Esteban Masson places Forestier Racing by Panis in pole position for the 4H du Castellet

Frenchman Esteban Masson was fastest in qualifying for the 4 Hours of Castellet, putting Forestier Racing by Panis in pole position for the second round of the 2026 European Le Mans Series.

Published 02/05/2026 à 16:40

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Esteban Masson places Forestier Racing by Panis in pole position for the 4H du Castellet

Already leading Free Practice 2 on Saturday morning, Esteban Masson continued his momentum by securing pole position for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet. The Frenchman completed his best lap in 1:48.374, beating Grégoire Saucy (United Autosports) by just 21 thousandths of a second. Pole sitter in Barcelona for the opening round of the 2026 European Championship. Le Mans In the Series, Reshad de Gérus (Inter Europol Competition) finished third this time, 0.222 seconds behind. Valerio Rinicella (IDEC Sport) and Jack Doohan (Nielsen Racing) completed the top five.

ALSO READ > 4H du Castellet – EL2: Esteban Masson places Forestier Racing by Panis in front

Unsurprisingly, Giorgio Roda secured pole position in the LMP2 Pro/Am class for the Duqueine team. The teammate of Dorian Pin Richard Verschoor set the benchmark time for this category with a lap of 1:50.386. The Italian finished more than half a second ahead of PJ Hyett in the #99 AO Racing car. Steven Thomas placed the #14 TDS Racing car third.

Romain Favre proved the fastest in LMP3 to secure pole position for the Ligier JS P325 – Toyota The number 4 DKR Engineering entry clocked a lap time of 1:58.784. The Frenchman narrowly beat Pierre-Alexandre Provost in the sole Duqueine D09 – Toyota on the grid, the number 85 R-ace GP entry. Third place went to the number 13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P325 – Toyota driven by Colombian Henry Cubides Olarte.

A Mercedes Benz-AMG will start from pole position in the LMGT3 category this weekend, as Qatari driver Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi caused a sensation by setting the fastest time of 2:03.814. He edged out American Blake McDonald (Corvette) by just 71 thousandths of a second. Duncan Cameron (Classic Ferrari for sale) completed the podium, more than six-tenths of a second behind. On the French side, Clément Mateu took fifth place driving theAston Martin Vantage AMR #59 of Racing Spirit of Léman.

See you at 12:00 this Sunday for the start of the 4 Hours of Castellet 2026.