PORTIMÃO, PORTUGAL – Oman’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair and Canadian team-mate Mikaël Grenier finished fourth (second in Pro) and then first overall in the two races of the 2024 International GT Open opener at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve.
In tricky weather and after an early collision, the Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 pair recovered to second in Pro in Saturday’s opening race, then won Sunday’s one-hour race under a yellow flag. Although they do not plan to contest the full series, they lead the championship by four points.
It was a great race weekend. If we look at it at a whole, yesterday’s race didn’t go according to plan, as we were hit by a Lamborghini in turn one and we lost all positions and went back to last and finished the race in fourth with great pace that we had. Despite the spin, we should be very happy with that result.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
Then, today, we got to show how it is with no real issues. We just got our heads down and made a good getaway with Mick going into the lead. I managed the safety car restart and finished it off. We are very happy with everything as a whole and, hopefully, there will be more wins to come this season.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
Practice and race one
The pair topped Pro in the first damp practice with 1min 49.639sec, were fifth in drier second practice and third combined, behind Getspeed’s Anthony Bartone and Fabian Schiller and Spirit of Race Ferrari’s Morten Strömsted and Thomas Ikin. Al-Zubair qualified sixth in Pro in the wet with 1min 59.676sec.
In race one, started in the wet after a thunderstorm, the Al-Manar car set the race’s fastest lap – 1min 42.459sec – as the duo charged through the field to second in Pro behind Bartone and Schiller and fourth overall. Team Motopark’s Lukas Dunner and Charles Bateman completed a Mercedes 1-2-3 in Pro.
Race two
Grenier qualified third with 1min 40.788sec, behind Dominik Baumann and Mikaeel Pitamber’s SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes and the Car Collection Porsche of Gustav Bergström and Nico Menzel. He moved up to second before handing over, and Al-Zubair led Pitamber by 6.5 seconds after 21 laps.
Al-Zubair was nine seconds clear when the safety car came out with under a quarter of an hour left. He held off the Mercedes at the restart with 11 minutes to go, and a second safety car four minutes later meant the race finished under yellow, with Pitamber and Baumann second and Team Motopark’s Diego Mancheca and Marcos Siebert completing an all-Mercedes podium.