Van Lagen sets pole position in thrilling Qualifying

Jaap van Lagen claimed pole position in a thrilling Qualifying for the inaugural TCR Spa 500 race. The 30-minute session started with a damp track that began to dry and this meant that lap times improved continuously as time went by.
At the wheel of his NKPP Racing CUPRA, Van Lagen topped the timesheet from the beginning, improving lap after lap: 2:43.987, 2:42.757, 2:41.495.
He was momentarily ousted by Julien Briché in the DG Sport Compétition Peugeot 308 (2:40.812), but he responded with another provisional fastest lap of 2:40.628. Again he was demoted to second by Charles Espenlaub’s Vmax-Engineering Opel Astra (2:40.606), but eventually posted a 2:37.916 that nobody was able to beat.
With a quick lap of 2:39.038 just before the end, Rik Breukers qualified the Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA in second position after missing the first half of the session because the team was working to fix a broken rear suspension. Breukers spun off on his first flying lap, but then was able to set a fast pace.
Rory Pettinen was clocked at 2:39.664 in the GDL Racing Australia Audi RS 3 LMS and was demoted from second to third by Breuker’s last lap. Espenlaup improved to 2:39.761 and was placed fourth just ahead of Vincent Radermecker in the AC Motorsport Audi.
Briché qualified his Peugeot in eighth position, while the best of the Volkswagen Golf GTI cars was the Lestrup Racing’s driven by Marcus Fluch in ninth position.
The 500-lap race will start at 16:00 local time (CET) and will be streamed live at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.

Qualifying
2:37.916 Jaap van Lagen (NKPP Racing by Bas Koeten Racing, CUPRA)
2:39.038 Rik Breukers (Red Camel-Jordans.nl, CUPRA)
2:39.664 Rory Pettinen (GDL Racing Australia, Audi RS 3 LMS)
2:39.761 Charles Espenlaub (Vmax-Engineering, Opel Astra)
2:40.271 Vincent Radermecker (AC Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)