Grid set for Spa 24 Hours after Super Pole
Laurens Vanthoor took pole for the WRT Audi squad
Local hero Laurens Vanthoor put the #1 Belgian WRT Audi on pole position for the 24 Hours of Spa by the narrowest of margins in Super Pole.
The 20 minute session saw the top 20 qualifiers from Thursday permitted to do just two flying laps; entering the track 20 seconds apart.
Vanthoor’s second effort of 2:18.710 proved just 0.046s quicker than that of Pier Guidi in the #50 Pro-Am class AF Corse Ferrari.
The #85 HTP Mercedes, #26 Sainteloc Audi, #3 WRT Audi and #7 M-Sport Bentley completed the top six, with the latter less than 0.4s away from pole.
It was a quiet day for the Australasian contenders as V8 Supercars stars Craig Lowndes and Shane van Gisbergen watched their co-drivers attack Super Pole.
Lowndes’ #52 AF Corse Ferrari will start 16th, one place ahead of Van Gisbergen’s #101 Von Ryan McLaren.
Vanthoor, who will share his Audi with fellow 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour competitors Markus Winkelhock and Rene Rast, is expecting a wide-open race between the closely matched GT3 cars.
“It’s fantastic to be on pole, as a Belgian driver for a Belgian team in the most important Belgian race of the year, but this was easy compared to what we have to do on Saturday and Sunday,” he said.
“It will be a very hard race, I think there will be at least fifteen cars having a go at the win.”
The all-Australian Roger Lago Lamborghini entry and Richard Muscat’s Black Falcon Mercedes were both absent from Super Pole after ending qualifying 36th and 42nd respectively.
Black Falcon discovered an engine problem following qualifying, leaving the Australian GT Championship leader optimistic for the race.
“The team believe it was a loss of power from the start of qualy,” said Muscat.
“She will be ready for the race and hopefully we can have more power.”
Top 10 grid positions after Super Pole
| 1 | Vanthoor/Winkelhock/Rast | WRT Audi | 2:18.710s |
| 2 | Danyilw/Knap/Sonvico/Guidi | AF Corse Ferrari | 2:18.756s |
| 3 | Dusseldrop/Afanasiev/Massen | HTP Mercedes | 2:18.934s |
| 4 | Ortelli/Sandstrom/Guilvert | Sainteloc Audi | 2:18.989s |
| 5 | Miles/Stippler/Nash | WRT Audi | 2:19.032s |
| 6 | Smith/Meyrick/Kane | MS Bentley | 2:19.093s |
| 7 | Schneider/Primat/Verdonck | HTP Mercedes | 2:19.166s |
| 8 | Korjus/Soucek/Estre | ART McLaren | 2:19.316s |
| 9 | Klingman/Hassid/Catsburg/Thiriet | TDS BMW | 2:19.334s |
| 10 | Howard/Adam/Mucke/Lloyd | Beechdean Aston Martin | 2:19.491s |
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