Mark Cavendish Sets 16:00 Le Mans 2026 Start Time — Le Mans 2026 Start Time
le mans 2026 start time is 16:00 on Saturday 13/06, when the 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans begins and Mark Cavendish waves the French flag to release the competitors. The race is the third round of the 2026 FIA WEC and starts a full day of running at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Mark Cavendish and 16:00
“At 16:00, the start of the 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans, third round of the 2026 FIA WEC, will be given.” That is the fixed point for the weekend: one flag, one start, and 24 nonstop hours ahead.
For fans planning the day, the official schedule leaves no room for drift. The headline act begins at 16:00, but the build to it already starts hours earlier with support races and a short warm-up session on the same afternoon.
Ferrari Challenge and Porsche Carrera Cup
Ferrari Challenge competitors take the track at 09:15 for the second race of the weekend, giving the circuit its first competitive action of the day. The Porsche Carrera Cup Brasil follows from 10:30 to 11:15 before the main event.
Those races sit ahead of the Le Mans start, not alongside it. That matters for anyone tracking the schedule tightly, because the final hour before the green flag is reserved for the warm-up and the last checks of the day.
Le Mans Grid and Warm-up
“The warm-up session takes place from 12:00 to 12:15.” After that brief run, the field settles into the race start itself. The grid for the 94th edition includes Hypercars from Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Genesis, Peugeot and Toyota, plus 19 LMP2s and 25 LMGT3s.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans Show has been wowing spectators since 2023, but Saturday’s programme is built around the same core sequence: support races, a 12-minute warm-up, then the 16:00 start. Once Cavendish waves the French flag, the full field goes racing for the next 24 nonstop hours.
