Saturday 07 / September / 2024
Muscat: Successful GT racing driver Ahmad Al Harthy heads back to Europe this week for the third round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup, the midway point of the 2024 season for OQ by Oman Racing.
Travelling to the Nurburgring in Germany for the eagerly awaited three-hour race on Sunday, 28th July, Omani sportsman Al Harthy is hoping to mount a bid for his best result of the GTWCE campaign so far along with Bronze class team-mates Sam De Haan and Jens Klingmann.
This weekend’s action will be the fourth race meeting in just six weeks for Al Harthy, having been incredibly busy criss-crossing the globe competing in not only GTWCE Endurance Cup, but also the FIA World Endurance Championship where he races with Maxime Martin and Valentino Rossi.
Of course, the same Team WRT squad which fields the FIA WEC entry looks after the engineering of the OQ by Oman Racing No.30 BMW M4 GT3 as well. It is this continuity and consistency which Al Harthy hopes will help to deliver a strong weekend at the Nurburgring.
Heading to Germany off the back of an excellent top five result in FIA World Endurance little more than a week ago in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Omani is aiming to bring some of that sparkle to the sister GTWCE campaign which has been mixed over the first two events.
Al Harthy and team-mates De Haan and Klingmann combined to produce a top six finish on debut in GTWCE during round one at Circuit Paul Ricard in France in April. Round two, the 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium, was less fortunate when a mechanical problem forced retirement. Going into the coming weekend, the OQ by Oman Racing drivers are 14th in the Bronze class standings.
Supported by OQ, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Omantel and BMW Oman, Al Harthy is relishing being back at the Nurburgring for the first time since 2021 in the Endurance Cup when he raced to a top five result in the Pro-Am class with Giacomo Petrobelli and Maxime Martin.
Ahmad Al Harthy:
“It’s been a very busy time over the past couple of months, a lot of travelling and a lot of racing, and now we’re preparing for the next round of GTWCE in Germany. I’m looking forward to being back at the Nurburgring after a couple of years away, and I’m hopeful we can go into the race with the best car possible.
“Spa was very unfortunate, after a solid beginning to our GTWCE season at Paul Ricard, so we’re all determined to get back into the points. Sam and Jens have been doing a great job, and the guys at OQ by Oman Racing always deliver a strong car, so we hope testing and qualifying both go as well as possible and we can then push for a good result to fly the flag for Oman in the Bronze class.”
Following two 90-minute test sessions on Friday, 26th July, a one hour Bronze practice will take place later in the day at 17.45 local time. Track action on Saturday, 27th July, will begin with an additional two hour practice ahead of pre-qualifying at 13.15 local time. Final qualifying will take place at 08.45 local time on Sunday, 28th July, with the three hour race starting at 15.00 local time.
2024 GTWCE Endurance Cup Bronze Class Standings (after Rd2)
1st Jef Machiels / Louis Machiels / Andrea Bertolini, 57pts
2nd Jonathan Hui / Chris Froggatt / Eddie Cheever, 43pts
3rd Tommaso Mosca, 39pts
4th Alexey Nesov / Dylan Pereira / Max Hofer / Andrey Mukovoz, 38pts
5th Kobe Pauwels / Job Van Uitert / John De Wilde, 34pts
14th Ahmad Al Harthy / Sam De Haan / Jens Klingmann, 9pts
