Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac take spectacular 1-2 in qualifying for Le Mans after a scintillating Hyperpole

Written by Aaron Carroll

Credit: FIA WEC

Alex Lynn has taken pole for the No.12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac crew, ahead of the sister No.38 car driven to the front row by Earl Bamber. After a WEC season of Ferrari domination, the highest car from the Italian marque was seventh.

Hyperpole to set the top 15 on the grid for the 24 Hours of Le Mans got underway at 20:05 local time on Thursday evening, with the top 10 cars in Hyperpole 1 going through to fight for pole in Hyperpole 2.

Hyperpole 1

The first session got underway, with 20 minutes on the clock for the 15 Hypercars. All of the cars came out of the pits in one group, as drivers weaved to get tyre temperature.

One crucial thing in Hyperpole - as it was with LMP2 and LMGT3 Hyperpole - is the fact that teams had to put one driver in the car for Hyperpole 1, and a different driver in for Hyperpole 2.

The sun was setting on the Circuit de la Sarthe as the first flying laps began. The No.5 Porsche Penske car went quickest after the first laps, but it wasn't the top that the drivers and teams were concerned about here, it was the bottom.

Only the top 10 would get through, and in the drop zone after the first laps was the No.15 BMW, No.009 Aston Martin, No.51 Ferrari and the No.35 Alpine and No.101 Cadillac which both had laps deleted.

Those laps may not have been too representative as some cars - such as the No.51 - took a second warm up lap. After the first laps, many cars took the opportunity to pit for new tyres, the No.15, No.20, No.50, No.51 and No.4 were the only cars to stay out. Those five cars did come in for tyres on the next lap.

Paul-Loup Chatin in the No.35 knocked the No.311 Whelen Cadillac into the drop zone with his first timed lap. On his way to set that time he passed a slow moving No.5 Porsche, which soon had a rear right tyre fall off the car in pit entry.

This brought out the yellow flags out briefly, but not enough to affect anyone. With the car being released in an unsafe condition, the stewards would take a look at the incident.

Yifei Ye in the No.83 Ferrari couldn't improve, but the No.12 Cadillac went quickest. The No.8 Toyota of Brendan Hartely went out of the drop zone to second, and Mick Schumacher went quicker to push the No.51 into the drop zone.

The No.009 was the first to take the checkered flag, not improving and staying in the drop zone. The No.15 of Raffaele Marciello had a massive lock up at Mulsanne corner, but still somehow managed to make the corner, albeit with a massive flat spot.

Almost every car on the track was improving in the first two sectors, putting the No.5 under pressure since they were still in the pits after their incident. Marciello jumped up to the top 10, as does the sister No.20.

Ye in the No.83 couldn't improve, but the No.311 and No.38 could to go first and second. The No.51 couldn't improve either, going 11th, two Ferraris in the drop zone.

So the five that didn't make Hyperpole 2 are the No.51 Ferrari, No.35 Alpine, No.83 Ferrari, No.101 Cadillac and the No.009 Aston Martin. A scintillating first session, and we had to do it all again for Hyperpole 2.

Hyperpole 2

Credit: FIA WEC

The 10 cars left made their way onto the track for the final 15 minutes to set the grid for the worlds greatest race on Saturday afternoon.

After the out lap, the No.15 BMW of Dries Vanthoor came to pit lane, likely completing a heat cycle on the tyre, trying to get every millisecond of performance out of the car.

The No.8 Toyota went for a trip through the gravel at Mulsanne corner, and Sebastian Buemi picked up a puncture. Another disaster from Toyota as the No.7 missed Hyperpole completely yesterday.

Sheldon Van Der Linde in the No.20 set the first lap time, to be displaced by Antonio Fuoco in the No.50 and then the No.12 of Alex Lynn. Then came the Penske pairing of No.5 and No.4, with Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy going first and second in that order.

Jaminet's laptime was half a second quicker than anyone else, with Tandy a tenth ahead of Lynn in the Cadillac. Meanwhile Buemi slowly limped back to the pits in the Toyota, with cars on laps quickly catching him.

Lynn in the Cadillac improved to second, ahead of Tandy in the No.4. Frederick Makowiecki in the No.36 Alpine went sixth, with the No.311 in seventh and the No.38 in eighth. Vanthoor in the No.15 was struggling with track limits, while Buemi in the No.8 hadn't set a lap before he had his puncture.

On-board cameras showed Lynn in the No.12 absolutely on the limit through Indianapolis and Arnage, and it was enough to take provisional pole by three tenths of a second. The No.4 Porsche and No.20 BMW both pit, ending their sessions.

Next to cross the line was Antonio Fuoco, to only go a best of fifth, Makowiecki followed to go only seventh. Earl Bamber was next to go second and make it a provisional JOTA Cadillac 1-2, with Dries Vanthoor improving in the first two sectors behind.

Vanthoor only could get fourth in the end, so Cadillac took their first ever Le Mans pole in style with a 1-2 finish in Hyperpole.

Next came the No.5 Porsche, Vanthoor in the No.15 BMW and the sister No.4 Porsche. The No.20 BMW was sixth, the No.50 in seventh, the No.311 Cadillac eighth and the No.36 Alpine ninth. The No.8 Toyota would start 10th, after their earlier puncture.