Kumpen on pole for PK-Carsport
Local hero Anthony Kumpen grabbed pole position for the PK-Carsport Chevrolet Corvette team ahead of Sunday's FIA GT Championship decider at Zolder
Kumpen's best lap of 1m27.399s gave him pole by just 0.065 seconds in front of the best of the Vitaphone Maseratis driven by Alex Muller.
It was the perfect start to the weekend for Kumpen and team-mate Mike Hezemans, who trail the number one Vitaphone crew of Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini by four points in the championship battle.
Kumpen said: "This is the one and only pole I wanted. I live five minutes from here and have probably raced at Zolder more than all the other tracks combined.
"It's fortunate that we know the track and the conditions very well. That gave us a small advantage and we were able to create the perfect car. That's down to everyone involved in the team, because this isn't a Corvette track."
Muller, who shares with Miguel Ramos, reckoned that pole might have been possible but for a small mistake on his best lap.
"I locked up a wheel and missed an apex," he said. "I think pole was reachable today."
Alessandro Pier Guidi qualified the remaining Vitaphone Maserati MC12 in third place, one tenth of a second behind team-mate Muller. Enrique Bernoldi, winner last time out at Paul Ricard with Ricardo Streit, ended up fourth on the timesheets in the DKR-run Team Brazil Corvette C6.R.
Bertolini could qualify only sixth after taking a trip through the gravel at the Gilles Villeneuve Chicane.
Gianmaria Bruni claimed GT2 pole with a 1m31.622s lap at the wheel of the lead AF Corse Ferrari 430 GT. The Italian ended up just over two tenths of a second ahead of Porsche factory driver Jorg Bergmeister, who has been drafted in to share a second Trackspeed 911 GT3-RSR with Christian Mamerow to bolster the German manufacturer's championship challenger.
ProSpeed Porsche driver Richard Westbrook ended up third in GT2. The Briton and regular team-mate Emmanuel Collard, who trail Bruni and Toni Vilander by three points, have been split up for the weekend. Westbrook drives with Marco Holzer, while Collard has been moved over to the Brixia Racing team to race with Martin Ragginger.
Pos Qualifying driver Cl Car Time Gap 1. Anthony Kumpen GT1 Corvette 1m27.399s 2. Alex Muller GT1 Maserati 1m27.464s + 0.065s 3. Alex Pier Guidi GT1 Maserati 1m27.589s + 0.190s 4. Enrique Bernoldi GT1 Corvette 1m28.026s + 0.627s 5. Xavier Masseen GT1 Corvette 1m28.148s + 0.749s 6. Andrea Bertolini GT1 Maserati 1m28.183s + 0.784s 7. Bert Longin GT1 Corvette 1m28.848s + 1.449s 8. Michael Krumm GT1 Nissan 1m30.754s + 3.355s 9. Bas Leinders GT1 Ford 1m31.274s + 3.875s 10. Gianmaria Bruni GT2 Ferrari 1m31.622s + 4.223s 11. Jorg Bergmeister GT2 Porsche 1m31.831s + 4.432s 12. Richard Westbrook GT2 Porsche 1m31.879s + 4.480s 13. Matias Russo GT2 Ferrari 1m31.911s + 4.512s 14. Marc Lieb GT2 Porsche 1m32.264s + 4.865s 15. Tim Mullen GT2 Ferrari 1m32.295s + 4.896s 16. Rob Bell GT2 Ferrari 1m32.396s + 4.997s 17. Paolo Ruberti GT2 Ferrari 1m32.565s + 5.166s 18. Martin Ragginer GT2 Porsche 1m32.693s + 5.294s 19. Alvaro Barba Lopez GT2 Ferrari 1m32.759s + 5.360s 20. Sascha Maassen GT2 Porsche 1m33.345s + 5.946s 21. Stephane Lemeret GT2 Ferrari 1m33.530s + 6.131s
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