JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – The Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed trio of Oman’s Al-Faisal bin Khalid Al-Zubair, Austria’s Dominik Baumann and Canada’s Mikaël Grenier chase Gold Cup honours at the 6 Hours of Jeddah on November 28–30, the final round of the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS Endurance Cup.
The team is second in both the Teams’ and Drivers’ standings in its Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, but faces a tough task to overhaul Saintéloc Racing’s Paul Evrard, Gilles Magnus and Jim Pla, who lead by 27 points.
The first time in Jeddah next week. I think the whole team is looking forward to it. The track seems like an extremely difficult one, being a street circuit as opposed to a normal race circuit. Between the walls, for a race of six hours, as opposed to three hours will definitely not be easy.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
Nonetheless, we are fully prepared for the race and excited. We are currently second in the championship but first place is quite far away so it will be difficult to clinch the championship to be honest. That doesn’t take away from our aims to try and get the win. Hopefully we can get that win and end the season on a high.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
Al-Manar must also defend second place, holding just a four-point cushion over Haupt Racing Team’s Arjun Maini, Michele Beretta and Jusuf Owega. CSA Racing, Tresor Attempto Racing and 2 Seas Motorsport are fighting for fourth.
The circuit
The 6.174km Jeddah Corniche Circuit hosted the first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in December 2021. It is the third-longest track on the Formula One calendar after Spa and Las Vegas, and was designed by Carsten Tilke, son of Hermann Tilke. A shorter 3.45km layout hosted the 2022 World Touring Car Cup.
Schedule
Thursday afternoon brings pit-stop practice, an unofficial test and a bronze test. After more pit-stop practice on Friday morning, two hours of official practice start at 15:30, with pre-qualifying at 20:15. Qualifying begins at 11:45 on Saturday, and the race starts at 17:00, with most of it run in darkness. The Saudi Supercar Club and GT4 European Series also share the circuit.
Standings before the finale
- Saintéloc Racing – 107pts
- Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed – 80pts
- Haupt Racing Team – 76pts
- CSA Racing – 47pts
- Tresor Attempto Racing – 43pts
- 2 Seas Motorsport – 39pts
- Comtoyou Racing – 16pts