Cadillac nets first WEC pole at Fuji
Cadillac Racing’s No. 2 V-Series.R will start tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Fuji from pole position after Alex Lynn ended Toyota’s hopes of a front-row lockout with a blistering 1m28.901s at the end of Hyperpole.
Lynn’s lap – which took the top spot by four hundredths – delivered the GM brand its first WEC pole and extended the Ganassi-run squad’s streak of top-four performances in qualifying to five race with style.
“It feels so good,” Lynn exclaimed. “This car is amazing over one lap, massive congrats to Cadillac. I just wanted to give the team a pole position this year as we’ve come close so many times. I’ve proud we’ve done it.”
The No. 8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID will start second on the grid tomorrow after Ryo Hirakawa’s best effort. His 1m28.942s with under three minutes left was the first lap under 1m29 in the session, but it wasn’t enough.
The sister Toyota meanwhile, eventually dropped from provisional pole to fourth after Dries Vanthoor set a 1m29.059s at the death to put the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 third.
Kevin Estre was the quickest Porsche driver, the Frenchman putting the championship-leading No. 6 factory 963 fifth with a 1m29.152s.
Alpine showed pace, the No. 35 A424 slotting in sixth ahead of the No. 50 Ferrari, as did Lamborghini Iron Lynx. The sole SC63 took ninth after Daniil Kyvat steered the Italian-flagged team into Hyperpole for the first time.
“It’s really positive for the team to get this result,” Kvyat told RACER. “If you had told me we’d get into Hyperpole yesterday I’d have laughed. It’s a nice surprise.”
Further down the starting order, both JOTA Porsche 963s, both Peugeots, the No. 36 Alpine and two of the three Ferrari 499Ps (the COTA-winning No. 83 and No. 51) failed to make it into the final shootout.
It was certainly a sobering outcome for Robert Kubica. After the win in Austin just two weeks ago, qualifying 13th on the grid for tomorrow’s race was a tough pill to swallow.
“It’s a bit disappointing, I don’t know what happened,” he said. “We didn’t have grip. We need to see what’s going on with that, as it’s annoying. I tried my best and I got traffic in Turn 6. I might have snuck in without it.”
Vista AF Corse also got a maiden WEC pole. JEP/Motorsport Images
Vista AF Corse set the pace in LMGT3, Francois Heriau handing the Ferrari 296 LMGT3 its first WEC pole position with a superb improvement to 1m40.893s late in Hyperpole.
Heriau’s performance added to what has been an impressive run through the race meeting so far from AF Corse’s 296s, which were quick throughout practice and appear ready to finish on the podium for the first time.
“From the beginning of the year, we’ve shown good pace but have been unlucky. This doesn’t feel like a win, but we are very happy as a team,” Heriau said.
En route to his milestone result, Heriau had to get the better of TF Sport’s Tom van Rompuy, who briefly took provisional pole with his first flying lap. However, the Belgian’s best time – a 1m40.975s – wasn’t quite good enough to score himself and the Z06 LMGT3.R its second pole of the year.
The No. 95 United McLaren, after a strong performance from Josh Caygill and the Iron Dames Lamborghini, will occupy the second row.
United’s second McLaren also snuck into the top five and ended up exactly four-tenths off pole.
Vista AF Corse’s sister car made Hyperpole too but Thomas Flohr didn’t quite have the pace to make it a front-row lockout. He will start tomorrow’s race ninth behind the COTA-winning Heart of Racing Aston Martin.
Perhaps the biggest headline in the class from qualifying, though, came ahead of Hyperpole, as three of the championship-contending cars failed to make the shootout.
The No. 92 Pure Rxcing Porsche will start 14th just ahead of the sister EMA car in 15th. Both 911s struggled for outright pace and ended up a second off the fastest time in the session.
“I did the most I could with the car, that is our pace and what we’ve got. We will do our best tomorrow to score points,” championship leader from Pure Rxcing Alex Malkyhin admitted.
Neither WRT BMW made it through either. Darren Leung qualified 16th in class with a 1m42.013s in the No. 31, which is the better placed of the two M4 LMGT3s in the points standings. The No. 46 will line up 12th.
It was however a more encouraging run for AKKODIS ASP and its pair of RC F LMGT3s. The No. 87 missed out on the shootout by three-tenths and will start P11, while the No. 78 made it through and managed to nab sixth for Lexus’ home race.
Tomorrow’s race is set to start at 11:00am local time.