the regular qualifying session and Hyperpole. In the Hypercar class, the Ferrari 499P #51 driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi claimed pole position despite running exactly the same lap time as the Cadillac V-Series.R #38 of Cadillac Hertz Team Jota. In the LMGT3 class, the Aston Martin Vantage AMR #23 from Heart of Racing Team took the top spot after finishing the regular session only tenth, making it by the skin of its teeth into the Hyperpole shootout.
Hypercar: Ferrari #50 leads early, then the Hyperpole shakeup
In the regular qualifying session that determines which drivers qualify for Hyperpole, the Ferrari 499P #50 of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen set the pace with a 1:52.020 lap time on a track that was gripping up noticeably as the session progressed, offering more grip with each passing lap. Behind them came the Alpine A424 #36 driven by Frédéric Makowiecki, Jules Gounon, and Victor Martins, along with the sister Ferrari #51, an early picture that suggested clear Ferrari dominance before Hyperpole would shake things up considerably.
While the top ten from the regular session qualify for the decisive Hyperpole, where each driver gets only one fast lap in a lighter fuel load, the balance within the Ferrari camp reversed itself. The initially quickest #50 fell back to fifth place in Hyperpole, while its sister car #51 went on to win the session. In between, the Alpine #35 of Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi, and António Félix da Costa jumped to third, and the Aston Martin Valkyrie #007 of Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble slotted into fourth, separated by only hundredths to tenths of a second, a sign of just how tightly the balance of performance keeps the manufacturers together this season.
Pole down to the thousandth: Ferrari versus Cadillac
The real story of the Hypercar qualifying came down to the head-to-head at the top. The Ferrari #51 and the Cadillac V-Series.R #38 of Cadillac Hertz Team Jota, driven by Earl Bamber, Sébastien Bourdais, and Jack Aitken, posted exactly the same Hyperpole time of 1:52.445, identical down to the thousandth of a second. The WEC rulebook doesn't break ties through sector times; it simply comes down to the clock. Whichever car posts that identical lap time first in its Hyperpole run gets the better grid position. In this case, the Ferrari #51 took the advantage, with Cadillac Hertz Team Jota starting from second place.
For the championship, where the manufacturer standings are the only points that count in the Hypercar class following the 2026 regulation change, a result like this shows just how tightly Ferrari and Cadillac were matched on this qualifying Friday, regardless of which manufacturer's car ended up with pole. For Sunday's race, this closeness likely matters little: over six hours in Texas heat, tire degradation and pit-stop strategy will have far more bearing on the winner than a single Hyperpole qualifying lap on Friday.
LMGT3: Heart of Racing comes from behind for a front row sweep
Friday played out differently in the LMGT3 class. In the regular qualifying session, the Ford Mustang GT3 #88 of Proton Competition, driven by Stefano Gattuso, Giammarco Levorato, and Logan Sargeant, set the pace with a 2:06.331 lap time and appeared to control the Hyperpole grid position. The Aston Martin Vantage AMR #23 of Heart of Racing Team, with Gray Newell, Eduardo Barrichello, and Jonny Adam in the car, had qualified for Hyperpole only tenth and thus by the skin of its teeth, while the team's second car, the #27 driven by Ian James, Zacharie Robichon, and Mattia Drudi, showed no sign of a top-tier run at that point.
In Hyperpole itself, the picture flipped entirely, with Heart of Racing making better use of the by-then heavily rubbered track surface than any other team. The Aston Martin #23 posted a 2:05.160 lap that wasn't only its own personal best but the fastest LMGT3 run of the entire Friday, securing pole position, a result that would surely count as a surprise given the car's starting position as an underdog from the back of the field. Behind it came the sister #27, just 0.124 seconds back, a complete first-row lockout for the team heading into a race where tire and brake management over six hours will matter far more than the speed of a single Hyperpole run. Further back sat the Manthey-DK-Engineering Porsche #91 of James Cottingham, Timur Boguslavskiy, and Ayhancan Güven and the second Proton Ford #77 with Eric Powell, Ben Tuck, and Sebastian Priaulx, both posting identical times of 2:05.483 for third and fourth.
How durable this order proves over six hours remains to be seen when Sunday turns a single hot lap into a grueling race of attrition, where tire wear on the abrasive COTA asphalt, driver changes, and the timing of strategy windows during potential full-course yellows will likely carry far more weight than the starting lineup from Austin.
