MUSCAT: Bronze class drivers Ahmad al Harthi, Calan Williams and Javier Sagrera battled hard to a top five result in round four of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season at the Nürburgring on Sunday, 30th August – the best possible outcome in the three-hour race.
Progressing well from the fifth row of the Bronze grid, the Oman Racing by Century Motorsport trio extracted everything they could from the No.42 BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Equally the result, the squad’s second highest finish of 2026,was a great reward for the entire team which had worked tirelessly throughout practice and qualifying to try and get to the bottom of ongoing technical gremlins.
In qualifying on Sunday morning, Sagrera was the fastest of the team-mates with a best lap time of 1m55.188 seconds in the second of the three grid-determining sessions. On combined times across Q1, Q2 and Q3, the Oman Racing trio secured ninth for the start of the afternoon’s race.
Al Harthi took the opening stint and although having to go slightly wide at Turn One, due to some contact further ahead, the OQ, Omantel, Oman LNG, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth (MoCSY) and BMW Oman supported sportsman was able to soon move up into eighth position.
Minutes later the Omani climbed into seventh and set his sights on continuing his good progress, while at the same time fending off the attentions of the No.91 Porsche. Al Harthi had risen into sixth position before the end of the first hour, when the race’s first Full Course Yellow period was called due to a McLaren stranded in the gravel.
As teams began to serve their first mandatory stops, Al Harthi moved up into fourth before he then headed to pitlane for Oman Racing’s first driver change as the race tipped into its second hour. The No.42 BMW headed back into the race with Williams installed behind the wheel, running in fifth.
Slipping to sixth before the Safety Car was needed after two cars collided, the Australian was then shuffled back into eighth in Bronze after racing had resumed. There was then another intervention when a stricken McLaren at Turn 14 was tagged by another of the marque’s entries. With 70 minutes to run the race fired back into life and Williams looked determined to pounce.
As the field headed towards the end of the lap, two rivals ahead of Williams diced and a third became involved as well. Opening up a great opportunity, the Oman Racing driver read the situation perfectly and sliced past all three cars as they delayed one another. Staying on track as the final pit stops unfolded, Williams momentarily took the class lead before then pitting the BMW on lap 58.
Sagrera climbed into the driving seat of the No.42 with 50 minutes remaining and emerged from pitlane sixth in class. With only half an hour to go, a penalty for a rival squad then meant the Spaniard was able to move up into the top five which he held to the chequered flag. Notably, the team-mates have also climbed back into the top 10 of the Bronze class championship standings.
AHMAD AL HARTHI:
“Honestly, P5 is a very, very strong result for us considering the technical issues we had all week in the build-up to the race. To get such a strong result, at a very tough circuit and in a very competitive race was a very positive end to the weekend. We’re really looking forward to the final round, first figuring out what the gremlins were, and continue pushing. Everyone worked so hard all week, a huge thank you to them and to our incredible sponsors for the wonderful support they give.”
There is now a break of seven weeks in the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup calendar, with the fifth and final race of the season taking place on Saturday, 17th October, at Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal.
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