Lynn Grabs Pole as JOTA Cadillacs Lock Out Front Row

Cadillac annexed pole position for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as Alex Lynn led a front row lockout for Hertz Team JOTA in the FIA World Endurance Championship blue riband.

Lynn took the top spot in Thursday night’s Hyperpole 2 session with a time of 3:23.166 aboard the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R, avenging his narrow defeat in last year’s pole shootout and giving the American marque its first Le Mans pole.

Earl Bamber posted a time just 0.167 seconds shy in the sister No. 38 car, giving JOTA a sweep of the front row at the end of the 15-minute session.

Best of the rest was the No. 5 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry in which Mathieu Jaminet set a time just over three tenths away from pole.

It followed the No. 5 car losing its right-rear wheel in Hyperpole 1, when Julien Andlauer was at the wheel, although Andlauer was able to coax the three-wheeled Porsche back to the pits without causing a red flag.

BMW’s Dries Vanthoor went fourth-quickest in the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid, almost half a second off pole, followed by the No. 4 Penske Porsche of Nick Tandy.

Sheldon van der Linde was sixth in the No. 20 BMW, ensuring that LMDh entries will fill out the front three rows when the race begins on Saturday afternoon.

Ferrari could do no better than seventh with the No. 50 499P of Antonio Fuoco, ahead of the No. 311 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Felipe Drugovich and the No. 36 Alpine of Frederic Makowiecki.

The AXR Cadillac had been fastest of all in Hyperpole 1, when Jack Aitken set a 3:22.742, becoming the only driver in either session to clear the 3:23 barrier.

The sole Toyota in the pole shootout, the No. 8 car, ended up 10th without a lap on the board as Sebastien Buemi suffered a major lockup at Mulsanne corner and ended up in the gravel before returning to the pits.

In a major shock, two of the three Ferraris failed to make it to Hyperpole 2.

Alessandro Pier Guidi missed out on a berth in the final shootout in 11th place aboard the No. 51 499P, while Yifei Ye likewise was eliminated in 13th aboard the satellite No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari.

Splitting the two Ferraris on the grid will be the No. 35 Alpine in which Paul Loup Chatin set the 12th-fastest time in Hyperpole 1, in which Ricky Taylor (Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac) and Marco Sorensen (Aston Martin) rounded out the order.

Beche, Drudi Deliver LMP2, LMGT3 Poles

Mathias Beche and Mattia Drudi captured Hyperpole for TDS Racing and Heart of Racing Team in LMP2 and LMGT3 respectively.

Beche steered the Pro/Am-entered No. 29 Oreca 07 Gibson to a best lap of 3:35.062, 0.271 seconds clear of the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition machine in the hands of Tom Dillmann.

Louis Deletraz slotted into third with a late flyer aboard the No. 199 AO by TF machine, followed by the pair of United Autosports Orecas of Ben Hanley and Pietro Fittipaldi.

Tom Blomqvist qualified sixth for CLX – Pure Rxcing, while the No. 183 AF Corse Oreca and No. 16 RLR M Sport entry brought up the rear of Hyperpole 2.

The second segment of the Hyperpole shootout had the No. 43 Inter Europol car initially quickest in the hands of Nick Yelloly, while the No. 28 IDEC Sport, No. 48 VDS Panis Racing and both Algarve Pro Racing cars were all eliminated.

In LMGT3, meanwhile, Drudi bested an early benchmark time from the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessio Rovera to secure Aston Martin’s first LMGT3 pole of the season.

The No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo reeled off a 3:52.789 to go quickest, with Valentino Rossi slotting into third aboard the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

The Belgian squad notably opted for a different strategy compared to most teams in the LMGT3 shootout, as it installed Platinum-rated Kelvin van der Linde for the first segment, with the South African also fastest in Hyperpole 1.

However, Silver-rated Rossi still outpaced five other LMGT3 rivals, with former co-driver Maxime Martin fourth aboard the No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo followed by the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R piloted by Richard Lietz.

TF Sport, the only other team to have its Silver driver tackle the second segment, qualified sixth with Rui Andrade at the wheel of the No. 81 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

The top eight in class was rounded out by the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo and No. 78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3.

The No. 95 McLaren narrowly squeezed into the second segment after Sean Gelael had initially stopped on track before a late flyer put the car into eighth, eliminating the No. 193 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Ferrari.

The No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 and No. 59 United Autosports McLaren also not going through.

The No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari had its lap times deleted after Francesco Castellacci spun into the gravel at the Porsche Curves and triggered a red flag.

On-track action at Le Mans continues with the final Free Practice session at 11 p.m. CEST (5 p.m. EST).

Davey Euwema contributed to this report

RESULTS: Qualifying After Hyperpole