Donington World GT1: Laurens Vanthoor sets pole for WRT Audi squad
Laurens Vanthoor set pole position in Team WRT's Audi R8 LMS for the FIA GT1 World Championship finale at Donington Park
The Belgian lapped the Donington Park Grand Prix circuit in 1m27.746s, 0.124s faster than Frederic Makowiecki's Hexis McLaren.
That means Vanthoor's co-driver, World GT1 debutant Adam Carroll, will start this afternoon's qualifying race from pole, with Makowiecki's partner Stef Dusseldorp alongside.
"It's the last race of the season, and our first pole," said Vanthoor. "There was nothing to complain about, I'm pretty happy."
Carroll added: "I was P2 in my group, and I was pleased with my lap. We've got to try and win it now."
In the title fight, Munnich Mercedes SLS duo Marc Basseng/Markus Winkelhock come into the final round with a one-point lead over the Vita4One BMW Z4 of Michael Bartels/Yelmer Buurman, but their qualifying effort turned sour in Q2.
Winkelhock spun no less than three times, once at Redgate and twice at the Old Hairpin. His best time was almost three-tenths off that required to progress to Q3, the top-eight shootout, and the pair will start from 10th.
Rivals Bartels/Buurman fared a little better, making it into Q3 but only qualifying seventh. Bartels suffered a brief off in the effectively-pointless Q1 session at the Old Hairpin, filling his radiator grille with grass, and could only manage a lap 0.783s off pole when it mattered in Q3.
Hexis duo Makowiecki and Dusseldorp only have a mathematical chance of the title, coming in 32 points adrift.
"It's not really likely," said Dusseldorp of their title hopes, "but we'll try and win both races and see what happens."
Peter Kox qualified third in the Reiter Lamborghini he shares with Stefan Rosina, ahead of Filip Salaquarda/Marco Cioci (Ferrari 458) and the second Munnich Merc of Nicky Pastorelli/Thomas Jager.
Pos Drivers Team/Car Time Gap 1. Vanthoor/Carroll WRT Audi 1m27.746s 2. Makowiecki/Dusseldorp Hexis McLaren 1m27.870s + 0.124s 3. Kox/Rosina Reiter Lamborghini 1m27.970s + 0.224s 4. Salaquarda/Cioci AF Ferrari 1m28.326s + 0.580s 5. Pastorelli/Jager Munnich Mercedes 1m28.358s + 0.612s 6. Mayr-Melnhof/Lauda Vita4One BMW 1m28.506s + 0.760s 7. Bartels/Buurman Vita4One BMW 1m28.529s + 0.783s 8. Ide/Castellacci AF Ferrari 1m28.729s + 0.983s 9. Jarvis/Stippler WRT Audi 1m28.461s Q2 10. Basseng/Winkelhock Munnich Mercedes 1m28.660s Q2 11. Parente/Demoustier Hexis McLaren 1m29.574s Q2 12. Groppi/Lariche SUNRED Ford 1m29.611s Q2
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments