DUBAI, UAE – Al-Faisal Al-Zubair, Fabian Schiller and Anthony Liu finished second in the Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in round three of the 2023/24 Asian Le Mans Series at the Dubai Autodrome.
After Liu took a fine pole position for Sunday’s 4H of Dubai, the crew battled the Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Klaus Bachler, Joel Sturm and Alex Malykhin and finished just 0.775 seconds behind the new championship leaders after 112 laps. AF Corse’s Simon Mann, François Heriau and Davide Rigon were a distant third in their Ferrari 296 GT3.
Pure Rxcing leads the GT Teams Trophy on 58 points, with Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed third on 43 behind Saintéloc Racing (44). Al-Zubair and Schiller are third in the GT Drivers’ Trophy on 43, a point behind Christopher Haase, Gilles Magnus and Alban Varutti, heading to the final two races at Yas Marina.
The race was great overall. We started on pole after Anthony’s superb lap in qualifying. We went into the race and Anthony had a great opening to make a nice gap for us, which we lost, unfortunately, in the pits. Because they (Pure Rxcing) under cut us and gained two laps. That was unfortunate. Sturm got passed me after gaining six seconds on a full course yellow. We have no idea now. That was also unfortunate. But the race was a good one and we should be happy with P2. It’s not the same as first place. We hope to improve on that in the next two races.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
Practice and qualifying
The Mercedes was second to the AF Corse Ferrari in Friday’s first practice, where Liu acclimatised over 39 laps, and third in Saturday’s 37-lap second session behind the GR Racing Ferrari and Triple Eight JMR Mercedes with 1min 58.479sec. Liu then topped qualifying with 1min 58.280sec, 0.544sec faster than the Pure Rxcing Porsche, with Optimum Motorsport’s McLaren third and the second Getspeed car sixth.