WEC News: Lynn helps Cadillac lock out front row at Fuji

Alex Lynn earned the third pole of the season in the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R at Fuji Speedway in Japan on Saturday and received a special gift for the effort.

Lynn set the standard in the 10-minute Hyperpole session for the 6 Hours of Fuji with a blistering lap of 1 minute, 28.236 seconds on the 2.835-mile, 12-turn circuit in the shadow of Mount Fuji to secure the top spot for team in the past four FIA World Endurance Championship races.

Earl Bamber was nearly as quick in the No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, V-Series.R, putting the sister car second with a best lap of 1:28.675 to make it an impressive Cadillac 1-2 for the third time this season.

Cadillac, which also started on pole in the 2024 six-hour race, has led the field to the green flag 34 times since joining IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship prototype competition in 2017. Cadillac is in its third WEC season – totaling 22 races – and first with Hertz Team JOTA.

Congratulations to the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R on securing pole position in qualifying for the 6 Hours of Fuji,” said John Roth, vice president, Global Cadillac. “We’re thrilled with today’s results and look forward to being back on the track ready to compete for the overall win Sunday.”

Lynn received a commemorative helmet with the names of every pole winner through the WEC’s 100 races. The green flag waved on the WEC’s inaugural season on March 17, 2012, at Sebring International Raceway.

Alex Lynn: “Third pole in four races. Honestly, it was a great feeling. The car was amazing, the team is amazing, and we did the job. I love this kind of scenario, the qualifying. The car is just amazing right now. Let’s go win tomorrow.”

What were you doing to get the lap time out of the car?

“Tires are the key. We’ve been working hard all weekend on outlap and our prep lap and make sure the car is in the right window to deliver the outcome we wanted. The competition has been very, very strong, so with that being said we had to work very hard to give ourselves the chance to be here.”

Almost a half-second clear of the rest of the field. Was that a surprise?

“Yes, because yesterday I didn’t have a good feeling with the car. I thought a couple of other brands looked very fast, and I think we had to revert a little bit to a car that we knew for qualifying. I think we’ve made really big steps to the car in the race, but we went back to sort of our Sao Paulo-type car for qualifying. This morning in FP3 I had a much better feeling and confidence.”

Third pole in four races. What is the satisfaction like in the team?

“I think you also push each other a lot. You know the driver on the other side of the garage is going to deliver a lap. You, of course, don’t want to be the second car. It’s just human nature that you want to improve. So, I think we’ve been seeing a little bit of that when it comes to the 12 and 38. The is. A nice, natural competition to improve, and I think that keeps pushing all of us forward.”

Prospects for the race tomorrow? What are you going to be concentrating on?

“I think 12 months on the picture of Cadillac Racing has changed a lot. I would say that today was quite important to get the car up front because I think we have very strong race pace, as well as other cars. But I do feel confident we have good race pace and can race at the front for the whole six hours. Today was a big job to put ourselves in a good position and tomorrow we I think we can have a good race.”

Despite a flurry of late challenges, Bamber held on to second ahead of Marco Sørensen in the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie – the striking British prototype’s best qualifying performance to-date in the championship. Aston Martin THOR Team has been a leading protagonist since on-track action began at Fuji, with its #007 car setting the pace in FP3 – although subsequently missing out on advancing to Hyperpole by a mere 0.032 seconds.

Team Peugeot TotalEnergies has similarly been on fine form in Japan, with Mikkel Jensen putting the #93 9X8 Hypercar fourth on the grid – although much like Aston Martin, the French manufacturer’s joy was mixed with disappointment, as Stoffel Vandoorne in the sister car narrowly failed to make the cut.

Sheldon van der Linde pulled out an impressive effort to claim fifth on what has been a difficult weekend for BMW so far, with championship leader Antonio Giovinazzi the best-placed of the Ferrari trio in sixth.

2nd Row for Peugeot

Following their best team result achieved in Austin, Team Peugeot TotalEnergies kicked off the penultimate round of the 2025 season in Japan on a strong note. After dominating Free Practice 1 and 2 on Friday, the Lionesses sharpened their claws again on Saturday afternoon during the qualifying session for the 6 Hours of Fuji.

At the wheel of the PEUGEOT 9X8 #93, fitted with medium tires, Mikkel Jensen recorded the second-fastest lap in qualifying with 1:28.989, marking the first time a Peugeot had ever dipped below 1:29 at Fuji Speedway.

Selected to qualify the #93 for the first time this season, Jensen improved further in the Hyperpole session, setting a best lap of 1:28.716, gaining over one second compared to last year — and even faster than the 2024 pole position time.

The PEUGEOT 9X8 #93 was temporarily on the front row, but slipped to fourth place by just a few hundredths in the final seconds. The #93 will therefore start from the second row on the grid.

Tough Day for Toyota in front of home fans

Ryo Hirakawa was the highest-placed TOYOTA GAZOO Racing driver in eighth in the #8 GR010 HYBRID he shares with Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley. Nyck de Vries missed out on Hyperpole by a tiny margin and finished 14th in the #7 GR010 HYBRID he drives alongside Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi.

In the 10-minute Hyperpole session, Ryo recorded his quickest time on his first flying lap, although he appeared likely to improve before encountering traffic. That left the #8 in eighth place for a fourth-row starting position.

Barrichello beats dual McLaren threat to lead way in LMGT3

The LMGT3 category witnessed a titanic tussle for pole position, as Racing Spirit of Léman’s Eduardo ‘Dudu’ Barrichello saw off a dual McLaren threat to clinch the top spot on the starting grid for the second time in FIA WEC.

The Brazilian wound up a slender 0.030 seconds ahead of the twin United Autosports entries piloted by Sean Gelael and Sébastien Baud, who were themselves separated by a scant 0.002s.

Tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Fuji will get underway at 11:00 local time (04:00 CET).

Full Qualifying Results