One embodiment includes a gear pump with a drive gear, a gear shaft passing through the drive gear, and a pressure loaded journal bearing. Also included is a fluid film, between a surface of the pressure loaded journal bearing and a surface of the gear shaft, and a hybrid pad on the pressure loaded journal bearing. The hybrid pad has a minimum leading edge angular location on the pressure loaded journal bearing of 29.5° and a maximum trailing edge angular location on the pressure loaded journal bearing of 42.5°. The gear pump also includes a porting path for supplying high pressure fluid from a discharge of the gear pump to the fluid film at the hybrid pad.