Alex Lynn delivered a stunning performance to secure the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans pole position, leading a historic Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA front row lockout.
Lynn driving the #12 Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh clinched pole with a stunning lap time of 3:23.166, narrowly edging out his teammate Earl Bamber in the sister #38 car by just 0.167 seconds.
The remarkable one-two lockout marked Cadillac’s first-ever pole at Le Mans and the first pole for an American manufacturer in the top class since 1967, setting the stage for an intense endurance race.
The qualifying format for the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans Hyperpole involved two key sessions. Initially, 15 cars competed in Hyperpole 1, a 20-minute session where the top 10 fastest cars earned the right to advance to Hyperpole 2.
Full Le Mans Qualifying Results 2025 and starting grid
The Le Mans pole was ultimately decided in a 15-minute shootout where the 10 cars pushed to their limits to secure the best possible starting positions.
Hyperpole 2 was a high-pressure, frenetic battle. Early in the session, Porsche appeared strong with Mathieu Jaminet in the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 setting an early benchmark lap of 3:23.475, half a second faster than his teammate Nick Tandy in the sister #4 car.
Alex Lynn initially sat third, trailing Jaminet by just a tenth of a second. However, Lynn’s subsequent flying lap was a masterclass in precision and speed particularly in the second sector, allowing him to better Jaminet’s time by over three tenths and seize the provisional pole.
Earl Bamber then delivered a critical lap on his final attempt, improving to 3:23.333 to secure second place on the grid, locking out the front row for Cadillac Hertz Team Jota.
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This performance relegated the best Porsche to third place with Jaminet holding that position. Dries Vanthoor in the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 secured fourth with a late lap, while Nick Tandy’s #4 Porsche was fifth.
Sheldon van der Linde’s BMW took sixth, followed by Antonio Fuoco in the #50 Ferrari, Felipe Drugovich in the #311 Cadillac, Fred Makowiecki in the #36 Alpine, and Sebastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota rounding out the top ten.
The session was not without incident. While the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH failed to make it into Hyperpole, the #8 car driven by Sebastien Buemi suffered a major setback when he went off track at Mulsanne Corner, locking up and sliding into the gravel which prevented him from setting a competitive lap in the final shootout.
Mathias Beche and Mattia Drudi claim LMP2 and LMGT3 poles
In the LMP2 class, Mathias Beche in the #29 TDS Racing car dominated the qualifying rounds, ultimately setting the fastest lap time of 3:35.062 in the final Hyperpole 2 session.
The #43 Inter Europol Competition car driven by Tom Dillmann secured second place in the class qualifying, closely trailing Beche’s pace.
In LMGT3, Mattia Drudi delivered an impressive 3:55.897 to secure Le Mans pole for Heart of Racing Team’s Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3.
After his teammate Zacharie Robichon safely progressed through the first half of the session, Drudi outpaced Ferrari factory driver Alessio Rovera who was driving the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, to claim the top spot.
Meanwhile, Lin Hodenius and Maxime Martin delivered a remarkable joint effort to place the Iron Lynx #61 Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 in fourth position. Just behind them, Richard Lietz secured fifth place in the Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3.
However, the session was not without its setbacks. Francesco Castellacci in the #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 crashed into the gravel trap at the Porsche Curves, causing a red flag and disrupting the session.
Sébastien Baud in the #59 United Autosports McLaren and Giammarco Levorato in the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang were both penalized for track limits violations, which hampered their chances of advancing further in the knockout rounds.
