SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM – Oman’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair and Canadian team-mate Mikaël Grenier delivered a masterclass to win the ‘GT Open 500’ round of the 2024 International GT Open at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday.
The Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 pair qualified second and led almost the entire 2hr 40min race, which carried double points. Despite missing round two in Germany, they now lead the championship by eight points.
Oregon Team’s Jordan Pepper and Alessio Deledda finished second in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, with Comtoyou Racing’s Lorens Levertua and Matisse Lismont third. Getspeed team-mates Anthony Bartone and Fabian Schiller were fifth after 65 laps.
It was a great race today. We were very happy and couldn’t really ask for anything more. We were disappointed with qualifying on Saturday but we actually chose to go on one set of new tyres instead of two, so wee saved an extra set for the race. That seemed to make a lot of sense. Mik got both new sets and I had fresh tyres. We were happy with that in terms of strategy.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
It was very important for us to get past in the first few laps, which I managed to do on lap one. I had a good run into Eau Rouge and managed to get past Diego Mancheca. From there, we maintained and opened a gap. But then we had the safety car come out. That didn’t help us in terms of the gap because of the 10-second handicap in the last pit stop and the bigger the gap the better it would be for us. After the safety car, I managed to open the gap a bit and it was a bit close to the Lamborghini in the end but it all worked out well.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
We missed one round in Germany but we are back as championship leaders. So, very happy with the weekend’s performance, with Mik and the whole team. The next race is the big Spa 24. Hopefully we can get a win there.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
How the race was won
The start was brought forward by 25 minutes. From the front row, Al-Zubair made a perfect getaway in the dry, passed Team Motopark’s Diego Mancheca and edged into the lead, which stood at 2.067 seconds after 13 laps. After the first mandatory stop Grenier briefly ran second behind Tijmen van der Helm’s Car Collection Porsche, then retook the lead when the 911 pitted.
Grenier stretched the gap to 5.709 seconds with 101 minutes left, and Al-Zubair led by 21.992 seconds from Mancheca with 69 minutes to go before a yellow flag bunched the field. Grenier took the final stint, leading by 6.043 seconds with 22 minutes plus a lap to run as Pepper moved to second, and crossed the line 13.035 seconds clear.
Practice and qualifying
The car was 11th in the first 70-minute practice with a 2min 36.424sec best. In Q1, Al-Zubair topped the times with 2min 19.401sec before a red flag, then finished ninth with 2min 17.652sec. Grenier set 2min 16.983sec in Q2 for second, before late laps pushed him to fifth. Combined, the pair started second behind Mancheca.