Ahmad eyes Fuji fightback in FIA WEC

• Ahmad al Harthy focused on replicating COTA pace in Japan

• Penultimate event of WEC season to mark Omani’s second visit to Fuji

FUJI: Only a week since Ahmad al Harthy returned home to Oman after a hugely competitive FIA World Endurance Championship outing in the USA, the Sultanate of Oman’s number one racing driver is preparing for more travels as he heads to Fuji Speedway in Japan for round seven of the 2024 season.

The penultimate race of the FIA WEC campaign, the 6 Hours of Fuji, will be contested on September 15, and the Far East track is one where Al Harthy did shine last year on his first ever visit to the venue.

Going into the event sixth in the LMGT3 standings, along with Team WRT team-mates Maxime Martin and Valentino Rossi, Al Harthy is aiming for a trouble-free weekend in Japan after a fantastic showing from the squad in America ended with enforced retirement very late in the race.

Based on performance, pace and consistency during round six at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas just over a week ago, by rights the No 46 BMW M4 trio would have celebrated their second LMGT3 podium of the year — at the very least a top four finish after storming from 15th on the grid.

During the final quarter of an hour though, with Martin at the wheel, power steering failure meant a bitterly disappointing retirement from the ‘Lone Star Le Mans’ after a truly magnificent performance by all three team-mates, one which really did deserve significant reward.

As the Omani’s first season of FIA WEC racing a BMW, his second visit to Fuji will bring another new challenge as his previous experience of the track last year came at the wheel of a different car and so all that was learnt then will require some additional thought.

Having adapted very impressively this year to the BMW M4 LMGT3, and gelling perfectly with the high-profile Team WRT squad and his superstar team-mates, the Omani heads to world-famous Fuji this week aiming to fight as hard as possible for an overdue return to the podium.

Al Harthy’s racing this coming weekend will, as always, be made possible by the outstanding support of prestigious partners OQ, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Omantel, Experience Oman and BMW Oman.

Ahmad al Harthy:

“It’s exciting to be heading back to Fuji for only the second time in my career this weekend, it’s an incredible circuit and I’m really looking forward to going there for the first time with WRT and the BMW M4. It’s a big turnaround for the teams and drivers with it only being just over a week since we left America, but we’re aiming to continue the momentum of the performance we showed at COTA.

“Without the issue with the steering almost near the end of the race it would’ve been a fantastic result, coming from P15 to P4 and being pretty close to the podium. It wasn’t to be, unfortunately, but the hard work and commitment of everyone in the team really did show our capability. It’d be great to challenge for the podium at Fuji, hopefully we’ll be in a position to try and achieve that.”

Opening free practice at Fuji will begin at 11:00 local time on September 13, with the second session following at 15:30. On September 14, third practice starts at 10:20 local time ahead of qualifying, followed by Hyperpole, at 14:20. The big 6 Hours of Fuji race follows on September 15, at 11:00 local time. Follow everything live at www.fiawec.com

FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 Driver Standings (after Rd 6)

1. Aliaksandr Malykhin / Joel Sturm / Klaus Bachler, 118 pts

2. Morris Schuring / Richard Lietz / Yasser Shahin, 90 pts

3. Augusto Farfus / Darren Leung / Sean Gelael, 84 pts

4. Alex Riberas / Daniel Mancinelli / Ian James, 81 pts

5. Alessio Rovera / Francois Heriau / Simon Mann, 50 pts

6. Ahmad Al Harthy / Maxime Martin / Valentino Rossi, 46 pts