Lynn: Cadillac’s First WEC Pole “Quite a Nice Victory”

Photo: Charly Lopez/DPPI

Alex Lynn has hailed Cadillac’s first FIA World Endurance Championship pole as “quite a nice victory” after working towards the “small win” for nearly two seasons.

Lynn took the Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R to top qualifying honors for Sunday’s 6 Hours of Fuji, denying a Toyota pole position on home soil for the Japanese manufacturer.

It came after the Englishman aborted his first flying lap around Fuji Speedway after getting caught up by the No. 15 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor, who eventually set the third quickest time in Hyperpole.

“The BMW didn’t have a good first push lap so I had to back off,” explained Lynn. “In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t because I was even faster than the one I eventually did.

“I had two-tenths on the delta. That would have been a [1:28] 7 or an 8. But that’s life.”

The American-flagged team had been knocking on the door for its elusive first WEC pole all season, with Lynn and co-driver Earl Bamber having qualified in the top-four for the last five races, dating back to the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in May.

“I was desperate,” admitted Lynn. “I really, really wanted pole and so many times missed out by a tenth or this or that.

“There [have been] such fine margins. I feel like I personally pushed the team really hard to look into the detail and find those little micro-seconds each lap.

“That’s how you improve. It’s marginal gains.”

He added: “I think it’s really big [to claim pole]. It’s bigger than what it is on paper, to be honest, just for morale.

“To be on pole and to have a bit of glory… Everyone’s been working really hard in the background and whilst it’s just a small part of the weekend, it feels like quite a nice victory already.

“I think [we need] to enjoy the small wins sometimes, especially against competition as strong as this.”

When asked by Sportscar365 on Cadillac’s chances of converting the pole run into a maiden WEC win on Sunday, Lynn said he doesn’t think it will take a lot.

“We have a fast car in the race,” he said.

“COTA was maybe the first time since Qatar, although we got excluded from that one, but it was the first time we had a clean-ish day with no errors or no issues at all and that was fourth place. That was nice, although Toyota and Ferrari were very fast.

“I think we’re a bit faster than that this weekend on long run pace, so hopefully, depending on what they turn up with tomorrow, we can be in the mix.”

With Toyota, Ferrari and Porsche all locked in a three-way fight for the world championship, Lynn thinks this could play into the No. 2 Cadillac’s favor.

“I don’t think they’re going to be covering us on strategy and stuff like that,” he said. “They’ll be boxing each other out as the day goes on, so hopefully we’ll use that to our advantage.”

Hirakawa: “Nothing Left” in Toyota in Hyperpole

Ryo Hirakawa, in his first qualifying attempt for Toyota Gazoo Racing, lost out on the pole by just 0.041 seconds to Lynn at the end in his No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.

“I think I did a good lap in Hyperpole,” he told Sportscar365. “There was nothing left in the car. I think that was the optimum lap.

“We executed everything well. We had all the data for the tire performance and we just followed that.”

The Japanese driver admitted he was feeling “a lot” of pressure heading into the session, while on home soil.

“I really appreciate the team,” he said. “They supported me a lot for my first qualifying attempt in the WEC and I was able to focus well.”

Jamie Klein contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John