Bleekemolen claims Blancpain GT pole at Nogaro

Jeroen Bleekemolen topped a frantic Blancpain Sprint Series qualifying session at Nogaro.

The Grasser Lamborghini driver dispatched early pacesetter Laurens Vanthoor in Q3 with four minutes to go, with a lap of 1m25.046s.

The lap sent a stunned Vanthoor back to the pits without a response, just over a tenth down on Bleekemolen.

The two WRT Audi cars rounded out the podium spots, with Vanthoor beating Q2 pacesetter Rene Rast, who could only get within four tenths of the eventual session leader.

Peter Kox led the Pro-Am category in his Blancpain Racing Lamborghini, closely followed by the three Audis of Markus Winkelhock, Gregory Guilvert and Marc Basseng.

Caca Bueno was the highest placed BMW in ninth after a disappointing session.

Former Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet followed team-mate Bueno to complete the top 10.

Racing returnee Alex Zanardi had a positive debut with a 12th and 11th place finish in Q1 and Q2, and narrowly missed out on a top 10 place in the final shootout.

Mateusz Lisowski was the highest placed Silver Cup driver in 13th in the third WRT Audi entry.

The qualifying practice session sets the grid for the qualifying race, which takes place on Sunday, and also counts towards championship points with the top six awarded points.

The qualifying race then sets the field for the main championship event on Monday.

Originally on Autosport.com