Ahmad in top 4 after ‘interesting debut’ in WRT BMW

DOHA: Ahmad al Harthy got his FIA World Endurance Championship season off to a strong start during round one at Losail International Circuit in Qatar on March 2, with a highly competitive top-four finish in LMGT3 alongside team-mates Maxime Martin and Valentino Rossi.

Marking his first race weekend as a Team WRT driver, and racing the new BMW M4 LMGT3 for the first time, the Omani overcame an unfortunate car issue in qualifying – which limited him to a single flying lap – to progress into the top 10 Hyperpole session.

Achieving ninth on the grid for the Qatar Airways Qatar 1812 km, Al Harthy worked his way into the podium placings during an excellent three-hour-plus stint, with Martin and Rossi then sharing the balance of the 10-hour race. Holding third into the final hour, after the last of the pit visits with 45 minutes to go, Martin rejoined in fourth and just missed out on a deserved podium by 12 seconds.

Ahmad Al Harthy:

“It was a very interesting debut race for me in the WRT BMW in the 10 hours here in Qatar. We went with a very challenging strategy, I’ve never done it in my life, to have three hours in the car at the beginning of the race. This was very important to our chances, we knew we had to take a very aggressive strategy to compete against a few of the cars we knew were quicker than us.

“So, starting from P9 and finishing P4 was great. Yes, we battled for a podium for the majority of the race, but fourth in a 10-hour race is great points and I really gelled well with my new team and my team-mates. Everyone drove extremely well, Vale and Maxime pushed, and the team had perfect pit stops and perfect strategy execution. This is what it’s like working with an amazing team and this weekend will make us stronger. We all look forward to the next round and the coming season.

“I’d also like to say how much I appreciated all of the fantastic support we received this weekend, and a special thank you to the Omani Ambassador to Qatar, Sayyid Ammar Abdullah Sultan al Busaidi, who was there with us for the grid walk and also supporting us during the race. I appreciate the support so much, it really does mean a lot.”

EXCELLENT FIGHTBACK

Al Harthy brilliantly overcame the odds in his first FIA WEC qualifying session as a Team WRT driver on March 1. Limited to just one lap in the 12-minute regular qualifying session due to a glitch with the No 46 BMW M4, having pitted twice the Omani rose to the occasion impressively and leaped from the back of the LMGT3 grid with a lap of 1m56.244 seconds (167.8 km/h) to place eighth.

Progressing to the grid-determining Hyperpole top 10 shootout, he was ninth with a time of 1m56.028 seconds (168.1 km/h) and focused on delivering a good opening to the race on Saturday morning where, for the first time in his career, he would have an unbroken three hours in the car.

Al Harthy, supported by prestigious partners OQ, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Omantel, and BMW Oman, produced a strong launch and gained two places in quick succession to move into seventh.

Bottled up behind the No 85 Lamborghini for the next 20 minutes or so, the Omani was edged back to eighth as a queue formed but by the end of the first hour he was up into fourth. Making his first pit stop of the race soon after, Al Harthy rejoined in the same position before slipping to fifth.

Able to work his way into the podium placings with 90 minutes of action elapsed, he pitted for his second stop 20 minutes later and moved back up to third ahead of his next pit visit, with just over two and a half hours of racing complete.

Unfortunately losing some ground thereafter, dropping to eighth as the race reached the three-hour mark, he climbed into sixth before pitting for a fourth time around half an hour later – handing over the No 46 to Rossi.

Running eighth initially, the Italian made fantastic progress to move into the top five with four hours concluded and he remained in that group after his next pit-stop. Martin took over driving duties for his first stint with just under five hours left to go and was similarly impressed, moving back into third spot after the team’s seventh stop in hour seven.

Rossi and Martin shared the final few hours equally and maintained the podium challenge in third place under night skies in Qatar. The 11th and final pit-stop came with just 45 minutes to go, Martin at the wheel of the No 46 and pitting from third. He emerged in fourth where he remained to the flag, a very good start to the FIA WEC season for the Team WRT trio.

Round two of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season, the 6 Hours of Imola in Italy, will take place over the weekend April 20-21. Before then, Al Harthy will be on track at Circuit Paul Ricard in France on March 5 and 6, for the official Prologue test ahead of the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season.