Cadillac notched up its third front-row lock-out of the season in qualifying for this weekend’s Fuji round of the World Endurance Championship.
Alex Lynn headed the times in Hyperpole qualifying in Japan from Jota team-mate Earl Bamber, following up on his poles at the Le Mans 24 Hours and Interlagos in June and July respectively.
Lynn set two laps good enough for pole in the #12 Cadillac V-Series.R during the 10-minute final session for the fastest 10 cars in opening qualifying.
A 1m28.637s on his first quick lap just pipped Bamber, who had posted a 1m28.675s in the #38 Jota Caddy.
Both Cadillac drivers tried to improve their times, Lynn knocking off four tenths to get down to a 1m28.236s while Bamber went slower by two tenths.
Third place on the grid for Sunday’s Fuji 6 Hours was taken by Marco Sorensen in the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar.
The Dane had topped the times in opening qualifying aboard The Heart of Racing entry, but could manage only fifth on his first hot lap in Hyperpole.
He was able to find a couple of tenths to improve to a 1m28.705s to jump up to best of the rest behind the Caddys.
Peugeot, which had been at the forefront of the times along with Aston through free practice, took fourth place courtesy of Mikkel Jensen in the #93 9X8 2024 LMH.
His time of 1m28.716s gave him a margin of more than a tenth over the 1m28.854s from Sheldon van der Linde that put the #20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh fifth.
Antonio Giovinazzi took sixth in the championship-leading #51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P LMH with a 1m28.945s.
Porsche claimed seventh courtesy of a 1m29.031s from Julien Andlauer in the #5 factory Penske-run 963 LMDh, which was just four hundredths up on Ryo Hirakawa’s 1m29.071s in the best of the Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMHs.
Charles Milesi and Robert Kubica rounded out the top 10 in the #35 Alpine A424 LMDh and the #83 customer Ferrari run by AF.
Aston and Peugeot only got one car each through into Hyperpole despite their free practice form.
Harry Tincknell locked up at Turn 10 on a lap that looked to be good enough to get the #007 Valkyrie through into the second qualifying session.
The Briton managed to improve his time to jump to 11th ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne’s Peugeot, his effort leaving him 0.03s shy of a place in Hyperpole.
Kevin Estre ended up at the foot of the times in the Penske Porsche that won last time out in the WEC at Austin earlier in September after a lock-up at Turn 1.
Aston Martin on LMGT3 pole
#10 Racing Spirit Of Leman Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3: Anthony McIntosh, Eduardo Barrichello, Valentin Hasse Clot
Photo by: Andreas Beil
Eduardo Barrichello took his second LMGT3 pole position of the season for the Spirt of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
The Brazilian, who took top spot in qualifying on home ground at Interlagos in July, jumped to the head of the times when he got down to a 1m39.981s on his final lap.
That pipped Sean Gelael in the best of the United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3s Evos by just 0.03s.
Gelael’s 1m40.011s was in turn just 0.002s ahead of Sebastien Baud in the second United McLaren.
The Fuji 6 Hours, the penultimate round of the 2025 WEC, begins at 11:00 local time on Sunday.
