Lynn leads Cadillac front row lockout for milestone race at Fuji

Anglo-American alliance Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA has invariably been a force to be reckoned with over a single lap his year, and when the pressure was on in the 10-minute Hyperpole shootout in Japan, Lynn and team-mate Earl Bamber rose to the occasion once again.

For a while, it was the New Zealander at the top of the timesheets, before Lynn – who sped to his first career pole in FIA WEC at Fuji 12 months ago – displaced the sister V-Series.R by 0.038 seconds. The British star subsequently settled the matter beyond all doubt with a stunning effort 0.439s quicker than any of his rivals could muster, and he was duly presented with a special celebratory helmet to mark his achievement as pole-sitter for tomorrow’s landmark 100th race.

“It’s a great feeling!” enthused Lynn, who has qualified on pole for four of the most recent nine races. “The competition has been very, very strong, and we had to work hard. Yesterday, I didn’t have a good feeling with the car, but we stayed very late last night to try to give ourselves the chance to be on pole. We’ve also made really big steps for the car in the race, and I feel confident we can stay up at the front throughout the six hours.

“When I was younger, I didn’t used to keep my trophies, but nowadays I cherish them a lot. I’m proud to be here, and I’m proud to be a part of what this championship has created. Long may it continue.”

Despite a flurry of late challenges, Bamber held on to second ahead of Marco Sørensen in the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie – the striking British prototype’s best qualifying performance to-date in the championship. Aston Martin THOR Team has been a leading protagonist since on-track action began at Fuji, with its #007 car setting the pace in FP3 – although subsequently missing out on advancing to Hyperpole by a mere 0.032 seconds.

Team Peugeot TotalEnergies has similarly been on fine form in Japan, with Mikkel Jensen putting the #93 9X8 Hypercar fourth on the grid – although much like Aston Martin, the French manufacturer’s joy was mixed with disappointment, as Stoffel Vandoorne in the sister car narrowly failed to make the cut.

Sheldon van der Linde pulled out an impressive effort to claim fifth on what has been a difficult weekend for BMW so far, with championship leader Antonio Giovinazzi the best-placed of the Ferrari trio in sixth.

Barrichello beats dual McLaren threat to lead way in LMGT3

The LMGT3 category witnessed a titanic tussle for pole position, as Racing Spirit of Léman’s Eduardo ‘Dudu’ Barrichello saw off a dual McLaren threat to clinch the top spot on the starting grid for the second time in FIA WEC.

The Brazilian wound up a slender 0.030 seconds ahead of the twin United Autosports entries piloted by Sean Gelael and Sébastien Baud, who were themselves separated by a scant 0.002s.

Tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Fuji will get underway at 11:00 local time (04:00 CET).

Results are HERE