Friday 19 / April / 2024
Omani racing driver Ahmad Al Harthy produced an excellent double stint during the penultimate race of the 2022 European Le Mans Series at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday, 25th September, to make a podium challenge a reality – before the team had to settle for fourth place in LMGTE.
Qualifying the No.69 Aston Martin Vantage GTE second on the class grid for the big four-hour race at the famous Ardennes track, Al Harthy took the start and worked his way into the lead just after the half-hour mark following some dramatic action on a wet-but-drying track.
Remaining in contention after the first pit-stops, the Omani ran a very strong second and was right behind the class leading Ferrari when he handed over the Aston Martin to Sam De Haan who slipped to fourth in his stint. Marco Sorensen completed the race, closing to within five seconds of the podium, and the trio have, as a result, climbed to sixth in the LMGTE championship.
“I was very happy with my stint, it was a great stint and the first few laps were good”, reflected Al Harthy, “The conditions were very tricky, a wet track that was drying, with slicks on the car, but we managed to navigate through traffic. We had good chances, and we took those chances, and then got into the lead.
“Obviously all of the strategies were different, we took tyres and they didn’t, and then there were a lot of blue flags for cars in front which slowed our pace. I’m absolutely delighted with how I drove and P4, so close to the podium. This will make us more motivated for the final round in Portimao and, as always, a huge thank you to the team as they did a great job and we had a good car.”
Al Harthy began the race from the front row in LMGTE and the Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Sohar International Bank, OQ, Omantel and MHD-ITICS supported driver held position well at the beginning, the track very wet offline from earlier rain but with a dry line appearing.
Running within a second of pole-starting Conrad Grunewald’s Ferrari 488, on lap two the Safety Car was deployed due to an LMP2 class car becoming stranded in the gravel. Racing resumed with 18 minutes elapsed and Al Harthy continued to run closely behind the bright yellow Ferrari.
With an LMP3 car between Grunewald and Al Harthy, on lap eight the No.83 Ferrari of Sarah Bovy managed to get past the Aston Martin but very soon everything changed again. Just over 30 minutes into the race, Grunewald had a dramatic spin at Raidillon and almost collected both Bovy and Al Harthy – but the Omani managed to sweep past Bovy’s car to leap from third into the lead.
Almost immediately, a Full Course Yellow period was called and at the 40-minute mark Al Harthy pitted for fresh slick tyres, the track drying more and more. Emerging in second place, when racing resumed he was almost nine seconds behind Bovy but instantly started to reduce the gap and as the end of hour one neared the Omani was just 4.5 seconds adrift.
Moving to within less than two seconds of the Iron Lynx Ferrari 65 minutes into the race, Al Harthy continued his march back towards the front of LMGTE and 10 minutes later he was right on Bovy’s tail. The gap fluctuated, due to traffic, but Al Harthy again reduced the gap to almost nothing before another Full Course Yellow period with one hour and 40 minutes of racing complete.
Pitting for his second stop soon after, Al Harthy vacated the Aston Martin to hand over to De Haan and when the order settled after all of the stops had been served the Oman Racing car was third in LMGTE and around 15 seconds shy of the two rival Ferraris.
Holding third at the midpoint of the race, De Haan slipped to fourth behind the No.18 Porsche 911 in the second half of his stint but returned to third when the Porsche pitted soon after. With around 70 minutes to go, De Haan pitted to hand over the Aston Martin to Sorensen for the run to the finish.
Holding fourth, around 16 seconds shy of the podium, the Dane did chip away at the gap. Following the fourth and final pit stop, with around 40 minutes to go and under a Full Course Yellow period, Sorensen emerged around 13 seconds shy of the podium battle. Having halved the gap with just under half an hour to go, Sorensen eventually took the flag just 4.9 seconds away from third place.
Portugal will be the destination for the sixth and final round of the European Le Mans Series over the weekend 15th/16th October, with a visit to the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao.
