Alex Lynn claimed Cadillac's first World Endurance Championship pole position at Fuji when he found nine tenths on his second push lap in the Hyperpole qualifying session.
The Briton was down in ninth position in the session for the fastest 10 cars in opening qualifying when he improved to a 1m29.801s in the solo Ganassi-run Caddy V-Series.R LMDh to deprive Toyota of a home pole for the penultimate round of the 2024 WEC.
Lynn's lap gave him a margin of four hundredths over Ryo Hirakawa, who posted 1m28.942s in the best of the Japanese manufacturer's GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars to take second on the grid for Sunday's race.
Lynn, who had earlier topped the times in opening qualifying, said: "I have to say this car is amazing on one lap.
"Massive congrats to Cadillac: I just wanted to give the team a pole position for this year.
"We came so close so many times and I'm so proud to have finally done it."
The pair of Toyotas had been 1-2 in the times before Lynn jumped to the top spot, but Kamui Kobayashi ended up being relegated to fourth after another late improver, Dries Vanthoor in the fastest of the WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDhs.
Vanthoor's 1m29.059s just shaded the the Japanese driver's 1m29.065s.
Kevin Estre was fifth in the championship-leading Porsche 963 LMDh with a 1m29.152s, which left him a quarter of a second off the pace in the Penske-run factory car.
Charles Milesi followed up on his strong Austin qualifying performance with another top six for the Alpine A424 LMDh.
The Frenchman ended up only two thousandths behind fellow countryman Estre.
Antonio Fuoco took seventh in the only Ferrari 499P LMH to make it through to the Hyperpole session for the fastest 10 cars in opening qualifying.
Matt Campbell took eighth in the second of the Penske Porches, while Daniil Kvyat was ninth on the first occasion that the Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 LMDh has made it through to Hyperpole.
Julien Andlauer rounded out the top 10 in the Proton Competition privateer Porsche.
Robin Frijns just missed on the top 10 in the second of the BMWs, while neither of the Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs made the cut, continuing a run dating back to introduction of the revised car at Imola in April.
Ferrari claimed its first LMGT3 pole position thanks to a late improvement from Francois Heriau aboard the best of the AF Corse team's entries.
The Frenchman lowered his time aboard the #55 Ferrari 296 GT3 right at the end of the Hyperpole session to leapfrog Tom van Rompuy in the #81 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Heriau's 1m40.893s gave him a margin of just eight hundredths over the Chevy driver's 1m40.975s.
The United Autosports McLaren team took third and fifth, its pair of 720S GT3 EVOs sandwiching Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan EVO2.
Josh Caygill was the fastest of the United drivers on a 1m41.120s, while a late 1m41.265s from Bovy just shaded James Cottingham's 1m41.293s.
Neither of the Manthey-run Porsche 911 GT3-Rs, which lie 1-2 in the LMGT3 points, made it through into the Hyperpole session.
Alex Malykhin ended up 13th almost exactly a second of the pace in the PureRxing entry with 40kg of success ballast and Yasser Shahin 14th with 15kg.
The Fuji 6 Hours, round seven of this year's WEC, starts at midday local time on Sunday.