MOGYORÓD, Hungary: Oman’s Al Faisal al Zubair and Khalid al Wahaibi had mixed fortunes in the sixth round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup at the Hungaroring on Sunday afternoon. Al Zubair of the Lechner Racing Team Middle East qualified in ninth and, after losing two positions on the opening lap, the Omani reached the chequered flag in 12th position behind 11th-placed Mattia Drudi and picked up valuable championship points.
Al Wahaibi started in 22nd position but was involved in a first-turn collision with Philipp Sager that forced the latter to return to the pits with damage under a safety car situation. Al Wahaibi recovered strongly with a damaged car from 26th and moved up four places to complete the race in 22nd.
Twenty-year-old Thomas Preining led from pole position to hold off Julian Andlauer to claim the win. Zaid Ashkanani started third but finished fourth behind Jaap van Lagen, while championship rivals Nick Yelloly and Michael Ammermüller were fifth and sixth.
Al Zubair said: “It was a good race. I finished 12th. I lost two positions at the start after an incident but, after that, I just stuck to my position and I had really good pace. It’s good to be back in the points after a few weekends of bad luck. Now we have a bit of a break, but we will be testing at Spa before the next race.”
Al Wahaibi added: “I had a really good start off the line. It would have been good if we had made it through turn one, but I got hit from behind by another driver, Philipp Sager, who lost control on the straight. I spun and had to turn the car round. By that time I was too far down. I decided to finish the race. That’s why I am here. The more laps I do, the better it is. Despite the damage and the troubles with the car after the crash, I just wanted to bring it home.”
Al Zubair and Al Wahaibi lined up in ninth and 22nd places on the grid for the 14-lap race, where Preining had pole position from Andlauer and Zaid Ashkanani.
Both Al Zubair and Al Wahaibi made poor starts and were down in 11th and 26th places at the end of lap one with the safety car on the track after Philipp Sager missed a braking point at turn one and collided with Al Wahaibi.
Preining continued to lead from Andlauer and Jaap van Lagen. Series leaders Ammermüller and Yelloly held fifth and sixth into lap four, as Al Wahaibi climbed a place to 25th and then moved up to 23rd. Chris Bauer had retired with electronic issues. The top six held station into lap six and Al Zubair and Al Wahaibi were 11th and 23rd, but Al-Zubair ceded a position on the next lap and Preining and Andlauer began to pull clear of their rivals. Al Wahaibi moved ahead of Mark Radcliffe and into 22nd on lap eight.
There were no changes to the running order into lap 12, but Gianmarco Quaresmini was handed a five-second time penalty, as Preining crossed the finishing line ahead of Andlauer and Van Lagen and Al Zubair finished 12th.
Action in the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup continues with the seventh round at Spa in Belgium on August 24-26.
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