Oman’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair, Germany’s Luca Stolz and Austria’s Martin Konrad scored superb back-to-back GT Class victories in the third and fourth races of the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi at the weekend.
Driving the Al-Manar Racing by Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 under the Omani flag, the trio won Saturday evening’s race by 17.875 seconds and repeated the feat against a world-class field on Sunday by an even bigger margin.
It was an outstanding result for the Sultanate of Oman and a major lift for the Al-Manar Racing by Haupt Racing Team and for Al-Zubair as he continues his 2023 racing programme.
The Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 of Chandler Hull, Nicky Catsburg and Thomas Merrill had won both races in Dubai the previous weekend, and second place in the second Abu Dhabi race secured them the GT Class title.
The weekend couldn’t have gone any better with a double win at Asian Le Mans with such a strong grid is definitely something to be very proud of. We were a little unfortunate to miss out on the championship after what happened in the second race in Dubai last weekend. Nonetheless, we did an amazing job to secure second in the championship and a double win in Abu Dhabi.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
We couldn’t have asked for much more. We came and did our best here. We won two races. The car was mega and Martin and Luca performed amazingly. I am very happy with the all-round performance. Yesterday, at the end we were managing the race and today we were pushing to open the gap.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
We passed the car to Luca for the final stint in a great position. The strategy worked well. The full course yellows helped us as well. Besides that, the performance from the bronze, silver and gold drivers was excellent. It’s my first championship with the ACO, which manage the World Endurance Championship, and it’s good to be on their radar and to show them that we are a team that is strong. Al-Manar Racing is gaining a lot of traction and getting some results. The Omani national anthem and the flag flying on the top of the podium was icing on the cake.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
Practice and qualifying
HRT began the weekend the way they hoped to finish it, topping Friday morning’s first free practice session. Stolz lapped in 1min 53.429sec to put the Al-Manar Racing Mercedes 0.274 seconds clear of Leipert Motorsport’s Lamborghini driven by Brendon Leitch, with Getspeed’s Raffaele Marciello third.
The HRT car was eighth of 21 starters in second practice, where TF Sport’s Jonathan Adam set the fastest lap in an Aston Martin Vantage.
Qualifying was the main focus and the team ended the session third with a best lap of 1min 53.001sec. Pole for race one went to Hub Auto Racing’s Ollie Millroy, Jules Gounon and Liam Talbot in a Mercedes-AMG GT3, with the series-leading Walkenhorst BMW M4 second.
Two dominant wins
Al-Zubair, Stolz and Konrad delivered when it counted, completing 94 laps to win race one by 17.875 seconds from the Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 of Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Harry King. The Leipert Motorsport car completed the podium.
Another outstanding run brought a second straight victory on Sunday evening. The trio held off the newly crowned GT Class champions in the Walkenhorst BMW M4, and Stolz took the chequered flag 27.70 seconds clear after 121 laps. Eighteen GT cars finished.
The Getspeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Raffaele Marciello, Fabian Schiller and Florian Scholze was third.