Lynn Takes Cadillac to Pole in Sao Paulo

Alex Lynn led an initial 1-2 for Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA in qualifying for the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, beating stablemate Sebastien Bourdais to take a second consecutive FIA World Endurance Championship pole position.

The British racer reeled off a 1:22.570 lap in the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R in Hyperpole, with that time exactly a tenth of a second faster than Bourdais’ fastest lap.

It marked the second consecutive pole for Lynn, who won Hyperpole for last month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The No. 38 Cadillac of Bourdais, however, was given a one-position grid penalty due to “impeding” the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 of Paul di Resta in qualifying.

Julien Andlauer was promoted to second in the No. 5 Porsche 963, with Malthe Jakobsen matching Peugeot’s best qualifying result of the season by completing the second row in the No. 94 9X8.

Sheldon van der Linde completed the top five for BMW M Team WRT, ahead of the second Peugeot piloted by di Resta.

Kevin Estre qualified seventh aboard the No. 6 Porsche, followed by Dries Vanthoor, Robert Kubica and Ryo Hirakawa.

Kubica and Hirakawa, driving the No. 83 Ferrari 499P and No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, were the only cars of their respective brands to break through into Hyperpole.

The two works-entered 499Ps were most notably eliminated during the first stage of qualifying in 14th and 17th, respectively.

Both Aston Martin Valkyries were also bumped out, although the No. 009 car briefly appeared to be heading through before a late improvement from the No. 83 Ferrari.

Alpine also saw its two A424s fail to make the cut, while the No. 7 Toyota qualified last with Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel.

Barrichello Takes LMGT3 Pole on Home Soil in RSL Aston Martin

Eduardo Barrichello captured pole position on home soil for Racing Spirit of Leman, beating both Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3s in Hyperpole.

Barrichello, a Sao Paulo native, steered the No. 10 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo to a best lap of 1:33.849, outpacing Clemens Schmid’s No. 87 Lexus by 0.024 seconds.

The sister Lexus was third in the hands of Finn Gehrsitz, followed by the No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

It marks Racing Spirit of Leman’s first WEC pole position, while Aston Martin became the first brand to take back-to-back LMGT3 pole in a single WEC season.

The pair of United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evos captured fifth and sixth, followed by the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R in the hands of Rahel Frey.

The No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3, which was the Blue Oval’s sole representation in Hyperpole, qualified eighth, with the No. 33 and No. 81 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs rounding out the top ten.

Amongst the notable cars to be eliminated from the first stage of LMGT3 qualifying were the championship-leading No. 92 Manthey Porsche, the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin as well as both cars from Vista AF Corse and Team WRT.

The 6 Hours of Sao Paulo starts Sunday at 11:30 a.m. local time (10:30 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: Qualifying