Cadillac scores another qualifying lockout after Le Mans

Cadillac claimed a 1-2 in qualifying for this weekend’s Interlagos round of the World Endurance Championship, its second straight front-row lock-out.

Alex Lynn followed up on his pole position at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June by taking qualifying honours in Brazil ahead of team-mate Sebastien Bourdais in the second of the British Jota team’s Cadillac V-Series.R LMDhs.

Lynn was fastest in the opening 12-minute qualifying session before jumping to the top of the Hyperpole order with a 1m22.788s in the 10-minute period reserved for the quickest 10 cars.

He knocked two tenths off that with a 1m22.570s to secure the top spot, while Bourdais improved to a 1m22.670s to end up exactly one tenth behind in second position.

Julien Andlauer took third position for Porsche in the fastest of the Penske-run factory 963 LMDhs with a 1m22.834s. Malthe Jakobsen was another late improver in his Peugeot 9X8 2024 Le Mans Hypercar, a 1m22.948s propelling him up to fourth.

Sheldon Van Der Linde took fifth aboard his WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh with a 1m23.062s. Paul di Resta rounded out the top six in the second of the Peugeots on 1m23.101s.

Kevin Estre and Dries Vanthoor took seventh and eighth in the second Penske Porsche and WRT BMW entries. Robert Kubica claimed ninth in the Le Mans 24 Hours-winning Ferrari 499P LMH as the Italian manufacturer’s only representative in Hyperpole.

Ryo Hirakawa ended up 10th, likewise the sole Toyota in the qualifying shoot-out.

Kubica made an ultra-late improvement aboard the customer Ferrari in the opening session to sneak into Hyperpole after the chequered flag had fallen.

The two factory entries from Ferrari both missed the cut, Antonio Fuoco and Antonio Giovinazzi ending up 14th and 17th respectively.

They sandwiched the two Alpine A424s qualified by Mick Schumacher and Paul-Loup Chatin in 15th and 16th. Alex Riberas took 11th for Aston Martin in the best of The Heart of Racing Valkyrie LMHs, missing out on a spot in Hyperpole by just four hundredths.

Kamui Kobayashi brought up the rear of the field in the second of the Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMHs, the car that dominated at Interlagos this time last year.

LMGT3 qualifying

#10 Racing Spirit Of Leman Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3: Derek Deboer, Eduardo Barrichello, Valentin Hasse Clot

Photo by: FIAWEC – DPPI

Home hero Eduardo Barrichello set two laps good enough for pole position in LMGT3 aboard the Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin.

The Brazilian, son of 11-time Formula 1 race winner Rubens, just did enough for the top spot with his initial hot lap of 1m33.867s in the Prodrive-run Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

That gave him a margin of just six thousandths over Clemens Schmid, who ended up on 1m33.873s in the best of the Auto Sport Promotion Lexus RC F GT3s.

A slender improvement by Barrichello to 1m33.489s increased the final margin over the Lexus to a couple of hundredths.

Finn Gehrsitz took third in the second of the Lexus RC Fs after a late improvement jumped him back ahead of Lin Hodenius in the quickest of the Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3s.

The Sao Paulo 6 Hours, round five of the 2025 WEC, begins at 11:30am local time on Sunday.