BMW, Toyota and Ferrari separated by 17 points ahead of double-points Le Mans 24 Hours
The 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans carries maximum championship weight this weekend, with the top three manufacturers covered by less than a race's worth of points heading into the Circuit de la Sarthe.
By Paddock Passion News Desk2 min read
BMW, Toyota and Ferrari enter the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans split by just 17 points in the Hypercar Manufacturers' standings, with double points on offer in both the Hypercar and LMGT3 categories making Saturday's race a potential championship turning point.
BMW arrives carrying momentum from a historic one-two finish at Spa-Francorchamps in round two — the German manufacturer's first outright victory in global FIA endurance racing since Le Mans 1999. Toyota, meanwhile, opened the 2026 season by beating Ferrari on Italian soil at Imola, reversing what had been an uncharacteristically muted 2025 campaign.
Ferrari's Le Mans Stranglehold
Ferrari holds the most recent Le Mans victories, having triumphed in the last three editions with the 499P. The #51 crew has stood on the podium in every one of those races — a 100 per cent rostrum rate since the marque entered the Hypercar era — while the #83 AF Corse entry claimed last year's win from 13th on the grid, the third-lowest starting position in the race's history.
On the driver side, Sébastien Buemi is the most decorated active Hypercar competitor at La Sarthe with four victories, while team-mate Kamui Kobayashi's four overall pole positions place him second only to Jacky Ickx on the all-time list.
Cadillac, Alpine and Peugeot Poised
Cadillac endured bad fortune at both Imola and Spa despite genuine front-running pace. The JOTA-run V-Series.R secured the first Le Mans pole for an American manufacturer since 1967 last year, with Sébastien Bourdais also recording the race's fastest lap in 2025. Jack Aitken posted the fastest lap of the modern Hypercar era during last year's Hyperpole 1.
Alpine finished fourth at Imola and threatened a podium at Spa, while Peugeot — celebrating 100 years since its first Le Mans entry — seeks to convert the pace that delivered the 9X8's maiden series pole position, taken by Malthe Jakobsen at Spa, into a rostrum finish after a race-ending accident in Belgium denied the team any reward. Aston Martin has shown a marked improvement in its Valkyrie's second Hypercar season, and Korean manufacturer Genesis will make history this weekend as the first Korean brand to compete at Le Mans.
GT and LMP2 Fields
In LMGT3, Manthey enters as the class to beat, holding top spot in the standings and boasting a 100 per cent win rate in the category at Le Mans — including last year's victory for the #92 entry. The 25-car LMGT3 grid is the largest GT field ever assembled in FIA WEC.
A 19-car LMP2 field of identical Gibson-powered Oreca prototypes runs outside the WEC championship points, bringing the total entry to 62 cars.
Schedule
Free practice and qualifying begin on Wednesday, 10 June, with Hyperpole shootouts on the evening of Thursday, 11 June. The race starts at 16:00 CEST on Saturday, 13 June.