Borussia Dortmund rookie stuns with Zolder pole ahead of RSC Anderlecht

Meijer stepped aboard the BVB car for the first time this morning and snuck into the shoot-out portion of qualifying after finishing fourth fastest in the Group A session by only .065 of a second. The Dutch Formula Renault ace then charged past Spanish clubs Atletico Madrid (Andy Soucek) and Sevilla FC (Borja Garcia) in his Quarter and Semi Finals to qualifying for the pole shoot-out.

Nurburgring dual-runner up star Craig Dolby from local Belgian club RSC Anderlecht had a similar battle, just making the shoot-out with a single flying lap in qualifying. Dolby’s Anderlecht car had suffered a driveshaft problem and the young Brit was able to squeeze one flying lap in before the chequered flag of the Group B session.

Dolby then defeated AC Milan’s Robert Doornbos and Liverpool FC’s Adrian Valles to earn a shot at challenging for pole.

Fresh from his visit to RSC Anderlecht’s 2-1 victory over Excelsior Mouscron last night, Dolby led the off on the pole shootout but pushed too hard in turn two, suffered understeer and subsequently spun - leaving Meijer to motor past to earn his and Borussia Dortmund’s first ever pole position in Superleague Formula.

Dolby will be out to make amends in tomorrow’s opening race when the entire RSC Anderlecht football playing squad on site to view his efforts.

Valles and Garcia will lead an all Spanish driver second row tomorrow for the first race for Liverpool and Sevilla FCs. Championship leader Beijing Guoan (Davide Rigon) will start from the third row of the grid in position 5 ahead of FC Porto’s Tristan Gommendy.

While Meijer was celebrating his Superleague Formula debut, Al-Ain rookie, Belgian Bertrand Baguette was not as fortunate, recording a time that will place him on the back row of the grid. His garage neighbour Yelmer Buurman also suffered a disappointing day for PSV Eindhoven - also struggling in the 15 minute qualifying - both cars suffering rear upright bearing issues.

Tomorrow’s first race will kick off at 11.00am with the second reverse grid event scheduled for 2.00pm. Both races are run to 44 minutes, plus 1 lap.

- Paul Ryan -

Photos from Zolder will be on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - FORMULA