SPIELBERG, Austria: Oman’s Al Faisal Al Zubair enjoyed an impressive qualifying session for Sunday’s Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup at the Red Bull Ring, near Spielberg in Austria.
The Lechner Racing Middle East driver qualified for the 16-lap race in 15th position with a fastest lap of 1min 31.832sec.
Australian driver Matt Campbell of the FACH AUTO TECH Team claimed pole position with a fastest lap of 1min 31.049sec to finish 0.188 seconds in front of Mattia Drudi. The Omani’s team-mate and series leader Michael Ammermüller qualified in third place.
“The qualifying was really good and much better than yesterday,” said a delighted FZ Racing’s Al-Faisal. “Yesterday, in training, we were 1.7 seconds off the leading pace and today that is down to just 0.7 seconds. This was only my second ever session on this circuit and to be so close to the top drivers is very encouraging. Tomorrow, hopefully, we can get in the points and score a good result.”
Thirty-two Porsches had taken part in Friday’s training session. Rookie Al Zubair carded a fastest time of 1min 33.244sec during his 22-lap stint. The fastest time of this session was taken by Dylan Periera of Lechner Racing Middle East. Pole winner Campbell was eighth.
The Red Bull Ring offers excellent overtaking opportunities and Al-Zubair will be targeting a place well inside the top 10 on his first race at the esteemed Austrian circuit.
The Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup race take centre stage on the 4.236km race circuit at 11.30hrs on Sunday.
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