6 Hours of Fuji qualifying: No.12 Cadillac took pole in Hypercar with the No.10 RSL in LMGT3
- Ghazlan Atqiya Firmansyah
- Sep 27
- 4 min read
The qualifying for the 6 Hours of Fuji kicked off at 14:30 Japan local time, with the LMGT3 session starting first. The track conditions were pleasant with sunny skies. The No.12 Cadillac took its third Hypercar pole position, with the No.10 Aston Martin Racing Spirit of Léman (RSL) taking the top spot in LMGT3.
LMGT3 qualifying: McLaren went the fastest
James Cottingham was the first to record a lap before his lap time was beaten by the No.81 Corvette's Tom van Rompuy. No.85 Iron Dames' Célia Martin bested Van Rompuy's time by only 0.003s.
Lexus' Petru Umbrărescu surged to the top before Cottingham, Van Rompuy, and Ben Keating switched leading places. Problems for François Herriau as he spun and touched the barriers. Aston Martin's Ian James went third.
Cottingham took the fastest lap of the session. No.46 BMW's Ahmad Al Harthy's original lap above the elimination zone was short-lived. No.95's Darren Leung escaped the drop zone by going second fastest.
With the chequered flag waved, the cars eliminated were No.46 BMW, No.61 Mercedes, No.78 Lexus, No.31 BMW, No.87 Lexus, No.60 Mercedes, the No.85 Porsche and the No.77 Ford that did not set a lap time.
LMGT3 Hyperpole: Barrichello denied McLaren pole
The LMGT3 Hyperpole contest began at 14:40 local time. Sean Gelael recorded the first lap, but his attempt did not appear fast; he was quickly overtaken by No.92 Manthey's Riccardo Pera. The duo of Aston Martins, the No.10's Eduardo Barrichello and No.27's Zacharie Robichon, took the top two spots respectively.
With four minutes left, Barrichello continued to extend his lead, setting two purple sectors. Gelael then went fastest, followed by Sébastien Baud in the sister team, who took second by just 0.002s. The Aston Martin driver immediately bounced back and retook the top spot.
No.33's Jonny Edgar moved a spot from seventh to sixth. The chequered flag was waved, with Barrichello confirmed to be starting on pole with the No.95 and No.59 starting behind. The Brazilian star was immediately congratulated by his father, Rubens.
LMGT3 Hyperpole - Top 10
1st No.10 RSL
2nd No.95 United Autosports
3rd No.59 United Autosports
4th No.27 The Heart of Racing
5th No.92 Manthey Racing
6th No.33 TF Sport
7th No.81 TF Sport
8th No.54 AF Corse
9th No.88 Proton Competition
10th No.21 AF Corse
Hypercar qualifying: Both Cadillac cars made it through
The Hypercar qualifying session commenced at 15:00 local time, allowing teams 12 minutes to secure a spot in Hyperpole. All attention was focused on local heroes Toyota, who were aiming to advance both cars to the final shootout.
No.8 Toyota's Ryō Hirakawa recorded the first lap before No.5 Porsche's Julien Andlauer went faster than the Japanese driver. Hirakawa's teammate, Nyck de Vries in the No.7 car, went third. Alex Lynn in the No.12 Cadillac went fastest before No.15 BMW's Dries Vanthoor took the top spot.
There were plenty of leader changes with the No.007 Aston Martin going fastest before the No.35 Alpine took the top spot. Ferrari seems to struggle as neither car was in the top 10 except No.83's Kubica.
With just five minutes remaining, Hirakawa surged to the top of the timing sheets, with his teammate De Vries following right behind. However, the Toyota 1–2 was instantly broken by Earl Bamber in the No.38 Cadillac, who split the two for second.
Mikkel Jensen then puts his No.93 Peugeot even faster than Hirakawa's time. The new leader was immediately challenged by Alex Lynn, who leapt up to second in the Cadillac. The final blow came when Marco Sørensen pushed the No.009 Aston Martin to the limit, besting Jensen's time by a mere 0.054 seconds.
The action continued as the clock wound down, with the No.35's Charles Milesi moving up to fifth place. Meanwhile, De Vries struggled significantly in the second sector, leaving the Dutchman stranded in 13th and out of qualifying.
The cars eliminated were the No.007 Aston Martin, No.94 Peugeot, No.15 BMW, No.7 Toyota, No.50 Ferrari, No.36 Alpine, No.6 Porsche and the No.99 Porsche. Cadillac was the only manufacturer to have both cars advancing to Hyperpole.
Hypercar Hyperpole: Lynn on top once more
For the Hyperpole session, the driving lineups remained unchanged from the earlier qualifying round. The No.8 car Toyota, wasted no time and was the first to take to the track, setting the stage for an intense 10-minute shootout.
Hirakawa was the first to take the provisional lead, but his time was immediately bested by Andlauer, who slots ahead of Bamber in second. The lead continued to change hands rapidly, with Milesi and Lynn taking turns at the top of the board.
Hirakawa briefly managed to reclaim the provisional pole, but Milesi was relentless and immediately snatched it back.
Lynn briefly took the lead, but Hirakawa was a man on a mission. The Japanese driver delivered a sensational lap, going an astonishing two seconds faster than Milesi's previous best time.
The resulting pace instantly shuffled the leader board: the top three were now dramatically reset with the No.38 Cadillac, the No.93 Peugeot, and the No.20 BMW.
With just 90 seconds remaining, the Cadillac camp was all smiles as their two cars surged into a provisional 1–2 lockout. Lynn then delivered a spectacular new lap with all purple sectors. Every driver scrambled to find one last lap that could improve their previous attempts before the clock hit zero.
After failing to improve his lap, Hirakawa returned to the pits, shaking his head in disappointment. Almost immediately, Sørensen stole the spotlight, delivering a sensational performance that took the Valkyrie to third on the grid, its best qualifying finish to date.
Hypercar Hyperpole - Top 10
1st No.12 Cadillac
2nd No.38 Cadillac
3rd No.009 Aston Martin
4th No.93 Peugeot
5th No.20 BMW
6th No.51 Ferrari
7th No.5 Porsche
8th No.8 Toyota
9th No.35 Alpine
10th No.83 AF Corse
With the grid now finalised, all attention turns to tomorrow's main event: the 6 Hours of Fuji, which is set to begin at 11:00 local time.
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