Vanthoor takes home BSS pole

WRT Audi driver Laurens Vanthoor claimed a home-town pole position for the Zolder round of the Blancpain Sprint Series.

Vanthoor jumped to the top of the timesheets with a time of 1m28.580s set on his fourth lap as the end of the 10-minute final qualifying period approached. That eclipsed Jeroen Bleekemolen's 1m28.882s in the title-challenging Grasser Lamborghini Gallardo LFII by three tenths of a second.

Vanthoor, who shares his WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra with Cesar Ramos, said: "It was difficult to get a lap together and I made some mistakes and had some problems.

"I finally got it together on my third lap and did the time on my fourth lap – it's nice to have the pole in my back yard."

Rene Rast moved up to third in the second WRT Audi at the end with a time a further tenth back, while Nicky Catsburg snatched fourth at the last moment aboard the Lambo Gallardo fielded by series debutant NSC Motorsports.

The HTP Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG shared by Maximilian Gotz and Maximilian Buhk, who are one-two in the championship, ended up only 12th in Buhk's hands, 1.3sec from the pole.