Jaubert Gives Genesis Its First WEC Hypercar Pole at Barcelona

Mathys Jaubert secured Genesis Magma Racing’s first FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar pole at Barcelona on October 17, 2026. The organizer’s official qualifying report puts the No. 17 GMR-001 at the front for Sunday’s six-hour race, with Toyota’s Ryō Hirakawa second and Mathieu Jaminet third in the sister Genesis.

Genesis converts qualifying pace into pole

Jaminet had led the opening qualifying session before Jaubert moved ahead in the final Hyperpole shootout. Jaubert shares the No. 17 car with André Lotterer and Pipo Derani. FIA WEC also identifies the 21-year-old as the youngest outright pole-sitter in the championship’s history.

Position	Driver	Entry
1	Mathys Jaubert	No. 17 Genesis
2	Ryō Hirakawa	No. 8 Toyota
3	Mathieu Jaminet	No. 19 Genesis

Charles Milesi’s No. 35 Alpine completed the top four. Both Aston Martin Valkyries and both BMW M Team WRT entries missed the final shootout, according to the championship’s report.

A milestone before the race, not a race win

The result establishes a single-lap starting advantage for the new Hypercar program. It does not yet establish six-hour reliability, race pace or a finishing order. Those are important distinctions when assessing a breakthrough for a first-season team.

The race is scheduled for October 18 at noon CEST, equivalent to 6 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Hirakawa and his Toyota team-mates remain in contention to clinch the drivers’ title on Sunday; qualifying alone has not settled it.

The Hypercar result is separate from Tom Fleming’s LMGT3 pole for Garage 59 McLaren. Both classes share the race, but their qualifying orders should not be combined into a single class result.

Archive photo, not Barcelona qualifying: Genesis Magma Racing’s No. 17 GMR-001 at Spa-Francorchamps, May 9, 2026. Photo: MarcelX42 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for display.