Cadillac Beats Toyota to First WEC Pole at Fuji

Cadillac scored its first FIA World Endurance Championship pole position at Fuji as a late flyer from Alex Lynn denied Toyota a front row lockout at its home race.

Toyota driver Ryo Hirakawa looked to be in a strong position to deliver the Japanese manufacturer, as he and stablemate Kamui Kobayashi put the two GR010 Hybrids first and second after their first representative laps in Hyperpole.

That was until Lynn posted a 1:28.901 aboard the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R to knock Hirakawa off the top spot by a scant margin of 0.041 seconds.

BMW driver Dries Vanthoor then proceeded to split the Toyotas by putting the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 that had topped Friday practice third-fastest, 0.158 seconds away from Lynn’s pole benchmark, demoting Kobayashi to fourth.

Porsche looked to be in a strong position to challenge for pole as Kevin Estre had been second-fastest in the first part of qualifying, but the Frenchman could only manage fifth place in the No. 6 Penske-run 963 in Hyperpole.

Next up were Charles Milesi in the No. 35 Alpine A424 and the only one of the three Ferrari 499Ps to make Hyperpole, Antonio Fuoco’s No. 50 car.

Matt Campbell could do no more than eighth in the second of the Penske Porsches.

Daniil Kvyat put Lamborghini into Hyperpole for the first time this year, putting the solo SC63 ninth on the grid ahead of Julien Andlauer’s Proton Competition Porsche.

Neither of the Ferraris of Antonio Giovinazzi nor Robert Kubica were able to dislodge Kvyat in the closing stages of first qualifying, ending up 12th and 13th behind Robin Frijns in the second of the BMWs.

Peugeot was the sole manufacturer not to have representation in Hyperpole.

AF Corse Ferrari Gets First LMGT3 Pole

Ferrari scored its first LMGT3 pole of the season as Francois Heriau topped Hyperpole aboard the No. 55 Vista AF Corse 296 GT3.

Heriau, who also topped the first segment of qualifying, posted a best lap of 1:40.893 to beat his nearest rival, the No. 82 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Tom van Rompuy, by just 0.082 seconds.

Josh Caygill was third-fastest in the best of the United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evos, the No. 95, ahead of Sarah Bovy’s Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and the second of the United McLarens, the No. 59 entry of James Cottingham.

Hiroshi Koizumi (TF Sport) and Ryan Hardwick (Proton Competition Ford) both made Hyperpole for the first time season, ending up seventh and tenth respectively.

Unusually, neither of the Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 Rs made the Hyperpole cut, with Alex Malykhin only managing 14th in the points-leading No. 92 PureRxcing entry ahead of Yasser Shahin in the sister No. 91 EMA car.

Sunday’s 6 Hours of Fuji is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. local time (Saturday 10 p.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Qualifying