Le Mans: Sensational driving, an excellent strategy and great pace in both dry and wet conditions weren’t enough for Ahmad al Harthy, Maxime Martin and Valentino Rossi to realise their dream of LMGT3 victory in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans – a luckless excursion in the wet leading to retirement on Sunday, 16th June.
As the twice-round-the-clock race at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France neared the end of its ninth hour, at around 00.45hrs on the Sunday morning, Omani racer Al Harthy – producing an impressive performance on slick Goodyear tyres on a wet track – unfortunately came to grief at the Dunlop Chicane.
Losing grip on a tricky wet patch, the No.46 BMW M4 pitched off the circuit and into the gravel, the front-left of the car making contact with the barriers on the outside. With the car beached in the gravel trap, retirement was all-but instantaneous as a dejected Al Harthy radioed to the team.
The disappointment for Al Harthy and team-mates Martin and Rossi was heightened as the performance of all three Team WRT drivers had been exceptional from the moment the lights went out at 16.00 local time on Saturday, in round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Martin, who had to settle for 12th fastest in qualifying after being baulked on his best lap by one of the Hypercar class entries, began the race in the No.46 and maintained position initially before starting to move up the LMGT3 order. At the end of the opening hour he held eighth place and as the race entered hour three the squad held fifth, with Al Harthy at the wheel for his first race miles of the event.
The Omani, supported by key partners OQ, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Omantel and BMW Oman, soon broke into the LMGT3 podium placings and at the end of hour three Al Harthy was second in class and driving faultlessly. Midway through the fourth hour he took the lead of LMGT3 and following a Full Course yellow period the Omani continued to head the way.
Next it was the turn of MotoGP legend Rossi to get behind the wheel of the BMW for the first time in the race and he maintained the class lead as evening became night with a superb drive, much to the delight of the hundreds of thousands of spectators. Al Harthy was back in the car in hour eight and under Safety Car conditions he held second position.
With rain starting to lash down at Le Mans, but with certain parts of the lengthy 13.6-kilometre track very wet and others drier in the unseasonably cold conditions, the teams and drivers were placed into a great quandary over whether to try and stay on slick tyres or switch to wet-weather rubber.
Running just outside the podium placings as the race passed midnight local time, the decision was made for Al Harthy to remain on slicks and he expertly kept the BMW at a competitive pace. While initially losing ground to those electing to stop for wets, if the Omani could mitigate the time difference on his slick rubber, as the track started to dry he would be in the perfect position to move back through.
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