Al Zubair aims podium finish at season opener

MUSCAT: Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT’s Al Faisal Al Zubair starts his 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup (GTWCEEC) powered by AWS campaign alongside Jens Klingmann and Ben Tuck at the Paul Ricard circuit in France on April 11-12. 

Saturday evening’s season opener will see the Omani and his British and German team-mates challenging for honours in a BMW M4 GT3 EVO in a six-hour race that has attracted a 59-car field with 10 manufacturers spread across the various classes. The race provides the perfect opportunity for Al Zubair to put his native Sultanate of Oman in the international spotlight by pushing for success on the world stage. 

Competition for Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT in the Gold Cup category comes from the likes of Garage 59, Optimum Motorsport and Team RJN in their McLaren 720S GT3 EVOs, the Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 and the Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R. 

The Gold line-up also includes Verstappen.com Racing’s new Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 and the Paul Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

Al Zubair said: “I am looking forward to the first round of the GT World Challenge with the new team and the new car, the BMW M4 GT3 EVO, and my new team-mates, Jens Klingmann and Ben Tuck. I have raced with Ben once before in Dubai 24H. That was a great start for us, winning that race together. 

“I think GT World Challenge is known as the toughest World Championship in GT and endurance racing. We know it will be difficult. We have been testing in a couple of places in the last month doing all the hard work with it all. We are looking forward to getting started in a strong way. 

“The championship is quite long, 10 rounds, and this is the first one and it’s a six-hour race as well. It won’t be easy physically but everyone at Al Manar Racing is very excited. Our target will be to have the Omani flag on the podium, inshallah, on Saturday night.”

A two-hour free practice session for the opening round of the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS gets underway at 14.20hrs on Friday afternoon. Pre-qualifying then follows at 20.00hrs.

The crucial three qualifying stints take centre stage on the French circuit from 11.50hrs on Saturday with the six-hour race firing into life at 18.00hrs.