Wednesday 09 / July / 2025
South America is the destination for Ahmad Al Harthy this week when the FIA World Endurance Championship resumes for round five of the season, the Rolex 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, which will take place this coming Sunday, 13th July.
Oman’s Al Harthy, who has been in tremendous form throughout the 2025 campaign along with Team WRT team-mates Valentino Rossi and Kelvin van der Linde, is very much hoping for a boost to the squad’s fortunes in Brazil off the back off a frustrating non-finish in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Well on course to challenge for the LMGT3 class win, a podium at least, during the championship’s biggest race of the year just three weeks ago, a luckless electrical issue forced retirement of the rapid No.46 BMW M4 LMGT3 part way through the twice-round-the-clock French encounter.
Al Harthy, supported by prestigious partners OQ Group, Sohar International, Omantel, Oman LNG, BMW Oman, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth and Experience Oman, is hungrier than ever to be back on the FIA WEC podium and will be working as hard as possible to achieve that aim.
During last year’s visit to Interlagos, the Omani’s maiden trip to the Brazilian venue, he and then team-mates Rossi and Maxime Martin achieved a strong top five result from 12th on the grid, almost snatching fourth – less than a second shy at the chequered flag after six intense hours of action.
As has been a hallmark of Al Harthy’s endurance racing career to-date, his opening stint in last year’s Rolex 6 Hours of Sao Paulo was immensely impressive. Gaining no fewer than six places during the first hour of action, this set the scene for the pleasing result on his Interlagos debut. His second stint was equally strong with fantastic speed, racecraft and overtaking skills on show for all to witness.
This time around, Oman’s number one racing driver is hoping for more still as the team strives to begin the second half of the FIA World Endurance Championship season on the front foot, and climb back up the LMGT3 points table.
Competition, as always in FIA WEC, will be fierce in Brazil with 18 cars entered in LMGT3 alone and a combined grid of 36 entries expected including those from the Hypercar class. Going into the event Al Harthy, Rossi and van der Linde are 12th in the LMGT3 driver standings with a season-best finish of second place from round two at Imola in Italy.
Ahmad Al Harthy:
“I can’t wait to be back in Brazil this week for my second attempt at the Rolex 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, we had a great weekend last year and the top five result from 12th on the grid was a satisfying result on my first ever visit to the track. We’re all determined, every single member of the team, to be in a position to challenge for the podium on Sunday and that will be our focus with our preparation.
“Everyone was obviously very disappointed we had to retire the car at Le Mans, but the strength of the performance we showed before then – the pace, the strategy and our individual performances as well – gave us a lot to take away and be very positive about. We’re aiming to put all we learned and that experience into practice and hit back as strongly as we can in Sao Paolo.”
The first two free practice sessions at Interlagos will take place on Friday, 11th July, with the third session following on Saturday, 12th July, ahead of LMGT3 qualifying at 14.45 Sao Paolo time. The Hyperpole session is immediately after opening qualifying at 15.05 local time.
On Sunday, 13th July, the Rolex 6 Hours of Sao Paolo will get underway at 11.30 local time.
2025 FIA WEC LMGT3 Driver Standings (after Rd4):
1st Riccardo Pera / Ryan Hardwick / Richard Leitz, 81pts
2nd Alessio Rovera / Francois Heriau / Simon Mann, 76pts
3rd Ben Keating / Daniel Juncadella / Jonny Edgar, 60pts
12th Ahmad Al Harthy / Valentino Rossi / Kelvin van der Linde, 21pts
2025 FIA WEC LMGT3 Team Standings (after Rd4):
1st Manthey 1ST Phorm (Porsche 911), 81pts
2nd Vista AF Corse (Ferrari 296), 76pts
3rd TF Sport (Corvette Z06), 60pts
12th Team WRT (BMW M4 LMGT3), 21pts
