Muscat – The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona,
seems to be a happy hunting ground for Oman’s
talented racer Al Faisal al Zubair.
On Saturday, the Omani teamed up with German
Fabian Schiller to claim the top honours in race one
in the final round of the 2022 International GT Open
Series in their Mercedes AMG car.
Racing for GetSpeed Performance team as a guest
entry in the Pro category, the victory of Al Faisal and
Schiller meant that the fight for the overall title
between regular participants moves to the final
race of the series later on Sunday.
Al Faisal had competed in the International GT Open
last year and finished a creditable third overall with
a runner-up finish at the same venue in the final
round, but in a different car, Porsche.
Al Faisal recently concluded his maiden
participation season in the 2022 Fanatec GT
World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS –
Endurance Cup.
Al Faisal Al Zubair, teammate Fabian Schiller and
Zimbabwe’s Axcil Jeffries rounded off their first
season together in the Fanatec GT World Challenge
Europe Powered by AWS – Endurance Cup by
finishing in fourth place in the Silver Cup category at
the season’s finale in Barcelona. The result also
confirmed that the Al Manar Racing trio finished
fourth in the final Silver Cup Drivers’ Championship.
On Saturday, GetSpeed Performance for Al Faisal Al
Zubair-Fabian Schiller, who took the pole and
dominated the race despite the 10-second handicap
for first appearance in the closing round.
They beat the Dinamic Motorsport Porsche 911R of
Riccardo Cazzaniga-Klaus Bachler with the Oregon
Team Lamborghini of Benja Hites-Leo Pulcini third.
The championship leaders, Hites-Pulcini, made a
little step forward, as most direct rivals, Nick Moss-
Joe Osborne (Optimum Motorsport McLaren)
finished fifth. They are now separated by five net
points only.
Speaking after the strong victory, Al Faisal said:
“Honestly, what a way to start a weekend. A perfect
race, starting with the practice round and then a
pole with Schiller on the wheels.
“We were quite confident going into the race after
the strong display in practice and qualifying
sessions.”
Al Faisal added: “During the race, Schiller
maintained his dominance and came into the pits as
a leader. With 35 minutes to go, I completed the
race, keeping a good lead over the nearest rivals,
Riccardo Cazzaniga-Klaus Bachler in Porsche.
“So far, we had a great round and we hope to finish
off with a nice display on Sunday.”
At the start, Schiller keeps the advantage ahead of
Pulcini as Osborne jumped to third ahead early.
With a car going into the gravel in turn 10, safety
car came out. After the restart, in lap five, positions
remain unchanged at the top, with Schiller taking a
four-second advantage on Pulcini.
Safety car was back at the end of lap 10, as two cars
crashed. The race was restarted two laps later and
the pit stop window in lap 14 had Schiller in lead.
Al Faisal took over and despite a couple of stops,
finished the race as comfortable winner, seven
seconds ahead of Bachler and nine seconds on
Hites.
Earlier, in the qualifying, there was delay with the
start due to fog. But that was no issue for Fabian
Schiller. The fast German driver, on a guest
appearance with Al Faisal Al Zubair in one of the
Mercedes AMG of GetSpeed, took pole, setting a
time of 1.43.811.
“It’s been a perfect weekend so far’, Schiller said.
“The team has given us a car that goes perfectly on
this very nice track and we’ll see what happens
later,” he added.
Schiller’s only rivals for the pole were his GetSpeed
teammate Sébastian Baud and championship co-
leader Leonardo Pulcini in Lamborghini, who both
were provisionally in pole during the session.
Eventually, Pulcini took second, only 0s130 behind,
while the other GetSpeed Mercedes was third,
0s338 behind.
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