Ahmad Al Harthy got his 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship campaign off to a tremendous start at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, Saturday, 2nd April, by taking the Pro-Am 1 runner-up spot during the opening race of the season.
At the wheel of his Oman Air Racing Team entered Porsche 911 GT3, the 29-year-old started as he meant to go on with a near perfect getaway at the beginning of the 34-lap encounter. Rising from fourth in Pro-Am1 to second by the time he rounded the first corner, Paddock Hill Bend, he wasted no time in seizing the lead on the run up to Druids Hairpin. Leading Pro-Am 1 well for the first five laps, at the start of the sixth tour of the short but challenging 1.2-mile track the Omani slipped back to second place following a bold move into the first corner by Scottish racer Rory Butcher. Sticking with the new class leader for several laps, Ahmad unfortunately began to lose ground when the front-runners started to negotiate slower traffic as the race neared mid-distance.
At the same time coming under increasing pressure from Pro-Am 1 pole position qualifier Jonas Gelzinis, Ahmad drove faultlessly in his defence of second place and held on all the way to the flag. Such is the competitiveness at the front in Pro-Am1, the top three all produced best lap times in the 47.1 second bracket - Ahmad missing out on the fastest lap by a mere five 100ths of a second.
"Qualifying didn't go as planned, but we knew fourth place was a solid place to start from, and then our race pace worked out perfectly", said Ahmad, "I had such a strong start I was leading Pro-Am 1 by turn two and then we kept our pace well. I had to be sensible and give the position away at the start of lap six though otherwise (Rory) Butcher and I would probably have made contact.
"Then I had a lot of pressure behind from (Jonas) Gelzinis but I managed to push the gap later on, I was very pleased with my race pace. I have to say a big thank you to all of my sponsors for getting us here - Oman Air, Nawras, National Bank of Oman, Brand Oman and the Ministry of Sports Affairs and Ministry of Tourism. This is a fantastic start to the season for all of us."
Round two of the 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship will take place at 13.15, Sunday, 3rd April, and will be screened live across the UK on Freeview, digital satellite and cable channel ITV4 and also in High Definition on the ITV4 HD channel. Footage will also be streamed live online at itv.com/touringcars. Ahmad will once again start from fourth on the grid in Pro-Am 1.
