Jaubert: Scoring First Genesis Pole “Means A Lot”
Photo: Andrea Lorenzina/DPPI
Mathys Jaubert says it “means a lot” to score the first pole position for Genesis Magma Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, as the Korean marque celebrated getting both of its cars in the top three for Sunday’s 6 Hours of Barcelona.
The 21-year-old edged out the championship-leading Toyota of Ryo Hirakawa by 0.170 seconds at the wheel of the No. 17 GMR-001 that he shares with Andre Lotterer and Pipo Derani to deliver pole in only the seventh attempt for 2026 newcomer Genesis.
Mathieu Jaminet completed a strong effort for the brand with a time good enough for third on the grid aboard the sister No. 19 car.
While stressing that the team must remain focused on trying to maximize its chances of a first victory on Sunday in what is expected to be at least partially a wet race, Jaubert said he was “humbled” to be the driver to achieve the landmark pole.
“The team did a good job analyzing everything from free practice and put everything together perfectly in the window, also changing some strategy between first qualifying and Hyperpole,” recalled Jaubert post-qualifying.
“We did a good step and in the end it was about putting everything together in Hyperpole and we did it.
“I am very humbled. It means a lot. Obviously I am very happy for the result and to achieve this in the team’s first year in WEC. But I am also thinking about tomorrow’s race.
“This pole is mainly important for tomorrow, at a track where track position is probably the most important of the year, together with Imola.”
On GMR’s chances in the wet, Jaubert added: “We had the chance to drive in wet conditions at Fuji, and we saw that many things are important to set-up the car differently in the wet. But this time we have new wet tires that we didn’t try yet.
“So we will see. Starting in front is even more important in wet conditions. We have many people in the team looking at the weather, so we’ll see what comes.”
As well as lauding the efforts of the team, GMR team principal Cyril Abiteboul praised Jaubert, who was handed a race drive this year after gaining experience in LMP2 last year as part of the brand’s ‘Trajectory Program’.
“For sure there is no better way to show the amount of quality of work that has been done than by doing a good result,” said Abiteboul.
“We felt that the car is good, that the drivers are capable and that the team has been coming together. But it’s one thing to say it, or to show it in certain sessions, and it’s something else to do it when it really matters.
“As Mathys said, it’s a small step towards the race tomorrow, so we need to remain humble, but we are also hungry for tomorrow.
“It’s also nice to do it with Mathys as well, without diminishing the work of everyone, because he has been part of the program since day one. It was also a bit of a daring choice to build the program with him, plus Andre and Pipo.
“But I am very happy that we have made this journey all together.”
Jaminet “Disappointed” Tech Gremlins Denied Shot at Pole
On the other side of the garage, Jaminet couldn’t hide his frustration that technical gremlins that caused the No. 19 GMR-001 to stop twice during qualifying, once at the very start of first qualifying and then at Turn 4 in the closing moments of Hyperpole.
The French driver, who was nonetheless still able to bank a clean lap in Hyperpole to line up third, said he had mixed feelings about the outcome.
“Personally a bit disappointed because I definitely feel like I had the speed and potential to be on pole,” Jaminet told Sportscar365. “But that’s motorsport; in the end the technical part decided otherwise today. But super-happy that Mathys could put it on pole.
“Even my first lap with a couple of issues was still good enough for P3. But still disappointing because I feel we could’ve definitely had a first-row lockout, which would’ve been amazing and some great pictures tomorrow. It is what it is.
“It’s been a bit like this for us so far this year on No. 19, we can’t really catch a break, when it matters it never really goes on our side. We just have to keep on trying and going and at some point it will turn around and we will have a bit more luck.”
Jaminet said that the two stoppages “were not really linked with each other”, but that full resets appeared to solve the issues on both occasions.
“We pretty much lost everything going into Turn 4 on my second push,” he said. “I had an issue on my first push in the last sector where our shifting was impossible, and then I lost everything a few corners later, so the team needs to investigate what happened.”
Stephen Lickorish contributed to this report
Source: Sports Car 365