Pole-sitting No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R places 7th at Fuji
OYAMA, Japan (Sept. 28, 2025) – What Alex Lynn started with a scintillating lap in the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R to earn the pole he finished with a charge to seventh place in the yellow flag-filled 6 Hours of Fuji.
Lynn, who took over the wheel from Norman Nato with 2 hours, 14 minutes left, climbed from 13th among the 16 Hypercars following a restart into the top 10 and systematically overtook competitors to claim the positive result.
The No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, with Lynn, Nato and Will Stevens, sharing the driving duties, remained the only Hypercar to score points in all seven FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) races. CHART
Cadillac also remained a program-high third in the Manufacturers Championship entering the season finale.
Stevens set the fastest race lap of 1 minute, 30.507 seconds early in his opening stint on the 2.835-mile, 12-turn Fuji Speedway circuit in which he led all but one lap during a pit stop transition under a Virtual Safety Car. The No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R led a field-high 67 laps.
In a race that totaled seven yellows, luck to steer clear of skirmishes and scattered debris was as important as pace.
The No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, which started second to the sister car for the team’s third 1-2 qualifying effort in the past four races, incurred bodywork damage from contact by a GT and Hypercar on separate occasions during stints by Sebastien Bourdais and Jenson Button. Earl Bamber, who set the qualifying standard, brought home the hybrid racecar in 13th place.
The No. 35 Alpine Endurance, which started ninth, won the 100th WEC race.
Cadillac Racing’s third WEC season concludes November 8 with the 8 Hours of Bahrain at the 5.412 km (3.363-mile), 18-turn Bahrain International Circuit. The lone Cadillac Hypercar entry, driven by Bamber, Bourdais and Lynn, in 2024 finished sixth after qualifying 13th.
What they’re saying
No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R
Will Stevens: “It’s frustrating because as a team we deserved way more. I think we had one of the fastest cars today but just honestly unlucky in places. I think at the start of the race we proved that we were, but from there we just had a lot of bad luck, fell in positions and it’s hard to recover when it’s so competitive. I think the team did a very good job this week, the car was strong but sometimes it’s just not your day.” (about his opening stint): “A few things going on with Safety Cars and full course yellows, but I felt like we were able to control the race very well. Then we got a great start and worked well between me and Seb to make sure we kept the lead between us because we knew it was going to be important.”
Norman Nato (about his stint): “My stint was a lot of up and down, especially with the full course yellows and the Virtual Safety Car. Will did a good job of keeping the lead and I jump in the car and we got a full course yellow that put us in a position we shouldn’t have been. And we had another VSC and lost position. You need not only pace but everything to go your way to win this race.”
No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R
Earl Bamber: “The car was great, great pit stops, awesome speed. But it was just one of those days.”
Sebastien Bourdais (about his stint): “At the beginning I struggled a bit with the balance. It took me a while to get in the groove and find the adjustments inside the car to kind of get it dialed in. Then there was that Safety Car and we put the quali left side tires on the car, and on the restart I really struggled and we lost a couple positions. After that, we seemed to stabilize and in traffic the BMW GT hit us in the rear when we were going through the kinks side by side and then he hit me straight in the rear the next corner and made some significant damage to the rear of the car. After that, it was a big struggle. Lost a lot of rear downforce, and two-third of the stint was not fun. I did what I could.”
Jenson Button (about his stint): “The car is working really well when you’re in clean air, which I didn’t have any. Really difficult until it settled down, and then when I was in clean air it was alright, and we could start picking off people. Disappointing but we’re still in the fight. I had a couple of good battles out there. I actually got hit and had to go off the track to not spin the car around and he didn’t even get a penalty.”
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