Laurens Vanthoor tops Misano Blancpain GT qualifying for Audi

The Belgian ended up second in the final 10-minute qualifying session that sets the grid for the opening race, before being promoted to the top spot when ISR Audi driver Franck Perera lost his best time for a track limits violation.

Vanthoor posted a 1m33.262s aboard the #1 Audi R8 LMS on his first flying lap during a session held in light drizzle.

"There were more drops on my windscreen as I started my first lap, but the second and third sectors were OK, and after that it was too wet to improve," said Vanthoor, whose team-mate Frederic Vervisch had been fastest in the opening session of qualifying.

"I'm very happy to be on pole. We achieved that quite a lot last year, but the level is much higher this year."

Alvaro Parente was content with second after his first dry laps in a McLaren around the Italian circuit.

"We didn't do this race last year and it was wet for practice yesterday, so I was driving in the dry for the first time," he explained.

Norbert Siedler was a further two tenths back in third place in his Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 on a 1m33.504s.

Robin Frijns took fourth in the second quickest of the fleet of WRT Audis with a 1m33.518s.

Giacomo Piccini was fifth fastest and the Pro-Am class pole winner with a 1m33.566s in his Kessel Racing Ferrari.

Markus Winkelhock rounded out the top six in the fastest of the Phoenix Racing Audis.

Perera end up 11th on a 1m33.851s after his 1m33.199s was scrubbed from the results.

The one-hour qualifying race starts at 8.50pm local time on Saturday night.

LEADING QUALIFYING TIMES: