Saturday 21 / September / 2024
Muscat: Blancpain Endurance Cup racer Ahmad Al Harthy celebrated an absolute “dream result” during a highly entertaining second round of the season at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit in the UK on Sunday, with the Oman Racing Team (ORT) powered by Motorbase securing its maiden Pro-Am podium.
Finishing the challenging three-hour encounter in second position, after a monumental top three Pro-Am battle during the closing stages which almost delivered a remarkable victory, the Aston Martin Middle East and North Africa ambassador and teammates Jonny Adam and Devon Modell have climbed into second in the Pro-Am championship – just three points shy of the lead.
“What a dream result,” said the ecstatic Omani. “It was an incredible race, three hours of very hard work for the whole team. There was some drama at the end, it was an exciting finish to the race, and we got our first Pro-Am podium. It’s a proud, proud moment for the Oman Racing Team.
“It’s such an incredible result for all of my sponsors, it was so good to welcome so many guests and friends to Silverstone this weekend and we had one of our biggest crowds here too – absolutely amazing at, what is, our adopted home circuit!”
In contrast to the elation of the round two results, Sunday’s track action couldn’t have started in a more frustrating fashion for the Oman Racing Team when a failed wheel nut resulted in one of the rear wheels detaching from the No.44 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 in the first qualifying session.
Fortunately, the car was recovered to the pits and it was able to take part in the second and third sessions with Adam delivering a superb performance in the latter to secure third in Pro-Am and 10th overall on the 52 car grid.
Modell took the opening stint of the race at the wheel of the Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Oman Air, National Bank of Oman (NBO), Barr Al Jissah and Omantel-liveried Aston and although edged back to 18th place overall on the opening lap he retained third in Pro-Am.
With 58 minutes of racing elapsed, Modell pitted from third in class and 16th overall to hand the car over to Ahmad and after the first round of driver changes the Muscat racer held fifth in Pro-Am and 23rd place overall.
Racing strongly, Ahmad soon climbed into the top four in class and immediately set about trying to take third place. Closing up rapidly behind the target Mercedes, he swept past to reclaim third in class and immediately pulled clear.
Then, with around 100 minutes of racing still to go, a Full Course Yellow period was declared due to some debris on track. When the action got back underway at full speed, Ahmad closed down the gap of more than three seconds to the second placed Pro-Am car before pitting from 12th overall and third in Pro-Am with just over an hour to run.
Handing the car over to Adam, the Scotsman held fourth in Pro-Am and 21st overall when the race order settled after the final set of pit-stops and he set about breaking back into the podium places which he duly did – climbing into second place in Pro-Am.
With 40 minutes left on the clock the Safety Car was deployed and at the re-start, 20 minutes later, Adam started to reel in the Pro-Am leader. Lapping much faster, the Oman Racing Team driver closed in but he too started to come under pressure from the Mercedes of Maro Engel.
During the final 10 minutes, an immense battle raged among the lead three Pro-Am contenders but Adam also had the concern of developing fuel pressure and power steering issues. With just three minutes left on the clock, the trio ran three abreast at Aintree but emerged in the same order and then, on the penultimate lap, Engel got ahead of Adam into Brooklands.
Back in third place, Adam wasn’t done and when Engel passed the No.74 ISR Audi for the class lead on the final tour the Oman Racing Team driver followed the Mercedes through to grab second place, a magnificent result.
“With all of the slight issues we had in the last 10 minutes – power steering, fuel pressure and other things that were coming through to us in the pits – we all held our breath!”, said Ahmad. “Jonny was still fighting for the lead, but defending second place too, and it was a fantastic race. To come through such a challenging race with our first podium in Pro-Am really is something very special.”
Paul Ricard HTTT in southern France will host round three of the Blancpain Endurance Cup season on June 24 and 25.
Blancpain Endurance Cup Rd2 Silverstone GP result: 1. HTP Motorsport – Mercedes AMG (Dominik Baumann/Jazeman Jaafar/Maximilian Buhk); 2. Belgian Audi Club Team WRT – Audi R8 (Dries Vanthoor/Frederic Vervisch/Laurens Vanthoor); 3. GRT Grasser Racing Team – Lamborghini Huracan (Rolf Ineichen/Jeroen Bleekemolen/Mirko Bortolotti); 18. Oman Racing Team – Aston Martin V12 Vantage (Ahmad Al Harthy/Jonny Adam/Devon Modell)
Blancpain Endurance Cup Rd2 Silverstone GP Pro-Am Cup result: 1. Black Falcon – Mercedes AMG (Oliver Morley/Miguel Toril/Maro Engel); 2. Oman Racing Team – Aston Martin V12 Vantage (Ahmad Al Harthy/Jonny Adam/Devon Modell); 3. ISR- Audi R8 (Henry Hassid/Philippe Giauque/Franck Perera).
2016 Blancpain Endurance Cup Pro-Am Driver standings (after Rd2): 2. Ahmad Al Harthy/Jonny Adam/Devon Modell, 30 pts.
2016 Blancpain Endurance Cup Pro-Am Team standings (after Rd2): 2. Oman Racing Team powered by Motorbase, 30 pts.
