Lynn Leads Cadillac Front Row Lockout for 6H Fuji

Alex Lynn stormed to his third FIA World Endurance Championship pole of the season, leading a Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA 1-2 in qualifying for the 6 Hours of Fuji.

Lynn reeled off a lap of 1:28.236 aboard the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R, outpacing the No. 38 sister machine of Earl Bamber by 0.439 seconds.

Marco Sorensen leapt up to third with a late flyer in the No. 009 Aston Martin Valkyrie a further 0.030 seconds back, delivering the car’s best qualifying result to date in its debut season.

Sorensen notably led the first segment of qualifying.

Mikkel Jensen slotted into fourth in the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8, with Sheldon van der Linde completing the top five aboard the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8.

Antonio Giovinazzi put the championship-leading No. 51 Ferrari 499P sixth on the grid, followed by Julien Andlauer’s No. 5 Porsche 963 and the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid in the hands of Ryo Hirakawa.

Charles Milesi and Robert Kubica rounded out the overall top ten in the No. 35 Alpine A424 and No. 83 Ferrari, respectively.

While the leading Aston Martin and Peugeot locked out the second row, their sister cars were the fastest to be eliminated in a group that also included the No. 15 BMW, No. 7 Toyota and No. 50 Ferrari during the opening stage of Hypercar qualifying.

Notably, the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry, which is third in the standings, also did not break through after a big Turn 1 lockup for Kevin Estre.

Barrichello Narrowly Beats McLarens to LMGT3 Pole

Eduardo Barrichello secured his second LMGT3 pole position by narrowly defeating both United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evos in a tightly contested Hyperpole session.

Barrichello steered the No. 10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo to a best lap of 1:39.981, beating both United entries by less than a tenth of a second.

Second-placed Sean Gelael, piloting the No. 95 car, was 0.030 seconds off Barrichello’s best time, while stablemate Sebastien Baud was another 0.002 seconds behind in third place.

Zach Robichon completed the second row by taking fourth aboard the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin, with Riccardo Pera fifth in the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The two TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs took sixth and seventh in the hands of Jonny Edgar and Rui Andrade.

Francesco Castellacci qualified eighth in the No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, which managed to get through into Hyperpole despite a spin for Thomas Flohr during the first segment in qualifying that saw the car lightly hit the Turn 7 barriers.

The top ten in class was completed by the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 and the No. 21 Ferrari.

BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-AMG were all collectively eliminated during the first phase of LMGT3 qualifying, while the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche also failed to go through.

The No. 77 Proton Competition Ford did not take part in qualifying after suffering an engine issue during Free Practice 3 earlier on Saturday.

The 6 Hours of Fuji kicks off Sunday at 11 a.m. local time (Saturday 10 p.m. EST).

RESULTS: Qualifying