“It was a great effort by all the team,” O’Young said. “Peter (Kox) has been fast all day and drove a great lap in Q3. Now we have to concentrate on converting the fast pace in Qualifying into a solid race performance. It’s my first visit to this track here at Navarra and it’s a good start to the weekend for us.”

Michael Bartels (DEU) and Yelmer Buurman (NLD) in the No.18 Vita4One Racing BMW Z4 were second followed by their Austrian team-mates Mathias Lauda and Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof in the No.17 BMW.

Northern Spain was bathed in glorious sunshine – a complete contrast from the changeable weather conditions for the opening two rounds in Nogaro and Zolder.

Spanish Sunred Ford GT No.10 of Milos Pavlovic (SRB) and Matteo Cressoni (ITA) qualified in 8th position – a vast improvement on previous rounds where they had failed to progress beyond Q1.

The biggest casualty of Q1 was the Hexis McLaren No.1 of Fred Makowiecki (FRA) and Stef Dusseldorp (NLD) which retired after just one lap with technical problems.

Tonight’s Qualifying Race starts at 19:45 local time (GMT +2 hrs).