UPDATE: The #30 Duqueine Team ORECA has had all of its lap times deleted, after sealing foam was found between two body parts during post-qualifying checks. The #99 AO by TF ORECA has therefore inherited LMP2 Pro/Am pole position.
The #18 IDEC Sport ORECA, which initially qualified fourth in LMP2, has also had all of its lap times cancelled after the car was found to be underweight.
Forestier Racing by Panis’ Esteban Masson has claimed pole position for the 2026 4 Hours of Le Castellet. The reigning champion triumphed in an entertaining qualifying session at Circuit Paul Ricard this afternoon.
The Frenchman set a 1:48.374 with one minute to go in the 15-minute LMP2 session, vaulting to the top of the times aboard the #29 ORECA 07 – Gibson.
He was then unable to improve on his final flying lap, and therefore faced a nervous wait as the competition completed their respective qualifying runs.
Gregoire Saucy, piloting the #22 United Autosports ORECA, came up just 0.021 seconds shy of snatching pole position, whilst Barcelona pole-sitter, Reshad De Gérus, also failed to improve on his final lap, and had to settle for third.
Fourth went to the #18 IDEC Sport ORECA of Valerio Rinicella, ahead of Jack Doohan’s #24 Nielsen Racing and Tom Dillmann’s #43 Inter Europol entries.
LMP2 qualifying was punctuated by a Full Course Yellow deployed with seven minutes to go, due to a cone which had been dislodged at the chicane on the Mistral.
The biggest loser of this pause to proceedings was Algarve Pro Racing’s Jake Hughes, who lost a flying lap on which he had set a pair of purple sectors. The Briton ended up eighth in the #25 ORECA.
Giorgio Roda delivered his traditional qualifying performance in LMP2 Pro/Am, with the #30 Duqueine Team ORECA driver claiming pole by 0.547 seconds, courtesy of a 1:50.386.
The Italian took the time to scrub a set of tyres at the beginning of the session, before reeling off a 1:51.637 on his first flying lap to claim provisional pole position by almost one second. From then onwards, Roda was able to respond to any improvements from behind, reestablishing his margin whenever the opposition, led by AO by TF’s PJ Hyett, looked threatening.
Hyett was second in the #99 ORECA, ahead of fellow American Steven Thomas aboard TDS Racing’s #14 entry. Jean Glorieux qualified fourth in the #3 DKR Engineering ORECA, ahead of John Falb’s #19 Rossa Racing by Virage entry, with Michael Jensen placing the Barcelona-winning #20 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA seventh.
In LMP3, DKR Engineering claimed its first ELMS pole position since 2021, following a late charge from Romain Favre.
The Frenchman moved to the top of the times with his final lap, setting a 1:58.784 aboard the #4 Ligier JS P325 – Toyota and surpassing R-ace GP’s Pierre-Alexandre Provost by 0.106 seconds.
Provost, piloting the #85 Duqueine D09, had been fastest since he completed his first flying lap with six minutes to go, but was unable to respond to Favre’s late effort.
Henry Cubides Olarte was third in the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier, ahead of M Racing’s Thomas Imbourg and Ultimate’s Sebastian Gravlund. The championship-leading #5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier, meanwhile, will start from eighth on the grid tomorrow.
And in LMGT3, Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi followed up his performance at Barcelona with another pole position aboard the #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3.
In a similar story to the season opener, the Italian outfit elected to use two sets of Goodyear tyres, with Al-Khelaifi setting a 2:03.814 on his final lap of the session to snatch pole from TF Sport’s session-long leader Blake McDonald by 0.071 seconds.
McDonald, therefore, again has to settle for second on the grid in the #33 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R.
Duncan Cameron qualified third in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo, ahead of the Barcelona-winning #75 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) LMGT3 of Matt Kurzejewski, with Clément Mateu making it five different marques in the top five aboard Racing Spirit of Leman’s #59 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 Evo.
The 4 Hours of Le Castellet will take place at 12:00 CEST tomorrow.
