FIA World Endurance Championship

Fleming takes LMGT3 pole for Garage 59 McLaren

The Briton topped Hyperpole in Barcelona, putting the #10 McLaren ahead of Riccardo Pera’s Porsche on the grid for Sunday’s six-hour race.

Omar Al-Sabah

Straight wire

Racing Racing: cars and motorcycles Straight wire

James Fleming claimed pole position in the LMGT3 Hyperpole session on Saturday, 17 October 2026, for the inaugural 6 Hours of Barcelona.

Driving the #10 Garage 59 McLaren 720S Evo, Fleming set the session’s quickest two times and finished 0.122 seconds ahead of Riccardo Pera in the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R. The race is scheduled to start at 12:00 local time on Sunday, 18 October; it had not yet been run when qualifying was reported.

Fleming repeats Hyperpole success

The FIA World Endurance Championship reported that this was Fleming’s second career pole and his second Hyperpole appearance. He had also taken the top spot in his first appearance, at Imola in April.

Fleming missed Friday’s free practice sessions because he was also competing in the GT World Challenge season finale at Portimão. His first laps at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya came in Saturday’s hour-long FP3. Team-mate Antares Au advanced through the initial qualifying stage, allowing Fleming to take the wheel for the 10-minute Hyperpole shootout.

LMGT3 grid positions and title context

Simon Mann qualified third in the VISTA AF Corse Ferrari 296 Evo. The #33 TF Sport Corvette, driven in qualifying by Ben Keating, reached Hyperpole for the first time in 2026; Jonny Edgar then secured fourth on the grid.

Rui Andrade took fifth in the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, with Sean Gelael sixth in Team WRT’s #32 BMW M4 Evo. Neither Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin made the top ten. Ian James, in the title-chasing #27 Vantage AMR, finished at the rear of the 18-car order.

The FIA WEC report noted that Edgar was aiming to extend his margin at the top of the standings. It did not provide championship points or a revised standings table.

Race still to come

The inaugural 6 Hours of Barcelona, presented by Visit Qatar, was scheduled for Sunday, 18 October, with a 12:00 CEST start. The qualifying positions described here are grid results, not race results.