Alex Lynn led Cadillac’s third front row lockout of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign at Fuji Speedway today (27 September), as the series’ star qualifier in 2025 secured FIA WEC’s milestone 100th pole position.
Anglo-American alliance Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA has invariably been a force to be reckoned with over a single lap this year, and when the pressure was on in the ten-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 contest.
“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 – 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.
Porsche is the only marque that can still deny the Prancing Horse the 2025 Hypercar Manufacturers’ World Championship crown, and Julien Andlauer qualified just behind Giovinazzi in seventh in the #5 963. There was, however, frustration in the other side of the Porsche Penske Motorsport garage, as defending Drivers’ title-holder Kévin Estre – a winner at Fuji last season – could manage no better than 17th.
Nyck de Vries was another fancied runner not to progress to Hyperpole, with the #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing GR010 Hybrid down in 14th position. That is six spots behind home hero Ryō Hirakawa in the #8 car at the Japanese brand’s home circuit, while Robert Kubica put the #83 AF Corse entry – the principal threat to the #51 factory Ferrari 499P in the Drivers’ standings – tenth on the grid.
Tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Fuji will get underway at 11:00 local time (04:00 CET).
Check out the full qualifying results.
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