AUSTIN, United States: Remarkable driving and tremendous tenacity from Ahmad al Harthy, Valentino Rossi and Maxime Martin in the ‘Lone Star Le Mans’ six-hour race in Austin, Texas, on September 1, almost delivered a dream podium return – until hopes were shattered with just 15 minutes to run.
Omani racer Al Harthy, making his maiden visit to the Circuit of the Americas in the USA, relished the new challenge in round six of the FIA World Endurance Championship season and, along with his No 46 BMW M4 team-mates, produced an incredible series of performances on raceday.
Storming through from an uncharacteristic 15th on the LMGT3 grid, excellent pace and racecraft from the trio and superb strategy and pit-work from Team WRT ensured a possible podium finish was on the cards – certainly a top four result. With Martin at the wheel during the final stint, the deserved points haul looked assured but he was forced into retirement with power steering failure.
After a positive first couple of free practice sessions at the Austin track on August 30, the No 46 entry lapping within 0.6 seconds of the top of the LMGT3 times in the day’s second outing, Al Harthy felt decidedly under the weather on August 31, and so qualifying proved to be an even sterner test than would normally be the case.
Even so, the Omani did his absolute best in the circumstances and was initially within the top 10 spots for possible progression into Hyperpole. Before the end of the 12-minute session, though, the Team WRT BMW slipped to 15th on the times and so had the challenge of starting on row eight.
Al Harthy took the beginning of Sunday’s ‘Lone Star Le Mans’ and the OQ, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Omantel, Experience Oman and BMW Oman partnered driver immediately made excellent progress, leaping into the top 12 and then moving into 11th place mid-lap.
Continuing to pick up his pace, on the third tour he passed the sister No 31 Team WRT car to break into the top 10. Pulling away and instantly pressuring the cars ahead, half an hour into the stint he claimed ninth. Motoring further away, but with over three seconds to make up to the next couple of cars, Al Harthy reduced the gap in no time but the battle then plateaued.
At the 50-minute mark, the No 777 Aston Martin pitted and so Al Harthy climbed into eighth as a result. This precipitated most of the other LMGT3 runners pitting, but the Omani stayed out and moved into the top three. He then pitted on lap 26, just ahead of the end of the first hour, with Martin taking over and joining the action in fifth position.
Taking fourth place on lap 35, Martin decimated the 10 second gap to the podium placings and 40 minutes into his stint he successfully challenged for third position. Instantly on the tail of the second placed No 85 Lamborghini Huracan, Martin swept past on lap 50.
With one hour and 45 minutes of the race elapsed, the Belgian driver was just 1.5 seconds shy of the LMGT3 leading No 27 Aston Martin and he closed the gap in the blink of an eye before the Aston pitted. Martin then headed into pitlane a lap later from the LMGT3 lead.
Al Harthy returned to the driving seat for his second stint and threaded back into the race just before the end of the second hour in P2. Slipping back a couple of spots during the early going of hour three, passed by Gold and Silver graded drivers, Bronze graded competitor Ahmad pressed on.
Running in fifth position a third of the way through the stint, the Omani soon moved back into fourth when the No 85 Lamborghini had to pit with damage. With debris on the track, a Full Course Yellow cautionary period was duly called with racing resuming just a few minutes later. Al Harthy pitted from fourth nearing the halfway point of the race, handing over the BMW to Rossi for his first miles.
Holding seventh place initially, when the full race order settled after the third round of stops Rossi had risen to fifth. As the encounter hit the three hour mark, the MotoGP legend swarmed all over the back of the fourth placed McLaren – having rocketed up to the No 59 car – and he remained squarely in the fight for a dream podium, later moving into the top four with some great driving.
After Rossi completed his two-hour stint, Martin returned to the driving seat for the run to the finish as a tremendous fourth place result looked assured. But with only 15 minutes remaining, the power steering on the No 46 failed – robbing Martin, Rossi and Al Harthy of a thoroughly deserved result.
Ahmad al Harthy:
“We had every emotion this weekend here in Texas! Vale and Maxime drove so unbelievably well in the race, and I was really happy with my pace and performance – especially the first stint to get us through the order after such a tough qualifying. The guys at Team WRT gave us a fantastic car and the strategy was perfect, an incredible performance to come through from P15 to P4.
“In the end it wasn’t to be, unfortunately, with the power steering issue. After so much hard work it does feel a cruel blow, but we’re proud of the performance we all delivered and it makes us even more determined and focused for Fuji in a couple of weeks. Thank you, as always, to my amazing partners and for all the incredible support this weekend on my first visit to COTA.”
Round seven of the FIA World Endurance Championship season, the 6 Hours of Fuji, will take place at the world-famous venue in Japan over the weekend on September 14 and 15.
Lone Star Le Mans 6hr Race LMGT3 Result:
1. Alex Riberas/Daniel Mancinelli/Ian James (Heart of Racing/Aston Martin)
2. Aliaksandr Malykhin/Joel Sturm/Klaus Bachler (Manthey PureRxcing/Porsche)
3. Morris Schuring/Richard Lietz/Yasser Shahin (Manthey EMA/Porsche)
4. Gregoire Saucy/Nicolas Costa/James Cottingham (United Autosports/McLaren)
5. Augusto Farfus/Darren Leung/Sean Gelael (Team WRT/BMW M4)
DNF Ahmad al Harthy/Maxime Martin/Valentino Rossi (Team WRT/BMW M4)
Provisional FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 Standings (after Rd6)
1. Aliaksandr Malykhin/Joel Sturm/Klaus Bachler, 118 pts
2. Morris Schuring/Richard Lietz/Yasser Shahin, 90 pts
3. Augusto Farfus/Darren Leung/Sean Gelael, 84 pts
4. Alex Riberas/Daniel Mancinelli/Ian James, 81 pts
5. Alessio Rovera/Francois Heriau/Simon Mann, 50 pts
6. Ahmad al Harthy/Maxime Martin/Valentino Rossi, 46 pts
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
