Leader of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship Pro-Am 1 title race Ahmad Al Harthy continued his tremendous 2012 form during qualifying at Knockhill in Scotland on Saturday, 25th August, after securing front row starts for rounds 13 and 14 of the season.
As ever, the Oman Air Racing Team driver was incredibly committed and ultra-consistent during the grid-determining session at the 1.27-mile track and managed to claim his 10th Pro-Am 1 pole position of the year with his second best time of 51.515 seconds (88.84mph).
Having enjoyed a very competitive run on his first set of tyres, all looked good for the 30-year-old to secure pole for both races but a torrential downpour before he headed out on track for his second attempt prevented any improvement.
Class rival Derek Pierce was more fortunate and was able to benefit from a run on his second set of Michelins before the rain felltherefore meaning Ahmad was pipped to the round 13 Pro-Am 1 pole by a mere 0.056 seconds; the Omanis best time overall being a lap of 51.384 seconds (89.06mph).
Even so, the Oman Air, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Oman Ministry of Tourism, Nawras, National Bank of Oman and Muscat Eye Laser Centre-supported racer goes into todays action confident of challenging for both class victorieshoping to add to the seven wins already accrued in 2012.
I am a bit disappointed the weather didnt play to our favour, he commented, We definitely had the pace for both pole positions, weve had the pace over our rivals all weekend, but second and first on the grid for the two races is good.
We had a good run on the first set of tyres, we just waited a bit too long to go out for our second run and then it poured down. [Derek] Pierce was able to get another run in before then but second for us isnt a bad position to start race one. The weather was quite incredible really, it was warm and sunny and then five minutes later it was like a sea out there!
Round 13 of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship will get underway at 10.45 this morning, Sunday, 26th August, with round 14 scheduled to follow at 15.30the second of the weekends races will be screened live in the UK on ITV4, in High Definition on ITV4 HD and with the addition of live streaming at www.itv.com/btcc
2012 Porsche Carrera Cup GB ChampionshipPro-Am1 Driver Standings (after Rd12):1st Ahmad Al Harthy, 105pts
