Mere days after the most challenging race of his motor racing season, Ahmad Al Harthy swiftly returns to competitive action this coming weekend, 1st/2nd August, with round six of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship taking place at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in the UK.
Having poured an immense amount of effort into last weekend’s Total 24 Hours of Spa, the blue riband event of the Blancpain Endurance Series, the Aston Martin Middle East and North Africa ambassador has had little time to rest and recuperate before resuming his British GT campaign at the famous Kent venue.
Likewise, the Oman Racing Team – which is run by Motorbase Performance, for whom Brands Hatch is its local venue just 10 minutes up the road from the team premises – has had a very busy few days on its return from Spa in Belgium to fettle and re-prep the squad’s Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.
Going into the latest two-hour British GT race, which will be screened live on Motors TV on Sunday afternoon, Ahmad and team-mate Daniel Lloyd are fifth in the main championship standings but also lead the Silver Cup classification with a healthy 28.5 point cushion. Additionally, the Oman Racing team, which fields two Aston Martins in the category, heads the team championship.
“It’s been an incredibly busy few weeks for us, first the Spa British GT race, then last weekend’s 24 Hour race and now we’re heading to Brands Hatch – there hasn’t been a lot of time to relax in between but we’re all really looking forward to this weekend”, said Ahmad.
“We’re very determined to get back towards the podium and, as we’ve gone very well at Brands in the past, we’re feeling quite confident. It’ll be tough, as it always is in British GT, but we’ll be bringing the experience we gained from the 24 Hours where the team ran extremely competitively. We need some big points on Sunday and that’s our aim.”
So far in 2015, Ahmad and Lloyd have a best result of second place from round three of the season at Rockingham but an unfortunate retirement from race two at Oulton Park in April and a pit-stop mishap during round five at Spa in Belgium have had an impact on their championship hopes.
Round six, therefore, could have a pivotal bearing on the season for the Oman Air, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Ooredoo, National Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group-backed team and Ahmad fully acknowledges the importance of the Brands Hatch weekend.
“It’s not been as straightforward a season as we would have liked”, said Ahmad, “The extra weight we have to carry due to the regulations and the grade of our driver pairing has had a big impact, but we know the Aston Martin is strong and we have a great package. We’re definitely aiming for a good result at the weekend and we’re confident we can achieve one too.”
Following two free practice sessions at Brands Hatch GP Circuit on Saturday, 1st August, qualifying will get underway at 16.25 (UK time). On Sunday, 2nd August, morning warm-up will take place at 10.00 (UK time) with the race beginning at 13.30 (UK time).
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, 81.5pts
Provisional 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship GT3 Team Standings: 1st Oman Racing Team, 144.5pts
