Vanthoor Storms to Zolder Pole

Laurens Vanthoor will start today’s Blancpain Sprint Series Qualifying Race from pole position, as the Belgian went considerably faster than his opponents.

Track conditions were optimal for Qualifying with clear skies and sun aplenty, which led to very close times, the top 19 cars remaining in within the same second in Q2.

Grasser Racing Team’s Jeroen Bleekemolen put in the first top time in the final session, followed by a very quick 1:28.580 from the No. 1 Audi R8 LMS ultra of local hero Vanthoor.

“It was difficult to get a lap together, I made some mistakes, had some problems, but finally in lap three I managed to put everything together,” said Vanthoor.

The Belgian grabbed pole with a convincing margin of 0.302s on title contending No. 28 GRT Lambo in an otherwise closely matched top 10.

“He was very quick, no chance to beat that,” admitted Bleekemolen. “I think I had a really good lap, I couldn’t go any quicker, no mistakes, nothing.”

“We were a bit of the pace yesterday, we made some changes overnight and the car seem to be good now, so I think we can look forward to some good races.”

René Rast confirmed Audi’s pace, ending up in third with the No. 2 WRT car he shares with Enzo Ide, while local team NSC Motorsports will start today’s Qualifying Race from fourth on the grid.

The Bhaitech McLaren team continued to show strong form, with Giorgio Pantano putting in the fifth time in the No. 60 car.

Mercedes struggled on the Zolder track, with the No. 84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 of championship leader Maxi Götz and second placed Maxi Buhk the only car making it to Q3, starting twelfth, 1.131s off the pace.

The Qualifying Race for the penultimate round of the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series gets underway at 14.15 CET.

RESULTS: Qualifying