MANAMA: Ahmad al Harthy is aiming to proudly fly the flag for Oman once again on November 4, when the Middle East region provides the grand stage for the final race of the FIA World Endurance Championship – round seven of the season at Bahrain International Circuit.
Oman Racing with TF Sport’s Al Harthy has produced an excellent debut season in FIA WEC, the globe’s premier endurance racing category, with two podium finishes thus far in the GTE Am class, including a sensational runner-up result on his maiden appearance in the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Currently fifth in the GTE Am points standings ahead of the championship finale in Sakhir, Al Harthy and team-mates Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood are just eight points shy of the coveted top three and 14 points away from second position.
While the competitiveness of Oman Racing’s No 25 Aston Martin Vantage GTE has been hindered to a large extent by the category’s Balance of Performance gradings, which has had a major impact on the squad’s podium challenging potential at recent events, Al Harthy remains hopeful for Bahrain.
The season began all the way back in March at Sebring International Raceway in the USA, Al Harthy marking his FIA WEC bow with an excellent top three performance in qualifying. In the race, the team had to battle back to a ninth place result having sustained an early puncture. For round two in Portimao, Portugal, he qualified fifth and Oman Racing took eighth in the race.
At Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium for round three, though, Al Harthy rewrote the history books, as he has so often in his career, by becoming the first Omani to take a FIA WEC pole position. The squad went on to take its maiden GTE Am podium in the race with third position, more history made.
Continuing the momentum into the blue riband event at Le Mans in France, Al Harthy was second fastest in his first ever ‘Hyperpole’ qualifying session and Oman Racing duly converted that into the runner-up spot in the 100th anniversary 24 Hour race – a stunning, landmark achievement.
Qualifying on the front row for round five at Monza in Italy, a BOP disadvantage for the race meant no higher than seventh could be achieved. Then, during September’s visit to Fuji in Japan, a drying session for qualifying didn’t work in the team’s favour and so a row six start followed. Unfortunately, a major refuelling problem in the race limited the squad to 13th position.
For Bahrain, of course, Al Harthy would dearly like to challenge for a third podium finish of the year and he will be giving his all. The weekend will actually mark his first race in the Middle East since a season-best top four finish in the final event of the 2022 Asian Le Mans Series in Abu Dhabi.
“It really has been a wonderful first season for Oman Racing in FIA WEC, we’ve achieved some amazing results and I have been so proud to represent Oman in the world’s biggest endurance racing championship. While it has been a long season, it actually doesn’t seem all that far in the past we were at Sebring starting out on our maiden season in World Endurance.
“I think everyone at the team can feel incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved so far this year, there have been downs as well as the ups but we’ve always continued to fight and we never, ever give up. We have one race to go and I really do hope we can end the season back on the podium, it would be incredible to end the year in the championship top three. There isn’t long to wait and see," Ahmad al Harthy said.
Opening free practice in Bahrain will take place on November 2, at 12:15 local time with a second session following at 17:30. On November 3, FP3 will begin at 12:00 and qualifying will then start at 16:15. The final race of the FIA WEC season is set for November 4, at 14:00. Follow everything at www.fiawec.com
2023 FIA World Endurance Championship GTE Am Driver Standings:
5. Ahmad al Harthy / Michael Dinan / Charlie Eastwood, 65pts
2023 FIA World Endurance Championship GTE Am Team Standings:
5. Oman Racing with TF Sport, 65pts
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