Which driver has the most WEC pole positions?

The Toyota No. 7 dominance

Kobayashi, Conway and Lopez, three of the most prolific pole-getters in the archive, ran the No. 7 as a fixed lineup from 2017 to the end of 2022, with Conway and Kobayashi locking down their qualifying responsibilities and trading the headline laps. The crew won the 2021 Le Mans overall and finished second three times.

The No. 7's pole record stretches across two regulatory eras. Eight of Kobayashi's poles came in LMP1-Hybrid years, including the 3:14.791 he set in 2017 qualifying at Le Mans, still the fastest lap the Circuit de la Sarthe has seen. The rest came in the Hypercar era with the GR010 Hybrid and its TR010 update, including a 3:24.408 in the 2022 Hyperpole.

How the record actually accumulates

A driver who qualifies for the works LMP1 or works Hypercar car runs the qualifying session in roughly half of the season's events. With eight rounds in a typical year, a primary qualifier gets between three and five qualifying opportunities. Convert one or two and the season ends with a pole or two on the record.

The pace of accumulation has slowed in the Hypercar era. The eight-manufacturer field, the Balance of Performance calculation and the tightening of the Hyperpole shootout format mean that the qualifying margin is now measured in hundredths rather than tenths. For Ferrari, Antonio Giovinazzi has 5 overall poles and Antonio Fuoco 4, all of them set in the Hypercar era. Fuoco has been the primary qualifier for the No. 50 since the 499P's debut in 2023.

Drivers no longer on the WEC grid

Several of the leading pole-getters are now retired from full-season WEC competition or have moved to other categories.

Bernhard's 8 poles came with Porsche's LMP1 programme in 2014 to 2017. He retired from top-level WEC after Porsche's withdrawal at the end of 2017 and now manages his Bernhard Eifel Racing customer programmes.

Mark Webber's 7 poles also came with Porsche LMP1, between 2014 and 2016. He retired from active racing at the end of 2016. Andre Lotterer, who has 13, is the exception among the LMP1-era names: he remains on the grid with Genesis in 2026 and could still add to his tally.

Will the Kobayashi-Conway record be broken

Conway and Kobayashi are both still racing the No. 7 Toyota in 2026, so their totals can grow together. Kobayashi is also the team principal of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, a role that has not taken him out of the car.

The qualifying landscape is harder than it was in the LMP1-Hybrid years. The Ferrari 499P has been a regular Hyperpole reference since 2023, and Porsche, Cadillac and BMW have all taken poles. Giovinazzi and Fuoco would need several strong qualifying seasons to approach the 18 of the current leader, Kamui Kobayashi.

What the pole record tells us

Pole position correlates loosely with race outcomes in the WEC, and not at all at Le Mans. Conway has 18 poles and 20 overall WEC race wins, Kobayashi 18 poles and 19 wins. Buemi has 11 poles and 29 wins. The two records reward different skills: pole rewards a single perfect lap from a driver and team, the win rewards 6, 8 or 24 hours of execution. The deepest endurance-driver records are won on the second skill, not the first.