Monday 01 / July / 2024
Dubai: Omani racing driver Ahmad Al Harthy watched hopes of a deserved first Asian Le Mans Series GT Class victory taken from his grasp during round three in Abu Dhabi on Friday, February 19, when a multi-car incident during the final hour of the race at Yas Marina led to retirement for Oman Racing.
With team-mate Tom Canning at the wheel, having only just taken over the No.97 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from Al Harthy who had delivered a masterful class-leading performance in his stint, the Briton had nowhere to go when one of the other Astons collided with the No.27 Ferrari F488.
It was a bitter blow for all at Oman Racing, with the squad having been in contention for the podium for the majority of the race and class victory looking increasingly likely throughout Al Harthy’s long, faultless stint in the middle part of the four-hour encounter. Now, the focus is on mounting another bid for silverware in today’s round four ALMS finale at Yas Marina Circuit.
“When everything goes according to plan, even better than we thought it could, we didn’t expect that to happen in the last 50 minutes”, reflected Al Harthy, “What a stint from Jonny[Adam] at the start, taking the car into the top four [from P9] and a very strong drive before I got in the car.
“We really capitalised in the pits with the Full Course Yellow, running me as long a we possibly could in the middle stint. I was really happy with my pace, honestly it was one of the strongest races I’ve driven in my life. The pace is very strong in this championship so for us to be leading our class, me handing over the car to Tom in P1, was incredible.”
He added: “Tom was so unfortunate, the accident happened in front of him and there was nothing he could do – no fault of his own. We’re disappointed not to finish the race and get our first podium of the season, but we have another race today and we’ll fight as hard again. I really want to thank the team for doing such an amazing job and giving me an incredible car. Chin up for today’s race!”
The build-up to the penultimate race of the campaign went very well indeed for Oman Racing, with the team third fastest in GT in the last of three test sessions on Wednesday, 17th February, and then quickest in class in the first run of the day on Thursday, 18th February.
Adam took qualifying duties during the grid-determining sessions on Friday morning and posted the ninth fastest time in GT. Beginning at 16.00 local time, Friday’s race got underway with Adam at the wheel and he put together an excellent opening lap. Slicing through into the top five of the GT class, racing then fell under Full Course Yellow conditions before the end of lap one.
Racing got back underway a few minutes later and Adam was quickly into fourth in GT, but the action again fell under caution just before the 15-minute mark. At the resumption, the Oman Racing car was soon into the podium placings with Adam driving superbly into third.
Ultimately climbing into second and a lofty eighth overall after a magnificent stint, the Aston Martin works driver eventually took the team’s first pit-stop with just over 80 minutes complete. Al Harthy climbed aboard and held fifth in GT when he emerged on track, 15th overall.
Racing beautifully, the Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, National Bank of Oman, Omantel and Barr Al Jissah supported driver moved up through the order back into the podium positions with a challenge for silverware very much a reality.
Pitting with around one hour and 45 minutes elapsed, Al Harthy remained behind the wheel and rejoined the action eighth in class. Running in fifth place as the two-hour mark approached, just 25 minutes later he had risen into the class lead in ninth overall.
Driving perfectly, Al Harthy continued to head GT with 90 minutes left on the clock and he had opened an impressivelead of more than half a minute. He then pitted to hand over the car to Canning for the final stint with just over an hour remaining on the clock.
Canning joined the action fifth in class, but with the four GT cars ahead yet to serve their final stops a mouthwatering finish was in prospect under the night skies of Abu Dhabi. It wasn’t to be, though, with Canning lucklessly caught-up in someone else’s accident with 53 minutes to run.
