TF Sport #81 Corvette driver Tom van Rompuy is aiming for at least a top three result in qualifying for the 6 Hours of Spa-Franchorchamps, the third round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship — although really he’s hoping for pole, to repeat his success earlier in the year at Qatar.
“You always hope for a pole position,” he told Motorsport Week ahead of his home race.
“If it’s the reality I will tell you on Friday evening. But we will try!
“We will try, for sure, to go for a top-three and maybe a pole, we will see.”
Despite his rookie status in the WEC, he took pole for the Qatar 1812 km season opener with a 1:54.372 lap time.
This was the largest gap in front of a competitor compared to any of the other LMGT3 cars at 0.807 seconds, prompting an impressive start to his maiden WEC season and an assertion of capable pace for the new Corvette Z06.R.
Qualifying in LMGT3, like in the former GTE Am category, puts the qualifying responsibility on the Bronze-graded driver which will designate his qualifying duties for the 2024 season.
“Well obviously it’s full focus,” he described the driving approach to qualifying.
“You also prepare that lap – so you go out with new tyres, you get the tyres in the right window to have one or two push laps and to use the peak of the tyre.
“So the beginning of the tyre [driving time] it’s all focus, all [about] the small details – not sliding, don’t miss your braking points so you have to put everything together.”
“It’s a great thing,” he said about his home race in the pre-race press conference as the Belgian is looking to secure his second WEC pole at Spa-Francorchamps.
“I’ve done a lot of races here but not on this level, so it’s – for sure – a highlight of my career.”
Along with his #81 teammates Rui Andrade and Charlie Eastwood, they have only scored eight points at Imola following their Qatar retirement towards the closing phase of the race.
