Alex Lynn led a Cadillac one-two in World Endurance Championship qualifying at Fuji Speedway, besting teammate Earl Bamber in the Hyperpole shootout.
Lynn took his first WEC pole position at Fuji 12 months ago, and rose to the occasion in the shootout with an incredible final lap. The Briton initially displaced his teammate by just 0.038 seconds, but improved with a formidable 1:28.236 to put his #12 over four tenths clear of the pack.
Bamber led the early stages of the session and topped the charts with a 1:28.675, which would see him place P2 come the chequered flag. The combination of Lynn and Bamber’s efforts saw Cadillac claim its third front row lockout of the season.
The Briton described his pole as a “great feeling!” before adding that he believes Cadillac can stay at the front throughout the six-hour race at Fuji Speedway. “The competition has been very, very strong and we had to work hard.
“Yesterday, I didn’t have a good feeling with the car, but we stayed very late last night to try to give ourselves the chance to be on pole. We’ve also made really big steps for the car in the race, and I feel confident we can stay up at the front throughout the six hours.”
Aston Martin continued their surprising weekend form into qualifying. Marco Sørensen’s #009 Valkyrie challenged Bamber right to the flag, placing third with only 0.030s separating the pair. However, the #007 car missed out on advancing to the shootout by an equally slim 0.032s in the ultra-competitive Hypercar class.
Peugeot TotalEnergies’ fine form continued to their one-lap pace as Mikkel Jensen put his #93 9X8 P4. But, they suffered a similar fate to Aston as Stoffel Vandoorne’s car could not match the 1:28.716 effort of its sister – missing out on the top 10.
BMW looked set for a disappointing weekend after less-than-ideal practice pace, but Sheldon van der Linde managed to place himself P5 with a 1:28.854. Antonio Giovinazzi placed his Ferrari AF Corse P6 with a 1:28.854, well ahead of title rivals AF Corse in P10 with a 1:29.245.
The rest of the 10 fastest were Porsche with a 1:29.031, Toyota with a 1:29.071 on home soil, and Alpine with a 1:29.080. Competition in qualifying was tight, with all of the Hypercar brands represented in the shootout.
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