Oman’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair and rookie Khalid Al-Wahaibi had mixed fortunes in the first race of round three of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East at the Dubai Autodrome.
Lechner Racing Middle East’s Al-Zubair qualified second behind rival Tom Oliphant, but the Briton took a five-place grid penalty for an infringement at the previous round.
The Omani followed Oliphant to the flag after losing a possible win when he and experienced Luxembourg driver Dylan Pereira made contact while fighting for the lead with six laps left. Al-Zubair recovered to take second and stretch his advantage over the rest of the field. Just 1.056 seconds separated the pair after 14 frantic laps, but the win took Oliphant’s championship lead to eight points.
The start wasn’t good and Dylan (Pereira) got me and I was stuck behind him. Then, with six laps to go, Dylan and I had contact and that allowed Oliphant to go into the lead. Then, I stuck behind him and finished in P2 and got some good points for the championship.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
Charlie Frijns was third, 2.197 seconds behind the winner, with UAE-based Scot Glynn Geddie and France’s Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer completing the top five, Simmenauer winning the Silver class.
Al-Wahaibi still leads the GCC Rookie Championship from Bahrain’s Ali Al-Khalifa but dropped points after a brake lock-up left him 10th at the flag.
The start was really good. I gained a place and managed to stick behind the Silver drivers. I finished fifth in the Silver class, but I knew from official practice that I was faster. I tried to stick behind them and, in two laps, I caught the car in second place in the Silver class but then I made a stupid mistake and locked up. From then on, it was a battle with under steer with car because of the lock up. I take full blame for the race. I know the pace is there to get into the top five or top six.
Khalid Al-Wahaibi
Practice and qualifying
The weekend started well for both Omanis. Al-Zubair ran 12 laps in Friday morning’s free practice and set the fastest time of 1min 38.352sec, 0.406 seconds ahead of Frijns and 0.425 ahead of Oliphant. Pereira was fourth, and Al-Wahaibi led the Silver and Rookie drivers in fifth with an impressive 1min 39.051sec.
Al-Zubair could not quite repeat that in qualifying, missing pole to Oliphant by just 0.043 seconds with a 1min 38.906sec, slower than his morning time. Pereira and Frijns qualified third and fourth, and Al-Wahaibi ninth.
I had a good qualifying session and I managed to get second, but Oliphant has a grid penalty and we started the race from first position. Oliphant was given sixth position.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
That was a bit disappointing and didn’t get the peak of the tyre right. The warm-up was a bit too slow, I think, and we need to speed it up. Fourth and seventh today, but I know I am capable of the top five, so we work on that.
Khalid Al-Wahaibi