Aston Martin racer Ahmad Al Harthy will begin this afternoon’s fourth round of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship, the three hour ‘Silverstone 500’ race, from the second row of the grid after a terrific performance in qualifying at the Northamptonshire track.During the all-important run on Saturday, 31st May, the No.4 Oman Racing Team car posted the fourth fastest lap on combined times from the two sessions – one with the Omani at the wheel of the Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 and the other featuring team-mate Michael Caine.The eventual joint time of 4m07.289 seconds placed the Oman Air, Oman Ministry of Tourism, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Nawras, National Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group/Aston Martin Oman backed duo just 0.009 seconds ahead of the BMW Z4 GT3 of Lee Mowle and Joe Osborne.“I’m very happy with our performance in qualifying, we’re in a very good position to start such a long race”, said Ahmad, “There was a lot of traffic but we managed to find a clear lap and we’re all really pleased with fourth fastest. You have to be careful, it’s easy to make a mistake or to get caught-up with other cars, but we’re all feeling very positive for the race.“Starting near the front, we have to make sure we try and capitalise on that and make the most of some clear track if we can. It’s another very long race, and there will be three mandatory pit-stops, so Michael [Caine] and I will be doing two stints each. We need to stay focused, hopefully, it’ll be a good race for the Oman Racing Team.”During the earlier practice sessions on Saturday, the Motorbase Performance-led squad began the event in fine style with the sixth fastest time during the opening 60-minute period, just 0.4 seconds shy of the pace at that point. In session two, important work on race set-up continued and a placing in the top 12 was verification again of the team’s promise.Ahead of today’s three-hour encounter, the Oman Racing Team is fourth in the entrant standings with Ahmad and Caine equal fourth in the drivers’ title race. The British GT season started, of course, back in April with a superb round one victory at Oulton Park and Ahmad is determined to try and make a podium return on the Silverstone Grand Prix layout.“It’d be fantastic to finish on the podium but the main aim is always the championship, so we need to score as many points as we can”, he added, “We’re confident we have a very strong set-up, the team is working well, and if all goes to plan we should be in a good position.”After a brief warm-up later this morning, Sunday, 1st June, round four of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship – the Silverstone 500 – will get underway at 14.15.Provisional 2014 Avon Tyres British GT Championship Driver Standings (after Rd3):4th Ahmad Al Harthy & Michael Caine, 32.5ptsProvisional 2014 Avon Tyres British GT Championship Team Standings (after Rd3):4th Oman Racing Team, 32.5pts