Peugeot beats Cadillac to score maiden WEC pole in Spa 6 Hours qualifying

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MadisonMiami (FL)MichiganNorth TexasNotre DameOhio StateOklahomaOle MissOregonTexas A&MTexasTexas TechTulaneUSCUtahVanderbiltVirginiaNCAAMHomeTeamsScores & ScheduleStandingsTransfer Portal RankingsNBA DraftBracketAlabamaArizonaArkansasDukeFloridaGonzagaHoustonIllinoisIowaIowa StateKansasLouisvilleMiami (FL)Michigan StateMichiganNebraskaPurdueSt. John'sTennesseeTexasTexas TechUConnVanderbiltVirginiaWisconsinPeakMMAHomeMotorsportsHomePodcastsNASCARCultureHomeMemorabilia & CollectiblesGamingHomeSports BettingHomeFantasy FootballOddsNFL PicksBermuda SailGPAnalysisPeugeot beats Cadillac to score maiden WEC pole in Spa 6 Hours qualifyingThe two Peugeot Hypercars ahead of qualifying at the 2026 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Ivan Couturier / Getty Images Share articleSPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Malthe Jakobsen led Peugeot to its first pole position in the World Endurance Championship by pipping Cadillac’s Will Stevens to top spot in qualifying for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Jakobsen, 22, set a fastest lap time of 2m00.653s in the final top-10 shootout for pole (known as the Hyperpole session), edging out Stevens by a mere 0.043 seconds in a tight battle at the front of the grid. It marked Peugeot’s maiden WEC pole, after it returned to the premier class of sports car racing with its 9X8 Hypercar in 2022. Jakobsen was unable to find more time after his initial flying lap, as he ran wide at the fast Pouhon corner on his second effort. He had also had a spin in the first stage of qualifying and flat-spotted a set of tires. Stevens gave the already-celebrating Peugeot mechanics a late scare when he started to improve on his final lap after the checkered flag had fallen ahead of the Cadillac driver, only for his time to then fall away through the track’s second sector. Jakobsen will be joined in the #94 Peugeot by his co-drivers Loic Duval and Theo Pourchaire for Saturday’s six-hour race. “It was definitely not the ideal start,” Jakobsen said after qualifying. “It’s not fun to go backwards up Eau Rouge. “The Hyperpole was very nice. I enjoyed every second around this track, with low fuel and brand new tires. This place is magic.” Peugeot had shown a sign of its pace at Spa in the opening stage of qualifying, where Jakobsen finished second. He trailed Alpine’s Charles Milesi by two-tenths of a second at this stage. Milesi ultimately finished third in the Hyperpole session, 0.078 seconds off Jakobsen’s top time, with the sister Alpine car driven by Jules Gounon in qualifying also reaching the second row in fourth place. Cadillac ensured it would start with two cars in the top five courtesy of Jack Aitken qualifying ahead of the two Aston Martin cars that finished sixth and seventh, with Marco Sørensen leading Harry Tincknell. Antonio Fuoco finished eighth for Ferrari ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne and Dries Vanthoor, who rounded out the top 10 for Peugeot and BMW respectively. The top 10 was covered by just six-tenths of a second. Fuoco was the sole Ferrari driver to make it through to Hyperpole after both Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Kubica, the latter racing for the satellite AF Corse team that won last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, were eliminated in the first stage of qualifying. Kubica could only register 13th on the grid, while Giovinazzi — who took pole for the opening race of the WEC season at Imola last month — was two spots further back in 15th. Toyota lost both of its cars in the first stage of qualifying as ex-F1 drivers Kamui Kobayashi qualified 12th and Brendon Hartley ended up down in 16th, only out-qualifying Pipo Derani from the newcomer Genesis team. In the GT3 qualifying, David Hadrien posted two laps quick enough for the top spot in this slower class in the #78 Lexus RC F for Akkodis ASP Team. After his co-driver Tom van Rompuy eked the car into the GT3 pole shootout in 10th place, Hadrien set a fastest lap time of 2m16.612s in the later stage with his first flying lap, before going 0.015s slower with his second effort. Canada’s Zacharie Robichon took second place on the GT3 grid in Heart of Racing Team’s #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR, while Ben Tuck finished third in the #77 Ford Mustang run by Proton Competition. Saturday’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps will begin at 2 p.m. local time in Belgium (8 a.m. ET). Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms