Antonio Fuoco secured pole position for Ferrari at its home circuit of Monza, edging Genesis Magma Racing’s Mathieu Jaminet by just 0.096 seconds in a closely fought Hypercar Hyperpole session for the 6 Hours of Monza.
Fuoco set a 1:33.364 in the #50 Ferrari 499P to take his first FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar pole at Monza, denying Jaminet a second consecutive pole for Genesis. The Frenchman had briefly moved to the top of the timesheets in the closing stages, posting a 1:33.460 in the No.19 GMR-001.
Jaminet’s second-place result nevertheless marked another strong qualifying performance for the new Genesis programme, with the team continuing to demonstrate its potential against the established Hypercar manufacturers. Earl Bamber secured third for Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA in the No.38 V-Series.R, just ahead of the second factory Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi in fourth. The result gives Cadillac a second-row starting position for Sunday’s six-hour race.
The Hyperpole session was particularly challenging, with qualifying taking place on a drying circuit following three wet practice sessions. It also represented the first proper opportunity for teams to run on slick tyres during the weekend, making the session an important learning experience ahead of the race.
For Jaminet, the result came with some frustration, having felt that pole position was within reach despite a disrupted final lap: “I’ve never experienced this kind of asphalt, a very high grip before here, so a lot of things to learn quickly,” he explained during the post-qualifying media pen interview.
“The car felt alright. On one hand, I’m a little bit frustrated because I was ahead in the last lap and the Alpine in front of me went off in Ascari and I didn’t have a clean run until the very last lap.”
The Genesis driver believed there was more performance available, particularly given how narrow the margin to Fuoco ultimately proved to be.
“Looking at how close it was, I know we were definitely in the game to get the gap even closer than that tenth, if not a little bit in front, so a little bit annoying again this year.”
The #19 crew also had to overcome an issue between the initial qualifying session and Hyperpole, with the team required to open the car and carry out resets before Jaminet could take part in the pole shootout: “We had also an issue between Qualy and Hyperpole. I think many people saw we had to open the car, do some resets and so on. Luckily I could drive Hyperpole, so again P2 is the perfect result going into tomorrow.”
Despite his disappointment at missing out on pole, Jaminet acknowledged the progress made by Genesis throughout the season, highlighting the consistency of the #19 entry in recent qualifying sessions.
“Yes, we are starting our last three events in the top three on car #19, so that’s pretty good. I feel, honestly, we could have been on pole the last four events without an issue in Kota. We didn’t really have a proper shot in Fuji, had the issue in Hyperpole in Barcelona, and then here, coming to Buenos at the end, it’s full of dirt.”
He added that the team’s qualifying performances demonstrated just how competitive the GMR-001 had become since the beginning of the campaign.
“This is what it is, but it shows the car has an amazing potential again. If you would have told me at the start of the season you would start the last few events always in the first two rows, I would have never believed. It’s really a big hat-off to the guys, working so hard and giving us such a competitive car on the Saturdays.”
However, translating that one-lap performance into a strong race result remains the priority for Jaminet. While the #19 will start from the front row, the Frenchman was cautious about its prospects over six hours, particularly given the limited dry running available to the teams.
“Now hopefully we need to translate that performance into a Sunday. That really, really matters to me at this point, but let’s see tomorrow, at least a good start.”
With only one driver from each crew having completed running in the challenging conditions, Jaminet expects Sunday’s race to present a considerable challenge for all competitors.
“I think for everyone, obviously in Qualifying there’s been only one driver running, so it’s not easy for all the starting drivers and my other two teammates. It’s going to be a challenge, but everyone is on the same boat, so honestly it’s hard to predict.”
He also expects teams to make significant adjustments to their cars overnight, with the dry qualifying session providing the first meaningful opportunity to assess setup in those conditions.
“I don’t really know what to expect. For us a good race would be, if we can finish around the P5, would be already an amazing result.”
Despite setting that relatively cautious target, Jaminet is encouraged by the #19’s starting position and hopes it can remain with the leading group.
“So we are lucky to start in the front, we’ll try to stay there and see if we’ve got the race pace to stay with the front pack.”
When asked about the possibility of rain during the race, he made his preference clear: “Well, it seems okay in the dry, so yeah, dry is good. Hopefully we can have a dry race and some good battles and good fights.”
Behind the leading four, Peugeot TotalEnergies secured fifth with Theo Pourchaire in the #94 9X8, while Victor Martins put the No.36 Alpine A424 sixth on the grid. Norman Nato qualified seventh in the second Cadillac, the #12 V-Series.R, followed by Robert Kubica in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari in eighth.
Nick Cassidy took ninth in the second Peugeot, with Sheldon van der Linde completing the top ten in the #20 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8.
Further down the order, the two Toyota TR010 Hybrids face a difficult challenge in their fight for the Drivers’ Championship. The #8 of Ryo Hirakawa qualified 15th, one position ahead of Kamui Kobayashi in the #7. The latter subsequently received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Harry Tincknell’s No.007 Aston Martin during qualifying, leaving the championship-contending Toyota to start from the back of the 17-car Hypercar field.
Attention now turns to Sunday’s 6 Hours of Monza, with Ferrari starting from pole on home ground, Genesis alongside on the front row and Cadillac occupying third and seventh. With limited dry running and considerable uncertainty surrounding race pace, the six-hour contest could yet produce a very different picture from Saturday’s qualifying order.
The race gets underway at 11:00 local time on Sunday, November 8.
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