Laurens Vanthoor gave the local Belgian crowd something the cheer about ahead of the weekend’s Spa 24 Hours by snatching pole position in Friday evening’s 20-car Super Pole shoot-out in the #1 Belgian Audi Club WRT R8 he shares with Nurburgring 24 winners Markus Winkelhock and Rene Rast.
The 2013 FIA GT champion went third quickest on the first of his two flyers, then pulled rapid 2:18.710 on his second time around – easily the fastest lap of the weekend so far.
“It’s never easy to get pole ahead of a 24,” he said. “I was surprised at the result, but I pushed like hell. I asked my engineer over the radio what the situation was and he told me I was on pole, I said ‘really?’ There was a bit of rain, but the grip levels were still high. It’s the perfect start to the weekend, but we know tomorrow will be much harder – there are 15 cars that can win this.”
For the second year in a row, Alessandro Pier Guidi put a Ferrari 458 on the second grid spot – last year an SMP, this year the #50 AF Corse. His lap of 2:18.756 was just 0.04 seconds slower than Vanthoor’s pole time. “The guys worked through the night to prepare the car, this is their reward,” said the Italian.”I did a great lap, but it wasn’t perfect in the middle sector. I just plan to make a better start than last year!”
Stef Dusseldorp put the #84 HTP Mercedes SLS third on the grid, two tenths behind Pier Guidi with a time of 2:18.934. “It was a very good lap – yesterday I couldn’t put together a good complete lap, but today I put in a perfect second lap,” he said. “That’s all I’ve got after working on little bits with the engineers last night. We’re aiming for a victory and at least a podium, the speed is there for us in the Mercedes.”
The only other driver to break the 2:19 barrier was fourth-place qualifier Edward Sandstrom in the #26 Sainteloc Audi R8 shared with Ortelli and Guilvert. Christopher Mies made it two WRT Audis in the top five, qualifiying the #3 just ahead of sixth-place man Steven Kane in the #7 M-Sport Bentley – the only one of the two British cars to make it into Super Pole.
Last year’s winner Bernd Schneider was seventh-fastest in the #84 HTP Mercedes, while Kevin Estre wasn’t as fast in the #99 McLaren as many observers thought – qualifying eighth in a time of 2:19.316. TDS Racing BMW man Nick Catsburg and Beechdean Aston Martin’s Stefan Mucke rounded out the top 10 in the #12 and #107 cars respectively.
Elsewhere, RJN Nissan’s Alex Buncombe overshot his braking point going through the Bus Stop chicane at the end of hisfirst flyer, which in turn slowed his run down the start-finish straight to begin his second lap. The #80 Nissan GT-R will line up 13th tomorrow, while the #35 (qualified by Katsumasa Chiyo) will line up 19th. GT3 debutant Jazeman Jafaar was the final top-20 qualifier in the #86 HTP Mercedes shared with last year’s winners Buhk and Gotz.
All 20 cars in Super Pole went quicker than last year’s pole time of 2:20.275 (set by Mucke in the Beechdean Aston).
- 1 – Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra – Laurens Vanthoor – 2:18.710
- 50 – AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia – Alessandro Pier Guidi – 2:18.756
- 85 – HTP Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 – Stef Dusseldorp – 2:18.934
- 26 – Saintéloc Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra – Edward Sandström – 2:18.989
- 3 – Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra – Christopher Mies – 2:19.032
- 7 – M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3 – Steven Kane – 2:19.093
- 84 – HTP Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 – Bernd Schneider – 2:19.166
- 99 – ART Grand Prix McLaren MP4-12C – Kevin Estre – 2:19.316
- 12 – TDS Racing BMW Z4 – Nicky Catsburg – 2:19.334
- 107 – Beechdean AMR Aston Martin Vantage – Stefan Mücke – 2:19.491
- 66 – Team Marc VDS BMW Z4 – Maxime Martin – 2:19.497
- 2 – Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra – Marcel Fässler – 2:19.569
- 80 – Nissan Academy Team RJN Nissan GT-R Nismo – Alex Buncombe – 2:19.613
- 77 – Team Marc VDS BMW Z4 – Dirk Werner – 2:19.717
- 79 – Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 – Alexander Sims – 2:19.747
- 52 – Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 Italia – Michele Rugolo – 2:19.753
- 101 – Von Ryan Racing McLaren MP4-12C – Rob Bell – 2:19.915
- 19 – Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 – Andreas Simonsen – 2:19.989
- 35 – Nissan Academy Team RJN Nissan GT-R Nismo – Katsumasa Chiyo – 2:20.179
- 86 – HTP Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 – Jazema Jaafar – 2:20.442
SE & SK
