It was fifth time lucky for Cadillac Racing this afternoon at Fuji Speedway. After qualifying in the top four for four consecutive races, Alex Lynn finally broke through and scored the GM brand its first WEC pole, extending the streak to five races with a remarkable second flyer in Hyperpole.
His session best 1m28.901s wasn’t quite the perfect lap, as he revealed afterwards that his previous tour was on course to be even faster before he was balked, but it was enough. Enough to give himself and his teammate Earl Bamber prime real estate on the grid for tomorrow’s race and prevent Toyota from grabbing the Saturday headlines before what it hopes will be a 10th win in 11 WEC races on home turf.
Lynn was understandably delighted with his performance. “It feels so good,” he said. “Honestly, we’ve tried so hard all year. I have to say this car is amazing on one lap. I’m so proud to have finally done it as I still have nightmares of that Le Mans night, missing it by a tenth.”
But the task is nowhere near complete. After almost two full seasons in the current era of Hypercar with Cadillac, Lynn knows full well that strong performance on qualifying day won’t necessarily translate to an easy ride in the race. Evidence of this can be found in the points table; nobody has won from pole yet this season in Hypercar.
Thus, Lynn was keen to point out during the post-session press conference that the team has primarily focused on nailing long-run pace all weekend, rather than refining the No. 2 car’s raw speed.
“In this field, nothing is given for free, so if you can start up front in these races, it’s a big advantage,” he explained. “But we’re still trying to figure out how to make our car just as fast over six hours or even 24. We know how to make it fast, it’s just getting it to do that for a whole race.
“We haven’t changed our mentality. We know we’re quite good in qualifying, but 99 per cent of our focus has been on the race.
“Hopefully, all that work we’ve put in will stand us in good stead when the lights go out. The track is pretty good. It’s quite hot out here this year, so that’s always a challenge trying to set the car up for multiple temperatures throughout tomorrow’s race.”
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With Chip Ganassi Racing’s stint as Cadillac’s Hypercar service provider coming to a close, a win (or indeed a podium) tomorrow would make for an emotional occasion for everyone behind the scenes who has played a part in the effort to this point.
This group, led by Stephen Mitas, has worked tirelessly in pursuit of a first win, yet come up short time and time again. Not only would a big result feel like a long time coming, but thoroughly deserved too.
Beating Toyota in its own backyard tomorrow will likely require a perfect run. But as this mesmerizing WEC season – which has produced a different winner at each event — has shown, you can afford to expect the unexpected and in the case of Cadillac Racing, dare to dream.