ANS Motorsport’s Maxwell Dodds stormed to Michelin Le Mans Cup pole position at a wet Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
After rain before the start of qualifying, the track was drying throughout, with the best conditions for the concluding 15-minute LMP3 session.
Piloting the #9 Ligier JS P325 – Toyota, Dodds first went to the top of the times with a 2:27.887, and improved on each of his subsequent laps to hold the opposition at bay, with a mighty 2:23.319 his eventual pole time.
It is the car’s second pole of the season, after Dodds’ co-driver Louis Iglesias claimed pole at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Luciano Morano was a late improver to qualify second in the #29 Forestier Racing by VPS Ligier, 2.038 seconds back, with the #85 R-ace GP Duqueine D09 ahead of its main championship rivals in third.
The Duqueine, however, is under investigation after Enzo Peugeot made contact with the #26 Bretton Racing Ligier of Bruno Ribeiro at La Source.
Fourth went to the #92 Forestier Racing by VPS Ligier, ahead of the #87 CLX Motorsport Ligier, with the Le Mans-winning #12 Brutal Fish by Campos in sixth.
Alexander Bukhantsov scored his third LMP3 Pro/Am pole position of 2026 in dominant fashion, with the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier ending up 0.634 seconds clear having been over three seconds faster than the rest of the field at times.
Bukhantsov set a 2:32.461 on his second flying lap, which would go on to be his best time as traffic disrupted his later attempts.
Allay Racing made a strong start to life in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, with the debuting squad second with its #48 Ligier thanks to a 2:33.095 from Emil Hellberg.
Third went to the #62 Bretton Racing Ligier of Jacek Zielonka, ahead of the #71 Rinaldi Racing and #24 Racing Spirit of Leman JS P325s.
The championship-leading #98 Motorsport98 will start its home race from seventh on the grid.
And in GT3, Oscar Ryndziewicz claimed his first pole of the season aboard the #21 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.
Ryndziewicz trailed the #77 SMC Motorsport McLaren GT3 Evo of Gonzalo De Andres Martin throughout there majority of the session, but set a 2:38.578 on his final flying lap which the McLaren driver came up 0.155 seconds short of.
AF Corse’s pair of Ferraris locked out the second row of the grid, with Philipp Sager fifth in the championship-leading #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo.
Round 4 of the 2026 Michelin Le Mans Cup will take place this afternoon at 15:52 CEST.
Image courtesy of Maxwell Dodds
