Avon Tyres British GT Championship title contender Ahmad Al Harthy delivered an impressive performance during a rain-affected fourth round of the season at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday, 31st May, to help secure the Oman Racing Team a highly competitive top four finish.
Only just missing out on a podium result in the three-hour Silverstone 500 after a late Safety Car intervention, the 33-year-old and team-mate Daniel Lloyd consolidated fifth in the driver standings and have also increased their lead in the ‘Silver Cup’ classification.
“I was really happy with the way we raced, we’ve improved a lot and we were so close to a podium finish this weekend”, said Ahmad, “The Safety Car late on just bunched everyone up and we didn’t have the pace at that point to hold on to third place unfortunately. Fourth position, though, gives us good points for the championship and very good points for the team as well.”
Competing at Silverstone for the second weekend in succession, having contested the Blancpain Endurance Series encounter seven days earlier, the pairing went into the latest British GT round in confident mood after qualifying fifth fastest for the race.
Rainfall ahead of raceday left the track surface very slippery for morning warm-up but Ahmad, as he has so many times, confirmed his prowess in the wet after heading the times by 0.5 seconds in the No.2 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.
Taking the first stint of the race, the Oman Air, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Ooredoo, National Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group-supported driver made a superb getaway at the rolling start and after moving into fourth out of Copse he then moved into third at Becketts.
Running close behind reigning champion Marco Attard, Ahmad made short work of the BMW on lap two with a stunning move around the outside at Stowe to take second place and he then set his sights on the race-leading McLaren.
The Safety Car was called into action for the first time on lap 14 and so Ahmad took the opportunity to pit for the first driver change while the action fell under caution. Lloyd rejoined in sixth as the Safety Car continued to circulate and with others also electing to make early stops, he was elevated into third.
With just under an hour having elapsed, and with the race still under caution, Lloyd revisited the pits for Ahmad to get back into the car for his second stint – this time fitting slick tyres as the drying line became more prevalent. The action finally resumed on lap 22 with the Oman Racing Team car in 10th position after its second stop and Ahmad immediately started to close on Attard ahead.
Serving up a near carbon-copy repeat of his earlier pass at Stowe on the outside line, the Omani expertly moved into ninth and proceeded to work his way through into the top four as the race reached mid-distance. Climbing into third place soon after, he then grabbed second position from Jon Minshaw’s BMW at Club on lap 41 as a podium finish looked very much on the cards.
Pitting for the final time with little over an hour to run, Lloyd returned to the driving seat and after rejoining the race in seventh he moved up the order into the top four as other front-runners made their last pit visits. Running within 10 seconds of the podium on lap 59, Lloyd then made it into the top three when race leader Mark Farmer crashed exiting Club.
Triggering the reappearance of the Safety Car with just over half an hour remaining on the clock, the bunching up of the pack worked against Lloyd and after the re-start on lap 65, with 20 minutes to go, he started to be closed down by Alexander Sims in the Attard BMW. Doing his utmost to keep the faster Sims at bay, Lloyd was powerless to prevent a slip back to fourth – still an excellent result.
“The team did an incredible job with the car again this weekend and with the strategy too”, said Ahmad, “The car was good on the wet tyres, trying to keep them cool was key as the track dried, and then it was a case of the opposite when we switched to slicks – trying to keep the temperature up.
“The car was very well set-up for both conditions and I was very happy with my pace overall, in the wet the pace was amazing and I really enjoyed it. Going into the next round at Spa we’re feeling very positive as we’ve been competitive again this weekend, we’re really looking forward to that.”
There is now a six week break in the British GT calendar with round five of the season, a two-hour race, taking place on Saturday, 11th July, at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. Before then, Ahmad – the official ambassador for Aston Martin Middle East and North Africa – will be back in action in the Blancpain Endurance Series on Saturday, 20th June, at Paul Ricard in France.
Provisional 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship GT3 Driver Standings:5th Ahmad Al Harthy/Daniel Lloyd, 46pts
Provisional 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship GT3 Silver Cup:1st Ahmad Al Harthy/Daniel Lloyd, 59pts
Provisional 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship GT3 Team Standings:1st Oman Racing Team, 129.5pts
