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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Al Faisal, Al Wahaibi impress at Porsche Super Cup in Hungary

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MOGYOROD, Hungary: Oman’s Al Faisal al Zubair and Khalid al Wahaibi delivered several impressive lap times in a tight qualifying session for the sixth round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup at the Hungaroring on Saturday afternoon.


Al Zubair of the Lechner Racing Team Middle East had been running as high as third position during the session and eventually qualified in ninth place with a best lap of 1min 47.732sec. The result marked his first top 10 qualifying finish in the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup.


Al Wahaibi moved up and down the lower reaches of the top 20 during the session and was classified in 22nd place with a best run of 1min 49.225sec after changing his set-up towards the end of the qualifying period.


Thomas Preining broke the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup lap record for the Hungarian circuit with a time of 1min 46.786sec to claim his second pole position of the season. Julian Andlauer and Zaid Ashkanani rounded off the top three positions.


Al Zubair said: “We did a really good job. P8 on the first set of tyres and P9 on the second one. With a grid like this we can definitely be very happy. This is my first top 10 in qualifying. It should be a quite steady race.”


Al Wahaibi added: “I think we started off with the wrong set-up. I struggled on the first set of tyres. I told the team I was coming in to make a change and, once we went back to yesterday’s set-up, it was a lot better. I only had five minutes and one flying lap to do it. I think with my lack of experience I am still learning and I need a few more laps. Today could have been quite a lot better. Hopefully we can do well in the race.”


Tom Sharp set the early target time in the qualifying session on the 4.381-km circuit with a lap of 1min 49.395sec but that was soon overhauled by Dylan Pereira’s run of 1min 48.330sec and Mattia Drudi’s 1min 47.960sec tour.


Several drivers received a penalty for exceeding track limits during Friday afternoon’s training session and were only permitted on to the circuit between six and nine minutes into qualifying.


Al Wahaibi opened his account with a 1min 50.021sec to hold 10th position with 18 minutes of the session remaining. Al Zubair then posted a flying run of 1min 48.216sec to storm into third position until he was passed by series leader Michael Ammermuller. Preining went fastest with a 1min 47.400sec and subsequent lap times pushed the Omani duo down to sixth and 18th with 16 minutes to run. Al Wahaibi then improved to 16th with a 1min 49.501sec run.


With 10 minutes to run, Preining led from Monaco and Hockenheim race winner Yelloly and Barcelona winner Ammermuller and Al Zubair and Al Wahaibi were eighth and 21st of the 28 qualifiers.


The top five remained unchanged with five minutes to run and both Al Zubair and Al Wahaibi still occupied eighth and 21st, but Al Zubair was pushed down to ninth by Gustav Malja and Al Wahaibi improved to 18th with a run of 1min 49.225sec.


Kuwait’s Zaid Ashkanani leapt into second place behind Preining and pushed Yelloly down to third place. Julian Andlauer then set a new lap record of 1min 47.105sec to claim provisional pole with a little over a minute remaining. But Preining ran even quicker with a session-winning time of 1min 46.786sec.


Preining held on to claim a second pole position of the season, followed by Andlauer and Ashkanani. Series leader Ammermuller was down in eighth place and Al Zubair and Al Wahaibi qualified in ninth and 22nd.


Thomas Preining won the practice session on Friday afternoon with a lap of 1min 47.358sec during his 16 laps on the circuit. Mattia Drudi and Julian Andlauer were second and third, while Al Zubair and Al Wahaibi slotted into impressive 11th and 15th places with best laps of 1min 48.460sec and 1min 48.966sec, respectively. The sixth round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup gets underway at 11.35hrs on Sunday.


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