Al Faisal all set for title defence

DUBAI: Oman’s Al Faisal al Zubair begins the defence of his Porsche BWT GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East at the Dubai Autodrome this weekend.

These are the first two races in a 16-event series that culminates with the official support race to the 2019 Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir on March 29-31, 2019. Six race meetings (16 races) are in the calendar in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain and the Lechner Racing Middle East driver will leave nothing to chance in his bid to retain the title he won with a race to spare in Bahrain at the start of April.

Al Zubair who became the first Omani and the fourth Arab driver to win the title, said: “I am looking forward to racing again in the Middle East Championship. It was a great season last year. I am looking to come back even stronger. We will be doing two days of testing and then straight into the weekend. I am excited. Hopefully we can come out of the round on top.” Khaled al Wahaibi tackled rounds of the series last season and the young Omani is also focusing on improving and continuing to move through the ranks. A fine fourth place in the last of the races in Bahrain in the spring was sufficient for the youngster to confirm both the Rookie Championship and the Silver category in his first full season.

“The first round of the championship is next weekend and I am unbelievably excited to start the new season,” said al Wahaibi.

“Obviously it’s my second season. Last year went quite well. If we look at it as my debut season winning both championships, but I do think we could have done a bit better and hopefully I can show it this year. I had a few issues last year that we have dealt with. I haven’t been in the car since Spa, which was around three months ago, so I can’t wait to get back and start driving again.” Action at the opening round of the prestigious 10th running of the Porsche BWT GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East gets underway with official testing on the 5.39km circuit in Dubai on Wednesday and Thursday (November 14-15). Official practice, race qualifying and the races follow on Friday and Saturday.