Saturday 16 / November / 2024
Spielberg: Oman’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair will be hoping to continue his impressive run of form as he challenges for honours in this year’s Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup with round three at the Red Bull Circuit in Spielberg, Austria, this weekend.
Fresh from a month lay-off in the calendar, the young BWT Lechner Racing Team driver has made a scintillating start to his 2019 campaign. Seventh place in Barcelona and a top 10 finish on the streets of Monte-Carlo came on the back of a second successive Porsche BWT GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East title during the Gulf’s winter racing season and the Omani holds equal ninth in the Drivers’ Championship after two races.
Al-Zubair said: “I’m very excited looking ahead to the Red Bull Ring round of the championship. It has been a great start to the season with two top 10 finishes. Unfortunately, due to my crash in Monaco and some exams, I wasn’t able to test at some of the tracks, which includes the Red Bull Ring.
“That will put me on the back foot, I guess, starting the race weekend. I think we have already shown this season that we are much more confident with the car though and I have the experience and can push for another top 10 finish.”
Defending champion Michael Ammermüller holds a six-point lead in the series per Turkey’s Ayhancan Güven heading into the race on Sunday. Frenchman Julien Andlauer is a point behind the Turk in third and a similar distance in front of the fourth-placed Dane Mikkel Pedersen.
The Red Bull track is 4.326km in length, is picturesquely surrounded by mountains and situated in the valley of Styria. The Porsche Super Cup used the circuit - then named the A1 Ring - in 1997 and returned to the revised track for the 2014 season onwards.
Luxembourg’s Dylan Pereira set the fastest race lap of 1min 31.849sec last year, but pole position and the win in 2018 fell to rival Thomas Preining. Drivers will be permitted a free practice session on the circuit from 18.40hrs (CET) on Friday, June 28th, with the all-important qualifying session following at 13.25hrs (CET) on Saturday, June 29th.
Round three of the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup is scheduled for 12.15hrs (CET) on Sunday, June 30th.
