DESPITE WEATHER-LIMITED  PRACTICE Ahmad Al Harthy heads into qualifying for the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit later this morning, Sunday, 25th May, in very positive mood despite an unpredictable rain-hit practice run yesterday which impacted the pre-race build-up.With both of the scheduled outings on Saturday badly affected by wet weather, the Oman Racing Team and the rest of the 45-car entry had to formulate an alternative approach with quality track time seriously limited.Although worthwhile laps were at a premium, Ahmad managed to get some running in both wet and dry conditions at the wheel of his Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 and was delighted with the set-up work which the Motorbase Performance crew, the squad behind the Oman Racing Team, achieved.“With the rain causing problems we had a smaller window to work in than normal, but I’m glad I managed to get out in the car in the dry as well as the wet – the car felt very good”, commented the 32-year-old, “It’ll be an interesting challenge in qualifying and the race, especially as we don’t fully know what the British weather will do! We’re all feeling very positive though.”Free-practice on Saturday morning was a near-washout with hardly any laps completed by the vast majority of teams. While Ahmad didn’t venture out on track, team-mate Michael Caine steered the Oman Air, Oman Ministry of Tourism, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Nawras, National Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group/Aston Martin Oman-liveried car to the best time of the run.Producing a fastest lap of 2m30.176 seconds, the Briton put the No.44 Aston Martin more than half a second clear in wet conditions. In the pre-qualifying practice during the afternoon, which took place in improved weather, the Oman Racing Team focused on race set-up with Ahmad and third team-mate Stephen Jelley, ending the run with a time of 2m06.256 seconds – 10th in the Pro Cup.“It was very wet in the first session, I didn’t go out but Michael [Caine] did a splendid job to put us on top before it poured down part way through”, added Ahmad, “We’re happy with the work we did with the set-up in the second session, everything went as smoothly as it could have to be honest.“We’ll have to see what happens in qualifying but race pace is always the most important thing and we’re confident we have a good set-up for that. We always enjoy racing at Silverstone, hopefully we can have a strong day and be in with a chance of scoring our first points of the season.”