Vanthoor Storms to Brands Hatch Pole

Laurens Vanthoor stormed to pole for tomorrow’s Blancpain Sprint Series Qualifying Race at Brands Hatch.

The Belgian ace was in a class of his own on the British track, claiming the top spot with an impressive margin of more than four-tenths on the rest of the field.

Belgian Audi Club Team WRT had to work all afternoon to recover from a crash earlier in the day, described by Vanthoor as one of the heaviest impacts in his career.

WRT and Vanthoor overcame a significant lack of track time, as the No. 1 Audi could also barely run in free practice one.

“Vincent Vosse actually decided that we’ll skip practice for the rest of the season,” the Belgian joked afterwards.

Nick Catsburg’s Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX was best of the rest in P2 (+0.434s), leading a close group of three cars separated by only a few hundredths.

“Four tenths is still a lot, but I’m happier then ever because we really didn’t expect this after Nogaro, where we were really struggling,” said Catsburg.

Christopher Mies’ (No. 2 WRT Audi) and Craig Dolby’s (MRS Nissan) times gave them a spot on the second starting row, followed by both Brazilian BMWs on the next row.

Joe Osborne took pole in Pro-Am with the Triple Eight Racing BMW in seventh overall, while Rob Bell put in the ninth fastest time with the No. 55 Attempto Racing McLaren he shares with Kevin Estre(+0.837s).

RESULTS: Qualifying