Muscat: Oman’s number one racing driver Ahmad Al Harthy delivered an absolutely remarkable qualifying performance on his Intelligent Money British GT Championship return at Snetterton 300 Circuit on Saturday, 7th August, to take an utterly dominant pole position for race one of the weekend.
In control throughout the first of the day’s two qualifying sessions, the Oman Racing star was at one stage almost 1.5 seconds ahead of the competition before ultimately ending the run 0.8 seconds clear with a time of 1m49.237 seconds (97.84mph).
During the race two session, ‘Pro’ team-mate Charlie Eastwood posted the sixth quickest time of 1m48.159 seconds (98.81mph) to ensure the TF Sport-engineered entry has a fantastic chance of two very strong results in the pair of one-hour races at the Norfolk track later today.
“It’s great to be back in the car and obviously great to start the race weekend with P1”, said an elated Al Harthy, “Qualifying went very well for me, the team did an amazing job over the week to make sure we were comfortable in the car and able to perform at a high level.
“The car felt absolutely amazing and I’m really happy to be back at this level straight away, after being away from the car for such a long time – more than five months. I think that’s what’s really driving me and motivating me. I’m really looking forward to having a clean and solid first race, the weather has been fluctuating over the last few days but, either wet or dry, I’ll do the best I can.”
From the outset in testing on Friday, 6th August, the exquisite Omantel and OQ liveried No.97 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 was quick with Eastwood lapping second quickest in session one, Al Harthy fifth fastest in the second run and Eastwood ninth in the final outing. The day’s running was, remember, Al Harthy’s first competitive track time since the end of the Asian Le Mans Series in February.
Continuing their strong preparation, both free practice sessions on Saturday also went very well for the Oman Racing duo. Al Harthy lapped sixth quickest in the opening one-hour period with a time of 1m50.152 seconds (97.03mph). Heavy rain arrived before session two, giving teams a great chance to gather wet-weather data, and Eastwood was fifth with a time of 2m09.882 seconds (82.29mph).
Al Harthy took part in the race one qualifying session, which got underway at around 17.00 local time on a dry track, and on his first flying lap he rocketed to the top of the times – an excellent effort of 1m50.044 seconds.
Instantly setting the fastest first sector of all on his next lap, and then the outright quickest second sector, the Omani extended his advantage with a stunning lap of 1m49.237 seconds which put him an incredible 1.4 seconds clear at the head of the timesheets.
Satisfied he had more than done enough to secure pole position for the first race of the weekend, which he undoubtedly had, Al Harthy backed off and ultimately sealed the top spot on the grid by just under a second.
In the race two session for the ‘Pro’ drivers, which followed immediately afterwards, Eastwood went fifth fastest with a time of 1m48.335 seconds on his first flying lap and then produced a better time of 1m48.159 seconds to move within just three tenths of a second of pole position. In the end he was edged back to sixth in the session, 0.5 seconds shy of the top of the times.
Race one of the weekend at Snetterton 300 Circuit will get underway at 10.40 local time this morning, with race two expected to follow at around 15.45 local time. Live streaming of both one hour encounters will be available online here: https://www.britishgt.com/live
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