Oman’s Al Faisal al Zubair teamed up with Italy’s David Fuminelli to finish sixth (fifth in Pro class) and seventh overall on his return to top flight racing in the two International GT Open races at the Misano World Circuit in Italy.
The Al Manar by Dragon Racing duo qualified fifth and 10th for the two races in the Pro class, finishing race one in a similar position and improving to finish seventh in race two in their Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO run by Dubai-based Dragon Racing.
A last lap victory in race one went to the Elite Motorsport Ferrari duo of Tom Emson and Tom Lebbon and they also topped the standings in race two.
Al Zubair said it was encouraging to return strongly after five months away from the car. “It was good to be back after five months out of the car. I haven’t been away for this long since I started racing. Having only two practice sessions before going into the weekend was definitely not the easiest,” he said.
“We finished P7 on Saturday with a 10-second handicap but, unfortunately, qualified P17 on Sunday. We made it to seventh overall in the end and that was pretty positive for our return to racing,” he added.
The Omani driver said there were positives to take from finishing inside the top 10 in both races, but admitted the team still had work to do before the next round.
“We struggled with the car quite a bit, if we are honest, and need to work hard to find the issues before the next race. My team-mate was great and we had a very positive partnership. It’s a difficult and technical circuit, but we have had podiums here before. We need to figure out what we were lacking from the set-up this weekend,” he said.
Twenty-nine teams competed across the Pro, ProAm and Amateur categories, with Al Manar by Dragon Racing facing nine rivals in the Pro class, including GetSpeed, Team Motopark, AF Corse and ZRS Motorsport.
Al Zubair and Fuminelli began the weekend strongly during Friday’s free practice sessions. They completed 29 laps in the opening session and posted a best time of 1min 34.478sec, placing fifth overall and third among the Pro class runners.
In the second free practice session, the Al Manar by Dragon Racing Ferrari recorded a best lap of 1min 33.839sec, again keeping the pair among the leading Pro entries before Saturday’s qualifying.
Fuminelli handled the first qualifying session and secured fifth in the Pro category with a best lap of 1min 32.229sec. He maintained that position through the early stages of the opening 70-minute race before handing over to Al Zubair after the half-hour mark.
The Omani driver began his stint fourth in the Pro class with less than 29 minutes remaining and eventually brought the Ferrari home sixth overall and fifth in Pro after a yellow flag stoppage.
Al Zubair qualified the car for race two, posting a best lap of 1min 32.898sec to start 10th in the Pro class and 17th on the full grid. Despite high track temperatures, he gained places in the opening laps and moved up to 12th overall before handing over to Fuminelli.
The Italian completed the final stint strongly, holding seventh overall to the finish and giving Al Zubair a confidence-boosting return to GT racing.
The Al Manar by Dragon Racing duo will return to action at the Paul Ricard circuit in France from July 17 to 19.
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