Wednesday 20 / November / 2024
HUNGARY: After missing the second round of the series in Spa, Oman’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair and German team-mate Fabian Schiller return to 2023 International GT Open action at the Hungaroring in Hungary this weekend.
The Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed Mercedes AMG GT3 duo led the prestigious endurance championship by two points after claiming a race win and a second place at round one in Portugal.
With the Belgian event not part of their diverse 2023 racing programme, the duo arrive in Hungary holding fourth place in the championship behind the British duo of Charlie Fagg and Samuel de Haan, Argentina’s Marcos Siebert and Méxican team-mate Diego Manchaca and Eastalent Racing’s Simon Reicher and Christopher Haase.
Al-Zubair said: “I am really looking forward to this weekend’s round of the International GT Open near Budapest. I believe that Fabian and I, along with the Getspeed car, have a great package and will be fighting for the win in both races, hopefully.
“The first round of GT Open was great for us. We did miss the second round, as we are not doing the full championship. Budapest is a track I have been on before and so has Fabi and we feel quite confident on that track with the Mercedes. Hopefully, it will be a good round.”
International GT Open drivers will take to the famous circuit in Mogyoród for a pair of one-hour free practice sessions on Friday from 10.04hrs and 15.02hrs, respectively.
The first 30-minute qualifying session takes centre stage at 09.45hrs on Saturday morning and precedes the opening 70-minute race that gets underway with a rolling start from 14.25hrs.
Q2 takes place at a similar time on Sunday morning and is followed by a shorter second one-hour race, starting at 14.00hrs.
2023 International GT Open – positions after round two:
1. Charlie Fagg/Samuel de Haan 50pts
2. Marcos Siebert/Diego Manchaca 45pts
3. Christopher Haase/Simon Reicher 42pts
4. Al-Faisal Al-Zubair/Fabian Schiller 27pts, etc
