Ahmad Al Harthy is absolutely relishing the prospect of contesting his second three-hour endurance race at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit in as many weekends this Sunday, 31st May, when round four of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship takes place.
Just a few days removed from the most recent outing for the Blancpain Endurance Series at the home of British motorsport, the 33-year-old and his Oman Racing Team will once again be taking to the 3.66-mile track this weekend for the longest race of the British GT season – the Silverstone 500.
Heading into round four of the campaign fifth in the championship standings, largely thanks to a fantastic second place finish during the previous event at Rockingham earlier this month, Ahmad and team-mate Daniel Lloyd are determined to get their hands on more silverware a few days from now.
Last Sunday’s Blancpain outing at Silverstone, where Ahmad and Lloyd were partnered by British GT rival Jonny Adam, certainly provided the team with a perfect opportunity to gain vital experience with its Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 and the knowledge gained could prove crucial this weekend.
As ever, the Oman Air, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Ooredoo, National Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group-backed squad will be giving its all to try and make further progress up the points table and solidify its 2015 title challenge – especially having won the corresponding event last year.
“It’s great to be in action at Silverstone again so soon after the Blancpain race”, said Ahmad, “I’m really looking forward to being back in the car and with the memories of the Rockingham podium in British GT still fresh in our minds, we are all hungry for more of the same at the weekend.
“Obviously, last season’s win was incredible – one of the highlights of the year for us – so we want to try and repeat that if we can. Our pace in Blancpain last weekend was strong, things didn’t work out for us in the end with the result but the level of performance was good. The car is working well, the team is doing an incredible job as always and we know we have a great chance this Sunday.”
Aston Martin Middle East and North Africa ambassador Ahmad certainly has a strong record at Silverstone in British GT and the 2014 victory, which he secured along with then team-mate Michael Caine, came with an outstanding winning margin of almost one minute.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s action, free practice will take place on Saturday, 30th May, with qualifying beginning at 15.35 (UK time). On Sunday, 31st May, after a brief 10-minute morning warm-up the fourth round of the British GT season – which will be screened live on Motors TV – will get underway at 12.20 (UK time).
Provisional 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship GT3 Driver Standings: 5th Ahmad Al Harthy/Daniel Lloyd, 28pts
Provisional 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship GT3 Silver Cup: 1st Ahmad Al Harthy/Daniel Lloyd, 40.25pts
Provisional 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship GT3 Team Standings: 1st Oman Racing Team, 99.5pts
