6 Hours of COTA 2026, Qualifying: Giovinazzi takes Ferrari #51 to pole position

Second pole of the season for Giovinazzi and Ferrari

It was clear from the free practice sessions that the COTA track could be favorable to the Ferrari 499P, but the pole position was not at all guaranteed. Instead, Antonio Giovinazzi managed with another of his stunning laps to bring the red #51 to pole position, later imitated by Jack Aitken in the Cadillac #38 who posted the exact same time but will start behind the Ferrari having set his time later. A rare occurrence in the WEC, demonstrating how incredibly close the gaps are with only 0.050 seconds separating the poleman from the fourth place in Hyperpole, namely the surprising Aston Martin #007. The Ferrari #51 crew, with the point for pole, is only 17 points from the top of the drivers’ standings and tomorrow has the chance to recover significant points in the world championship chase.

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Giovinazzi thus secures the second pole of the season for Ferrari after the first obtained at Imola at the start of the season. The second official Ferrari, the #50, will start fifth while greater difficulties were found by the yellow Ferrari AF Corse #83, already eliminated in the qualifying phase with Kubica at the wheel and classified fourteenth. The Toyota leader in the manufacturers’ championship places seventh and ninth, sharing the grid rows with the surprising debutant Genesis. Quite surprising is the difficulty of the two BMWs #15 and #20 which fail to access Hyperpole and will start only P11 and P13. Also the Cadillac, usually very competitive in qualifying.

Here are the immediate statements from the three drivers of Ferrari #51:

Giovinazzi: “It was a great qualifying session. Qualifying went better than Hyperpole. I think the wind picked up and it wasn’t easy to drive the car. I didn’t do a perfect lap, but it was enough to secure pole position. So yes, a point for the championship, a good position for tomorrow’s race. In short, a good Saturday and now we finish the job tomorrow.”

Pier Guidi: “Championship? We know we are at a disadvantage, so we try to score as much as we can tomorrow. We scored one now and yes, it’s positive and we will do our best. Of course, the last two races of the championship that replaced the canceled ones will be only 6 hours, which doesn’t help us with available points, but we’ll see.”

Calado: “For now, we think race by race, it’s still too early to decide whether to aim for the championship. We have to face one race at a time. With all the neutralizations in this championship, you never know what will happen. So you just have to do your best when you get in the car and then, whatever the result, it’s fine.”

In LMGT3 Class, the Aston Martin of The Heart Of Racing team takes the front row and pole position with Eduardo Barrichello. This is the third pole position for the AMR Vantage of the American team. A good omen for tomorrow’s race where the team hopes to finally consolidate a good haul of points. Also relatively newsworthy is the failure of the two yellow Corvette TF Sport team cars, leaders in the manufacturers and drivers LMGT3 class championship, with the leader #33 starting only 17th.

Qualifying and Hyperpole report Hypercar class

Toyota and Peugeot wait a few tens of seconds longer than the rest of the group to enter the track trying to create a safety margin from traffic for a first qualifying phase that promises to be very tight. And indeed it is because as the tires warm up and the track rubberizes, times continue to drop and the various teams alternate at the top of the standings, with Aston Martins and Peugeots however constantly remaining the slowest of the lot. Also the yellow Ferrari #83 entrusted to Kubica seems to have some performance problems, staying far from the official red 499Ps that turn very fast. At the end comes the Aston #007’s surge that manages to enter the top ten while it is shocking the exclusion from Hyperpole of the two BMWs as well as Cadillac #12.

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The Hyperpole phase starts with the two Toyotas once again choosing to enter the track separated from the group while leading the Hypercar pack are the two Genesis GMR-001s that keep surprising in their first season. The driving challenge seems to be to warm the tires without overheating during the fast lap because many cars go through the last corners of their flying lap with obvious cornering problems. One minute from the end Antonio Giovinazzi brings his Ferrari #51 to pole position and a few seconds later incredibly Aitken in the Cadillac turns with the exact same lap time but is classified P2 having set it after the Italian driver.

Qualifying and Hyperpole report LMGT3 class

The asphalt temperature at the start of the qualifying phase is very high, a full 54.7°C which allows the bronze drivers taking part in the first qualifying phase to quickly warm up the tires already during their out lap. The first qualifying phase claims some notable victims, namely the two Corvettes racing at home and also the Ferrari #54 of Flohr. Moreover, the Corvette #17 is leader in the world standings. Ford and Aston Martin are the only teams managing to place two cars in the top ten. All other teams lose one of their two cars that do not pass the cut of the first phase in which Stefano Gattuso on Ford Mustang stands out.

The bronze drivers hand over the wheel to the ten silver drivers for the Hyperpole phase. From the start, the pace is set by the Aston Martin duo Barrichello-Robichon with the Porsche #91 of Boguslavkiy steadily third. The Fords seem to have lost their edge and also grip with tires starting to overheat and Levorato makes an off-track that definitively puts him at the back of the grid. The Heart of Racing Aston Martin team thus secures the front row and the third consecutive pole position.