Dutchman Xavier Maassen claimed his first sportscar pole position in qualifying for round five of the FIA GT1 World Championship at Spa.
Maassen was second fastest aboard the DKR-run Mad-Croc Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6.R in the first qualifying segment, his new team-mate Jos Menten filled the same position in Qualifying Two and then Maassen topped the timesheets in Q3. His time of 2m17.605s was a couple of tenths quicker than fellow countryman Nicky Pastorelli in the best of the All-Inkl.com Lamborghini Murcielago R-SVs.
"It's about time; this is such a relief after we've been knocking on the door all season," said Maassen. "It's great to come to what is my home track and finally nail the pole. The team has a lot of knowledge here and so do the drivers, and we were able to put it all together."
Ricardo Zonta qualified third in the fastest of the Reiter Engineering Lambos. He was just a couple of tenths behind the similar All-Inkl car and a similar time ahead of Bert Longin in the Vitaphone-run Hegersport Maserati MC12.
Championship leader Andrea Bertolini, whose Vitaphone Maserati is carrying 40kg of success ballast, was unable to make it through the first round of qualifying. That means team-mate Michael Bartels will start this afternoon's Qualifying Race from 21st on the grid.
Times to follow