Dubai: Fifth place in round two of the Asian Le Mans Series at Dubai Autodrome on Sunday, 13th February, capped a strong and competitive opening weekend of the season for Ahmad Al Harthy and Oman Racing – the Sultanate’s number one racing driver hailing a ‘perfect race’ in the No.69 Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Taking the second stint of Sunday evening’s four-hour encounter in Dubai, Al Harthy produced an absolutely sensational drive and ran as high as second in the GT class – Oman Racing having qualified 10th fastest – as a maiden ALMS podium result looked a possible reality.
In the end, with overall pace from the Aston Martin not quite a match on this occasion for the rival Ferraris and McLarens, Al Harthy and team-mates Sam De Haan and Charlie Eastwood had to settle for a nonetheless satisfying top five result.
“It was a perfect race from our perspective, everything was spot on and we didn’t do anything wrong all race”, reflected Al Harthy, who is supported by Omantel, OQ and MHD-ITICS, “The team really did an amazing job, I drove a perfect race in my stint but we just didn’t have the overall pace compared to our rivals – that was the difference no matter how well we performed.
“Sam did an incredible job in the first stint, a fantastic start to the race, and Charlie – as he always does – delivered a faultless drive. I’m really delighted with the performance we gave, running in P2 for so long felt amazing and it gives us the motivation to take to Abu Dhabi where we can hopefully fight for stronger results next weekend.”
Following on from a strong top six result in round one on Saturday evening in Dubai, Oman Racing’s trio had their sights set on more in Sunday’s four-hour contest but with plenty of work to do from the fifth row of the GT class grid.
De Haan started the race in the No.69 Aston Martin and put together an awesome opening lap, slicing his way through the pack and avoiding drama to climb into third place. Initially soaking up pressure from Brendan Iribe in his McLaren 720S, De Haan was shuffled back to fifth place on lap three and remained there up to the first round of driver-change pit-stops.
Pitting from an improved fourth under Full Course Yellow conditions just past the one hour mark, De Haan handed over the Oman Racing car to Al Harthy who ran in fourth position when the action resumed around 10 minutes later. Edged back to fifth prior to a second Full Course Yellow around 80 minutes into the race, Al Harthy took the opportunity to pit again during the cautionary period.
Proving to be an inspired move, when the action resumed shortly after the Omani was second in GT and just outside the overall top 10 – driving superbly. Able to keep a gap of several seconds over the Ferrari 488 of David Perel, as the race approached the halfway point Perel had closed onto the tail of the Aston Martin.
Driving faultlessly, Al Harthy kept the Ferrari at bay and when yet another Full Course Yellow period was called around the two-hour mark the Omani concluded an absolutely fantastic stint by handing over the car to Eastwood.
Perel had also pitted to hand over the Ferrari to Davide Rigon, and so Eastwood was in the same position Al Harthy had been with Rigon close behind. Soaking up the pressure brilliantly, Eastwood fended off the Ferrari throughout most of hour three until Rigon was able to get ahead later on.
Just before the end of hour three Eastwood pitted, emerging back into the race in fifth spot and as bullet-proof as his performance was behind the wheel of the Aston Martin, that’s where he had to stay to the chequered flag at the end of hour four.
Now the Asian Le Mans Series moves on to neighbouring Abu Dhabi for rounds three and four of the 2022 season, taking place next weekend on Saturday, 19th February, and Sunday, 20th February, at Yas Marina Circuit.
