MONZA: Fresh from last weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship outing at Fuji in Japan, Ahmad al Harthy continues his 2024 motorsport season apace this week as the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup resumes with a visit to legendary Italian track Monza.
Reuniting with his OQ by Oman Racing team-mates Sam De Haan and Jens Klingmann for the penultimate three-hour race of the GTWCE Endurance Cup campaign, Oman’s Al Harthy is hoping the trio can deliver a season-best showing at Monza over the weekend, September 21 and 22.
Last time out in GTWCE, at the end of July, Al Harthy, De Haan and Klingmann combined to deliver a seventh place result in the Bronze class in the No 30 BMW M4 GT3 after a solid performance from 13th on the grid at Germany’s Nurburgring.
Marking the squad’s second points-scoring result of the year in the Endurance Cup, from three races contested, OQ by Oman Racing did challenge for the podium during the early running before having to settle for seventh.
The team’s best finish of the campaign thus far came during the first race of the season at Circuit Paul Ricard in France, a top six finish in Bronze the reward after a fightback from a mid-race track limits penalty for De Haan.
Enforced retirement from round two at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, the world-renowned Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa, did severely impact the points tally of Al Harthy, De Haan and Klingmann and the team-mates will arrive in Italy 15th in the Bronze class standings.
While expecting entries from the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren to be incredibly fast at Monza, OQ, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Omantel, Experience Oman and BMW Oman supported driver Al Harthy is nonetheless determined to try and deliver the team’s highest points finish of the GTWCE Endurance Cup season.
Ahmad al Harthy:
“Monza is such an amazing track, with so much history, and I always love racing there. We know it will be an incredibly competitive field and, for sure, we will have our work cut-out at the weekend to try and compete against the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini. It’s been a season of ups and downs in GT World Challenge, but we’re all very determined to push for as many points as we can.
“There has been a lot of racing for me in recent weeks and a huge amount of travel as well, with two races in FIA World Endurance in America and Japan, so it’s good to be back in Europe and to see if we can deliver a strong result for everyone at OQ by Oman Racing and all of our amazing partners.”
Following the Bronze class test on Friday, 20th September, a 90-minute free practice will take place at 09.00 local time on September 21, ahead of pre-qualifying at 14.10. Final qualifying will take place at 09.00 local time on September 22, with the race itself scheduled to begin at 15.30. Watch live at https://www.gt-world-challenge-europe.com/watch-live
2024 GTWCE Endurance Cup Bronze Class Standings (after Rd3)
1. Jef Machiels / Louis Machiels / Andrea Bertolini, 57 pts
2. Jonathan Hui / Eddie Cheever / Chris Froggatt, 53 pts
3. Tommaso Mosca, 39 pts
4. Alexey Nesov / Dylan Pereira / Max Hofer / Andrey Mukovoz, 38 pts
5. Kobe Pauwels / Job Van Uitert / John De Wilde, 34 pts
6. Lilou Wadoux, 31 pts
15. Ahmad al Harthy / Sam De Haan / Jens Klingmann, 15 pts
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