diff --git a/extensions/panache/hibernate-orm-panache-common/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/panache/common/runtime/CommonPanacheQueryImpl.java b/extensions/panache/hibernate-orm-panache-common/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/panache/common/runtime/CommonPanacheQueryImpl.java
index 894357ec8a09e..70bfb1a803373 100644
--- a/extensions/panache/hibernate-orm-panache-common/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/panache/common/runtime/CommonPanacheQueryImpl.java
+++ b/extensions/panache/hibernate-orm-panache-common/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/panache/common/runtime/CommonPanacheQueryImpl.java
@@ -95,15 +95,14 @@ public <T> CommonPanacheQueryImpl<T> project(Class<T> type) {
             int endSelect = lowerCasedTrimmedQuery.indexOf(" from ");
             String trimmedQuery = query.trim();
             // 7 is the length of "select "
-            String selectClause = trimmedQuery.substring(7, endSelect);
+            String selectClause = trimmedQuery.substring(7, endSelect).trim();
             String from = trimmedQuery.substring(endSelect);
             StringBuilder newQuery = new StringBuilder("select ");
             // Handle select-distinct. HQL example: select distinct new org.acme.ProjectionClass...
-            String lowerCasedTrimmedSelect = selectClause.trim().toLowerCase();
-            boolean distinctQuery = lowerCasedTrimmedSelect.startsWith("distinct ");
+            boolean distinctQuery = selectClause.toLowerCase().startsWith("distinct ");
             if (distinctQuery) {
                 // 9 is the length of "distinct "
-                selectClause = lowerCasedTrimmedSelect.substring(9).trim();
+                selectClause = selectClause.substring(9).trim();
                 newQuery.append("distinct ");
             }
 
diff --git a/extensions/panache/hibernate-reactive-panache-common/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/reactive/panache/common/runtime/CommonPanacheQueryImpl.java b/extensions/panache/hibernate-reactive-panache-common/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/reactive/panache/common/runtime/CommonPanacheQueryImpl.java
index 3623f2ee25cdf..96896088c52b0 100644
--- a/extensions/panache/hibernate-reactive-panache-common/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/reactive/panache/common/runtime/CommonPanacheQueryImpl.java
+++ b/extensions/panache/hibernate-reactive-panache-common/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/reactive/panache/common/runtime/CommonPanacheQueryImpl.java
@@ -82,15 +82,14 @@ public <T> CommonPanacheQueryImpl<T> project(Class<T> type) {
             int endSelect = lowerCasedTrimmedQuery.indexOf(" from ");
             String trimmedQuery = query.trim();
             // 7 is the length of "select "
-            String selectClause = trimmedQuery.substring(7, endSelect);
+            String selectClause = trimmedQuery.substring(7, endSelect).trim();
             String from = trimmedQuery.substring(endSelect);
             StringBuilder newQuery = new StringBuilder("select ");
             // Handle select-distinct. HQL example: select distinct new org.acme.ProjectionClass...
-            String lowerCasedTrimmedSelect = selectClause.trim().toLowerCase();
-            boolean distinctQuery = lowerCasedTrimmedSelect.startsWith("distinct ");
+            boolean distinctQuery = selectClause.toLowerCase().startsWith("distinct ");
             if (distinctQuery) {
                 // 9 is the length of "distinct "
-                selectClause = lowerCasedTrimmedSelect.substring(9).trim();
+                selectClause = selectClause.substring(9).trim();
                 newQuery.append("distinct ");
             }