WEC Fuji: Cadillac outpaces Toyota to claim maiden pole

Toyota was favourite for pole on home turf until a late effort from Lynn in the Cadillac

Alex Lynn claimed Cadillac’s first World Endurance Championship pole position at Fuji when he found nine tenths on his second push lap in the Hyperpole qualifying session.

The Briton was down in ninth position in the session for the fastest 10 cars in opening qualifying when he improved to a 1m29.801s in the solo Ganassi-run Caddy V-Series.R LMDh to deprive Toyota of a home pole for the penultimate round of the 2024 WEC.

Lynn’s lap gave him a margin of four hundredths over Ryo Hirakawa, who posted 1m28.942s in the best of the Japanese manufacturer’s GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars to take second on the grid for Sunday’s race.

Lynn, who had earlier topped the times in opening qualifying, said: “I have to say this car is amazing on one lap.

“Massive congrats to Cadillac: I just wanted to give the team a pole position for this year.

“We came so close so many times and I’m so proud to have finally done it.”

The pair of Toyotas had been 1-2 in the times before Lynn jumped to the top spot, but Kamui Kobayashi ended up being relegated to fourth after another late improver, Dries Vanthoor in the fastest of the WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDhs.

Vanthoor’s 1m29.059s just shaded the the Japanese driver’s 1m29.065s.

Kevin Estre was fifth in the championship-leading Porsche 963 LMDh with a 1m29.152s, which left him a quarter of a second off the pace in the Penske-run factory car.

Charles Milesi followed up on his strong Austin qualifying performance with another top six for the Alpine A424 LMDh.

The Frenchman ended up only two thousandths behind fellow countryman Estre.

Antonio Fuoco took seventh in the only Ferrari 499P LMH to make it through to the Hyperpole session for the fastest 10 cars in opening qualifying.

Matt Campbell took eighth in the second of the Penske Porches, while Daniil Kvyat was ninth on the first occasion that the Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 LMDh has made it through to Hyperpole.

Julien Andlauer rounded out the top 10 in the Proton Competition privateer Porsche.

Robin Frijns just missed on the top 10 in the second of the BMWs, while neither of the Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs made the cut, continuing a run dating back to introduction of the revised car at Imola in April.

Ferrari on pole in LMGT3

#55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Ferrari claimed its first LMGT3 pole position thanks to a late improvement from Francois Heriau aboard the best of the AF Corse team’s entries.

The Frenchman lowered his time aboard the #55 Ferrari 296 GT3 right at the end of the Hyperpole session to leapfrog Tom van Rompuy in the #81 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Heriau’s 1m40.893s gave him a margin of just eight hundredths over the Chevy driver’s 1m40.975s.

The United Autosports McLaren team took third and fifth, its pair of 720S GT3 EVOs sandwiching Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan EVO2.

Josh Caygill was the fastest of the United drivers on a 1m41.120s, while a late 1m41.265s from Bovy just shaded James Cottingham’s 1m41.293s.

Neither of the Manthey-run Porsche 911 GT3-Rs, which lie 1-2 in the LMGT3 points, made it through into the Hyperpole session.

Alex Malykhin ended up 13th almost exactly a second of the pace in the PureRxing entry with 40kg of success ballast and Yasser Shahin 14th with 15kg.

The Fuji 6 Hours, round seven of this year’s WEC, starts at 11am local time on Sunday.

WEC Fuji - Hypercar results:

1 - 2
Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR	2	E. Bamber A. Lynn	Cadillac V-Series.R	6	1'28.901		184.776
2	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	8	S. Buemi B. Hartley R. Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	7	+0.041 1'28.942	0.041	184.691
3	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	15	D. Vanthoor R. Marciello M. Wittmann	BMW M Hybrid V8	6	+0.158 1'29.059	0.117	184.448
4	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	7	M. Conway K. Kobayashi N. de Vries	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	6	+0.164 1'29.065	0.006	184.436
5	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	6	K. Estre A. Lotterer L. Vanthoor	Porsche 963	7	+0.251 1'29.152	0.087	184.256
6	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	35	J. Gounon F. Habsburg C. Milesi	Alpine A424	6	+0.253 1'29.154	0.002	184.251
7	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	50	A. Fuoco M. Molina N. Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	7	+0.295 1'29.196	0.042	184.165
8	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	5	M. Campbell M. Christensen F. Makowiecki	Porsche 963	7	+0.322 1'29.223	0.027	184.109
9	Lamborghini Iron Lynx HYPERCAR	63	M. Bortolotti E. Mortara D. Kvyat	Lamborghini SC63	6	+0.681 1'29.582	0.359	183.371
10	Proton Competition HYPERCAR	99	H. Tincknell N. Jani J. Andlauer	Porsche 963	7	+0.688 1'29.589	0.007	183.357
View full results

WEC Fuji - LMGT3 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	55	F. Heriau S. Mann A. Rovera	Ferrari 296 GT3	6	1'40.893		162.814
2	TF Sport LMGT3	81	T. Van Rompuy R. Andrade C. Eastwood	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	6	+0.082 1'40.975	0.082	162.681
3	United Autosports LMGT3	95	J. Caygill N. Pino M. Sato	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	6	+0.227 1'41.120	0.145	162.448
4	IRON DAMES LMGT3	85	S. Bovy R. Frey M. Gatting	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	6	+0.372 1'41.265	0.145	162.215
5	United Autosports LMGT3	59	J. Cottingham N. Costa G. Saucy	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	6	+0.400 1'41.293	0.028	162.171
6	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	78	A. Robin C. Schmid K. van der Linde	Lexus RC F GT3	6	+0.415 1'41.308	0.015	162.147
7	TF Sport LMGT3	82	H. Koizumi S. Baud D. Juncadella	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	6	+0.417 1'41.310	0.002	162.143
8	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	27	I. James D. Mancinelli A. Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	6	+0.504 1'41.397	0.087	162.004
9	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	54	T. Flohr F. Castellacci D. Rigon	Ferrari 296 GT3	6	+0.715 1'41.608	0.211	161.668
10	Proton Competition LMGT3	77	R. Hardwick Z. Robichon B. Barker	Ford Mustang GT3	6	+0.826 1'41.719	0.111	161.491
View full results