Cadillac claimed its first Le Mans pole as well as its first front-row lockout tonight, thanks to Alex Lynn’s stunning third-sector push on his final flyer in the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota V-Series.R.
It marked a bit of redemption after Lynn lost the pole last year in the closing seconds to Porsche Penske Motorsports’ Kevin Estre.
“It feels special,” said Lynn. “I waited 12 months to get to do this again, because the P2 last year was a tenth off pole and felt like 100 miles away. There’s a big difference between P1 and P2 just in that feeling, and I was determined to have that feeling tonight.
“I think pole at Le Mans is always special, no matter, because this is the race of the year, so to prove yourself as the fastest over one lap … it doesn’t mean anything for the race, but it does mean something on pride, and that’s what we got racing for, right?”
The Cadillac Hertz Team Jota squad began celebrating its pole position early, but Lynn knows better – anything can happen in those final few seconds before every contender has crossed the finish line.
There were a couple of possible upsets waiting in the wings, including Dries Vanthoor in the #15 BMW M Team WRT M Hybrid V8. Waiting for confirmation takes forever, Lynn said.
“I was remembering 12 months ago when I thought I had it, and 30 seconds later, Kevin Estre comes over the line. So it’s a hard way. It’s the longest 30 seconds!”
The pole was not only Cadillac’s first pole at Le Mans, but also its second in WEC, the first also produced by Lynn at Fuji last year. Lynn’s second Hypercar pole adds to five previously earned across the prototype classes.
As Jota celebrated its first Hypercar pole, and first since Fuji in 2022, Cadillac was celebrating its front-row lockout with the two Jota cars, plus the #311 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R qualifying eighth.
With four cars in the field from three teams all working as one, and all making it into the first Hyperpole session, Cadillac has reason to be optimistic, says Cadillac Racing programme manager Keely Bosn.
“I think we had some really high confidence coming into this, even coming out of the IMSA race in Detroit,” Bohn said to DSC.
“With our other team being P2, we have just had so much momentum leading up to this race. And I think this week, we showed up in qualifying, we showed up in Hyperpole. We are really coming in strong for the race itself.”
It’s the first big achievement for Cadillac Racing since Bosn took the reins late last year.
“I have no emotions right now because I’m so overwhelmed with just how incredible this team has done. All three teams showed up big today, and Jota being P1 and P2 is just phenomenal,” she said.
“We’ve spent the last six months really just working across all three teams, trying to find those learning opportunities. And I think that shows up big today on how much we’ve collaborated over this last week and shown up today so that we can try to win on Saturday.”
The pole is the first for an American manufacturer since Ford in 1967. It was the first for a British driver since Johnny Herbert in 2004.
Qualifying for the other classes produced some drama and some firsts as well.
In qualifying for his 52nd start, Mathias Beche claimed his first top LMP2 starting position for TDS Racing in the #29 ORECA. Beche is the first Swiss driver to claim a WEC LMP2 pole since Antonin Borga at COTA in 2020.
The pole run by Mattia Drudi in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 marked his first in WEC, but the 68th for Aston Martin across GTE Pro, GTE Am and LMGT3.
Considering only the GT classes, that’s 20 more than its closest rival, Porsche. Aston Martin is also the first marque to claim multiple pole positions across all three modern GT classes.
Drudi is the ninth different driver in a row to claim LMGT3 pole in WEC, dating back to Brendan Iribe’s pole at Le Mans a year ago.
Featured image courtesy of DPPI
