BMW inherits pole at 2026 Le Mans after Cadillac penalty

The No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota entry, driven by Jack Aitken, has been stripped of pole position for the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans following a procedural violation during Thursday's final qualifying session. The penalty promotes the No. 15 WRT BMW M Hybrid LMDh, driven by Dries Vanthoor, to the top starting spot for this weekend's race.

Aitken had initially secured pole by an exceptionally narrow margin, setting a lap time of 3:22.559 during the Hyperpole 2 session, which was just five thousandths of a second faster than Vanthoor's 3:22.564. However, race stewards later deleted Aitken's fastest lap after determining the team released the car from its pit stall one minute earlier than permitted. The race director's instructions stipulated that cars could only enter the fast lane of the pit lane three minutes before the session began, but the No. 38 Cadillac was released four minutes prior.

In a statement, the stewards said the driver "failed to follow the race director's instructions by leaving the working lane to join the fast lane before being authorised to do so." The penalty demotes Aitken to 10th and last position within the Hyperpole 2 group.