Despite taking an incredible pole position for Cadillac and JOTA, Alex Lynn told gathered media, including Motorsport Week, that it was a ‘tricky’ qualifying session at Le Mans.
“To be honest, it was a tricky qualifying session, jumping in cold with only 10 or 12 minutes at 9:45pm,” said the Briton, who drove the #12 JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R to pole position.
“Medium tyres to do out, push push push, coming in cold as the next driver… It’s not that easy. So I think it was just more time in me getting better rather than the tyres going away.”
And, even more so, Lynn said it wasn’t a fully-optimised lap, due to how the format is structured.
“No, no it wasn’t [the absolute maximum]. But again I think that’s what makes this new format interesting. You’ve got a new driver jumping in cold, cold tyres, who hasn’t done a warm up run like the others did in Q2 [Hyperpole 1]. So yeah actually it’s a tricky format.”
Lynn drives the #12 JOTA-run Cadillac V-Series.R, alongside teammates Will Stevens and Norman Nato.
On his middle lap, Lynn lost time to the Porsches he was competing against for pole.
“I think it was at Indianapolis”, he said when asked where he lost time on the lap.
“We went very aggressive on diff settings and It wasn’t quite the the way to go. So on the next lap, I was, let’s say frantically adjusting everything on the fly. So it was a hard work lap, shall we say.”
A 12-month wait for pole for Lynn
In 2024, Lynn qualified second after being pipped, at the last minute, by Porsche’s Kevin Estre. He had to wait 12 months for another go — but boy was it worth it.
“For me, personally, I’ve waited 12 months to get to do this again. The P2 last year was one tenth off pole, and felt like 100 miles away.
“There’s a big difference between P1 and P2, just in that feeling. And I was determined to have that feeling tonight.
“Pole at Le Mans is always special, no matter. It’s the race of the year, so to prove yourself over one lap… yeah, it doesn’t mean anything for the race, but it does mean something on pride. And that’s what we go racing for, right?”
Cadillac has ‘something special’ over a single lap
Meanwhile, Lynn believes the Cadillac possesses a quality over a single lap that other cars are, maybe, missing.
“I have to say the Cadillac over one lap has got a bit of something special,” said the 31-year-old.
“We’ve found that over the last three years but obviously to put that all together over one lap is never easy.”
And what exactly is that special quality? It comes down to the car’s front end, Lynn said, when asked by Motorsport Week.
“I think it’s just got the downforce, and the the way it can fire up its tires,” said the Cadillac factory driver.
“To be good in qualifying you need a lot of front end. I think we’ve got good front downforce on our car when we hook it up. Sometimes the window can be a bit too small. But when it’s on song, it’s a it’s a brilliant car.”
And finally, Lynn’s Cadillac and JOTA teammate Earl Bamber — who he shared a car with for four years previously — qualified second. That gives Cadillac and JOTA a front row lock out.
“To be with Earl as well, lovely,” he told Motorsport Week.
“This our fourth year together. We spent three years together, just me and him. A lot of lonely lights with that guy. So no, it’s a nice feeling,” he finished.
See the full qualifying results after Hyperpole, for all classes, on the FIAWEC website.
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