Zolder Blancpain Sprint: Home pole for Laurens Vanthoor in WRT Audi
Laurens Vanthoor set two laps good enough for pole position for the Blancpain Sprint Series round at his home track of Zolder
The WRT Audi driver claimed the top spot in final qualifying with a 1m28.716s and then set a 1m28.787s as he tried to improve on his time aboard the Belgian team's lead R8 LMS ultra.
His pole mark put him two tenths ahead of Maximilian Buhk's 1m28.962s in the best of the HTP Bentley Continental GT3s.
Norbert Siedler was just two hundredths behind in third place aboard the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 458 Italia.
Vanthoor, who won both races at the previous BSS round at Brands Hatch last month together with Robin Frijns, said: "In Q2 I did one lap and put everything together; in Q3 I had to push really hard to improve and nearly crashed twice."
Fourth fastest in the final segment of qualifying was Stephane Richelmi in the second of WRT's fleet of Audis.
The Monegasque ended up on a 1m21.185s, which put him less than a tenth up on fifth-placed Kevin Estre in the #55 Attempto Racing McLaren 650S GT3.
Qualifying honours in the Silver Cup class were taken by Formula Renault 3.5 driver Tom Dillmann.
The Frenchman, who is racing a GT3 car for the first time this weekend, ended up ninth in the times in the second HTP Bentley.
Marko Asmer took the top spot in the Pro-Am class in his GT Russian Team Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.
LEADING QUALIFYING TIMES:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R.Frijns, L.Vanthoor | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 1m28.716s | - |
| 2 | V.Abril, M.Buhk | Bentley Team HTP | Bentley | 1m28.962s | 0.246s |
| 3 | M.Seefried, N.Siedler | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 1m28.983s | 0.267s |
| 4 | S.Ortelli, S.Richelmi | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 1m29.185s | 0.469s |
| 5 | K.Estre, R.Bell | Attempto Racing | McLaren | 1m29.253s | 0.537s |
| 6 | N.M.-Melnhof, M.Winkelhock | Phoenix Racing | Audi | 1m29.257s | 0.541s |
| 7 | J.Nash, F.Stippler | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 1m29.265s | 0.549s |
| 8 | C.Bueno, S.Jimenez | BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil | BMW | 1m29.320s | 0.604s |
| 9 | J.Szymkowiak, T.Dillmann | Bentley Team HTP | Bentley | 1m29.423s | 0.707s |
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