The headlining Hypercar category’s newest marque has made impressive progress of late, and posted the second-fastest effort in two of the three free practice sessions around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Mathieu Jaminet then shifted the goalposts further by topping the times in the opening part of qualifying in Spain, with Jaubert backing his countryman up in third. In the ten-minute Hyperpole shootout, the roles were reversed as the younger of the two Frenchmen soared to the summit behind the wheel of the #17 Genesis GMR-001 Hypercar he shares with double world champion André Lotterer and two-time IMSA title-winner, ‘Pipo’ Derani.
“It’s an incredible feeling!” enthused an emotional Jaubert, who is affectionately nicknamed ‘Baby Driver’ in the paddock. “The team did a fantastic job to get both myself and Mathieu inside the top three, and the car was just amazing.
“The track was very different compared to free practice. It was changing a lot and the grip level was pretty low, which made things tricky, but we adopted the right strategy on tyres and were able to put everything together and deliver.”
The Provence native ultimately set two laps quick enough to secure the top spot on the starting grid for tomorrow’s penultimate round of the 2026 FIA WEC season – in so doing, becoming the youngest outright pole-sitter in the series’ history at the age of only 21.
Jaminet overcame two brief on-track stoppages in the sister #19 Genesis – one in qualifying, one in Hyperpole – to take third, with the pair of pace-setting GMR-001 Hypercars sandwiching the title-chasing #8 TOYOTA RACING TR010 Hybrid in the hands of Ryō Hirakawa. Together with team-mates Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley, the Japanese star could seal the Drivers’ world championship crown on Sunday.
Alpine Endurance Team shone once again as Charles Milesi completed the top four in the #35 A424, ahead of Will Stevens in the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R and Robert Kubica in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P – the best-placed of the three Prancing Horse entries. The #36 Alpine, #50 Ferrari, #7 Toyota and #38 Cadillac rounded out the top ten positions.
The biggest casualties of the first part of qualifying were the title-defending #51 Ferrari 499P, both Aston Martin Valkyries – which had shown strong pace during free practice – and, most significantly, both BMW M Team WRT entries, as the Bavarian brand’s difficult recent run continued.
The inaugural 6 Hours of Barcelona presented by Visit Qatar will begin at 12:00 local time (CEST) tomorrow (Sunday, 18 October).
