Jeddah: Headline-grabbing OQ by Oman Racing team-mates Ahmad Al Harthy, Sam De Haan and Jens Klingmann will arrive in Saudi Arabia this week for the final race of the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup – the 6 Hours of Jeddah. Oman’s Al Harthy, who concluded his dovetailed FIA World Endurance Championship campaign with Team WRT at the beginning of the month in Bahrain, will be looking to wrap-up the GTWCE season with a big result this coming Saturday, 30th November, during GTWCE’s maiden visit to Saudi Arabia.
Of course, Al Harthy, De Haan and Klingmann stole all of the headlines last time out in GTWCE at Monza in Italy in late September, when the trio became the first ever Bronze class entry, and notably the first non-Pro class driver line-up, to take an outright victory in GTWCE Endurance Cup.
More history was made at the ultra-fast Italian track with WRT, the team which engineers the OQ by Oman Racing entry, as the sensational win marked the team’s first with BMW – 2024 is Al Harthy’s maiden season driving the German marque.
Oman’s number one racer, who is proudly supported by OQ, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Omantel, Experience Oman and BMW Oman, acknowledges Jeddah’s street circuit will be a different challenge to that experienced at Monza, but is still heartily buoyed by the heroics in Italy.
Such was the magnitude of the outright victory during round four in the striking No.30 BMW M4, the OQ by Oman Racing team-mates rocketed from 15th in the Bronze standings into the top four of the class championship.
Going into the fifth and final race of the 2024 GTWCE Endurance Cup, Al Harthy, De Haan and Klingmann are just 13 points adrift of the Bronze top three and within 25 points – the award for taking a Bronze class win – of the current championship leaders.
Jeddah Corniche Circuit is, of course, the home of the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. As the longest and quickest street circuit in world motorsport, 6.17 kilometers and with no fewer than 27 turns, the venue was constructed and opened in 2021.
Ahmad Al Harthy:
“Jeddah is an amazing circuit, it’s going to be incredible racing there for the first time and especially off the back of our history-making victory at Monza – none of us predicted or expected that no matter how well we all performed. Like Monza, Jeddah is incredibly fast but the similarities end there really so we know it will be an entirely different challenge.
“We have such a huge grid in GTWCE Endurance Cup, so with so many cars on the street circuit the action will be even tighter and more action-packed than ever. There will be so much to consider and work on for the engineers and the teams, the WRT guys did such an incredible job at Monza – and have done all season – so we’re all really looking forward to the final round.
“From a personal perspective, it’s fantastic to be ending my racing year so close to home in the Middle East and I’m looking forward to welcoming our partners, friends and family from Oman and hoping we can proudly fly the flag once more on the GTWCE podium.”
Two test sessions and a further exclusive Bronze class session will take place at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Thursday, 28th November, with final free practice scheduled for 15.30 local time on Friday, 29th November, ahead of pre-qualifying at 20.15.
On Saturday, 30th November, the grid-determining final qualifying session – which will be contested across three periods – is set to begin at 11.45 local time with the 6 Hours of Jeddah race beginning at 17.00. Follow live HERE
2024 GTWCE Endurance Cup Bronze Class Standings (after Rd4)
1st Jonathan Hui / Chris Frogatt / Eddie Cheever, 65pts
2nd Jef Machiels / Louis Machiels / Andrea Bertolini, 57pts
3rd Max Hofer / Andrey Mukovoz, 53pts
4th Ahmad Al Harthy / Sam De Haan / Jens Klingmann, 40pts
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