6 Hours of Fuji: Alex Lynn offers his first pole position to Cadillac
Saturday morning, at the end of a surprising Hyperpole session, Cadillac No. 2 claimed pole position from Toyota on Japanese soil. The championship favorites are almost all lurking, while Ferrari No. 55 took pole position in LMGT3.
Beware Cadillac Station: the American manufacturer’s V Series R has more than ever moved up in the hierarchy. These advancements were confirmed by Alex Lynn, on the only American prototype.
The British driver achieved a fantastic lap time of 1:28.901. That is 41 hundredths better than the Toyota No.8, which seemed to have secured pole position. The other pleasant surprise comes from the BMW No.15, which missed out on a historic pole position by only a tenth. The M V8 Hybrid is also starting to become more and more competitive.
Alpine N°35, driven by Charles Milesi, reproduced a beautiful Hyperpole, ranking 6th this time. This will be Jules Gounon’s best ranking, as he returns to the team for the 6 Hours of Fuji.
Lamborghini also made its debut in Hyperpole: Danill Kvyat hoisted the N°63 to 9th place, on a very selective track.
Finally, on the favorites’ side, the top three cars are almost gathered together: Toyota No. 7 has preceded Porsche No. 6, leading the championship (4th and 5th), while Alpine No. 35 has slipped in front of Ferrari No. 50 (7th).
The Peugeots, always struggling, will start only 14th and last. Looking forward to the upgrades, in Sochaux. And the Alpine No. 36, with Matthieu Vaxivière, did not do better than 15th.
LMGT3: François Hériau on fire!
The GT class could have seen one of the two Porsches finish at the top, with a view to the championship battle. But the starting grid was completely shaken up.
The Ferrari No. 55 from Vista AF Corse, with French driver François Hériau, took pole position ahead of the Corvette No. 81 by 82 thousandths of a second. The two cars will be followed by the not less surprising McLaren No. 95 and the Lamborghini No. 85 of the Iron Dames. Lexus emerged with the No. 78 from the French team Akkodis ASP (6th).
As for the two favorites for the title, the two Porsches from Manthey Racing, neither one has reached the Hyperpole: car number 91 (Mathey EMA) will start 14th and car number 92 from Pure Racing, leading the championship, only 15th.
The ranking of the Hypercar Hyperpole
| Team | # | Drivers | Times | Gap | Laps | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CADILLAC RACING | #2 | Bamber E. Lynn A. | 1:28.901 | – | 6 |
| 2 | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | #8 | Buemi S. Hartley B. Hirakawa R. | 1:28.942 | +0.041 | 7 |
| 3 | BMW M TEAM WRT | #15 | Vanthoor D. Marciello R. Wittmann M. | 1:29.059 | +0.158 | 6 |
| 4 | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | #7 | Conway M. Kobayashi K. de Vries N. | 1:29.065 | +0.164 | 6 |
| 5 | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | #6 | Estre K. Lotterer A. Vanthoor L. | 1:29.152 | +0.251 | 7 |
| 6 | ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM | #35 | GOUNON J. Habsburg F. Milesi C. | 1:29.154 | +0.253 | 6 |
| 7 | FERRARI AF CORSE | #50 | Fuoco A. Molina M. Nielsen N. | 1:29.196 | +0.295 | 7 |
| 8 | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | #5 | Campbell M. Christensen M. Makowiecki F. | 1:29.223 | +0.322 | 7 |
| 9 | LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX | #63 | Bortolotti M. Mortara E. Kvyat D. | 1:29.582 | +0.681 | 6 |
| 10 | PROTON COMPETITION | #99 | Tincknell H. Jani N. Andlauer J. | 1:29.589 | +0.688 | 7 |
The classification of the Hyperpole LMGT3
| Team | # | Drivers | Times | Gap | Laps | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VISTA AF CORSE | #55 | Heriau F. Mann S. Rovera A. | 1:40.893 | – | 6 |
| 2 | TF SPORT | #81 | Van Rompuy T. Andrade R. Eastwood C. | 1:40.975 | +0.082 | 6 |
| 3 | UNITED AUTOSPORTS | #95 | Caygill J. Pino N. Sato M. | 1:41.120 | +0.227 | 6 |
| 4 | IRON DAMES | #85 | Bovy S. Frey R. Gatting M. | 1:41.265 | +0.372 | 6 |
| 5 | UNITED AUTOSPORTS | #59 | Cottingham J. Costa N. Saucy G. | 1:41.293 | +0.400 | 6 |
| 6 | AKKODIS ASP TEAM | #78 | Robin A. SCHMID C. Van der Linde K. | 1:41.308 | +0.415 | 6 |
| 7 | TF SPORT | #82 | Koizumi H. Baud S. Juncadella D. | 1:41.310 | +0.417 | 6 |
| 8 | HEART OF RACING TEAM | #27 | James I. Mancinelli D. Riberas A. | 1:41.397 | +0.504 | 6 |
| 9 | VISTA AF CORSE | #54 | Flohr T. Castellacci F. Rigon D. | 1:41.608 | +0.715 | 6 |
| 10 | PROTON COMPETITION | #77 | Hardwick R. Robichon Z. Barker B. | 1:41.719 | +0.826 | 6 |
