Oman Racing Team trio Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Caine and Stephen Jelley will begin the first race of the Blancpain Endurance Series season at Monza from 11th position in the Pro Cup class after a trouble-free run in qualifying at the Italian track on Saturday, 12th April.Concentrating on obtaining the optimum set-up for the championship opening three hour race, as opposed to out-and-out pace for qualifying, the squad’s Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 will begin round one from the middle of the overall pack in 19th position, out of a total entry of 38 cars.Ahmad – supported this year by Omar Air, Oman Ministry of Tourism, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Nawras, National Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group/Aston Martin Oman – is embarking on his second season in Blancpain and started the weekend superbly with the fourth fastest time in the ‘Bronze Test’ on Friday, 11th April.Fine-tuning the car’s race set-up during Saturday’s free practice and pre-qualifying practice, the plan going into the main qualifying period was to protect the Aston as much as possible and to conserve the car for an undoubtedly competitive and challenging race.British driver Jelley took the last of the all-important final qualifying runs on Saturday afternoon and ended up with a best time of 1m49.018 seconds. The session was red flagged, however, with a couple of minutes remaining on the clock following an excursion for a rival car at the Ascari Chicane.“It’s been good so far and we’re happy to have been the quickest Aston Martin on track during qualifying, that’s the first benchmark really”, explained Ahmad, “We’ve been getting quicker and quicker with every session, but it’s all about the strategy for the race. This is a big weekend for me and the whole team, our first in Blancpain as a full Omani entry.“Monza is a very challenging circuit and we know qualifying pace is a completely different thing to race pace, so we’re happy where we are with everything and looking forward to the race. We don’t want any dramas, a lot can happen in a three hour race, the aim is to stay out of trouble and have a smooth start to the season.”Having posted the grid-determining qualifying time, Stephen Jelley will take the opening stint for round one of the season with Ahmad to contest the middle hour before handing over to Michael Caine who will pilot the Oman Racing Team Aston Martin to the finish.Round one of the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza is scheduled to get underway at 14.45 (local time) this afternoon, Sunday, 13th April. Live television coverage will be screened on Motors TV and streamed online at www.blancpain-gt-series.com/live