Front-row lockout for Cadillac at Le Mans 24

A historic Hyperpole qualifying at the 2025 Le Mans 24 has seen the JOTA Cadillac garage take a front-row lockout, a first for the manufacturer 75 years after it first raced at Circuit de La Sarthe. Auto Action reporting, Live from Le Mans …

With Alex Lynn at the wheel in the #12 Cadillac, he pinched it late from the #5 Porsche as Earl Barber then moved the sister #38 to P2 to create an historic moment for the US manufacturer.

And in the LMGT3 stakes, it was the #27 Aston Martin with a fantastically tight pole from the #24 #21 Vista Corse Ferrari, whilst the the #29 TDS Racing team took the LMP2 one-make ORECA pole in another tight one.

Last season, Lynn finished second in Hyperpole by just 0.138, so all the emotion came out of the cockpit over the radio in an indecipherable flow of words.

For the dual defending winners in Ferrari, it was a disappointing qualifying after dominating the season so far, managing only one machine through to the final ten with the #50 taking P7.

With Lynn’s 3:23.166 being the benchmark, Bamber missed it by just 0.167 as the #5 Porsche Penske almost put a tough year behind itself by threatening pole before falling to third.

The #15 BMW took fourth over the #4 Porsche, with the second BMW in fifth. Only one Toyota made it through but a tough 15-minute session saw it in P10.

Cadillac had a third machine in H1, with the Whelen machine from IMSA in P8 behind the Ferrari and over the sole Alpine.

With the pace of all the LMDh challengers against the LMH might of Ferrari and Toyota, this promises to be a thrilling Le Mans 24. Being live at the circuit, there’s a great feeling amongst the big crowd numbers, and the pace is extroadinary from any vantage point. Bring on June 14.

Here’s how the sessions played out.

After the #51 Ferrari shockingly got knocked out of the top ten after H1, alongside the #35 Alpine, the customer Ferrari, the #101 WTR Cadillac, and the #009 Aston Martin, that left ten to battle it out in H2 Hyperpole.

That included (in order of H1 finish) the Whelen Cadillac, the JOTA Cadillac, the #20 BMW, #50 Ferrari, #36 Alpine, #8 Toyota, #4 Porsche, #12 Cadillac, #5 Porsche, and #10 BMW.

In H1, the Buemi-piloted Toyota had a big lock up before again running off just minutes later, whilst both Porsche Penske 963s worked their way to the top as the last five minutes came with the #20 BMW in tow.

With the headlights on and the light falling at 9:51 pm in France, the final few minutes ticked down with the 3:23.475 of the #5 Porsche still holding, whilst the Lynn-driven Cadillac was close.

As the chequered came out Lynn flipped the order by +0.309, and the #50 Ferrari couldn’t mount better than P6.

In a thrilling moment, the second JOTA Cadillac driven by Kiwi Earl Bamber went second, and the celebrations were wild in the garage.

Qualifying for the grid determination only began at Le Mans in 1963, and since then, only 13 have gone on to take the victory while 12 have done it from second on the grid (Before that, the traditional Le Mans start with the run to the car was determined in order of engine capacity).

In the LMGT3, Mercedes AMG punched above its weight (or below as the heaviest GT3 on the grid) with the #61 machine that Aussie Martin Berry (Q1) shares with Maxime Martin (H2) and Lin Hodenius (H1) going through to the last 8 H2 Hyperpole session to take fourth.

Berry will start from fourth on the LMGT3 grid on his Le Mans debut

But it was the Aston Martin Heart of Racing #27 LMGT3 that took the pole with a gap of +0.296 over the #21 Vista Corse Ferrari with a lap of 3:52.789, whilst the #46 WRT BMW of Valentino Rossi took out third over the Iron Lynx Mercedes.

In the LMP2 prototypes, the #29 TDS Racing team captured the pole position behind the last of the Hypercars.

The ORECA 07 machine took it by +0.271 with Mathias Beche at the wheel, whilst past winners Inter Europol took second in the #43 ORECA over AO by TF, who tipped out the two United Autosports machines.

The #27 HRT Aston Martin LMGT3 took a tight class pole for the 2025 Le Mans 24

The 2025 Le Mans 24 begins at 4pm local time on June 14.

Read the new issue of Auto Action Digital HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here or you can purchase a copy of the latest issue from one of our outlets here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine