PAUL RICARD, FRANCE – Oman’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair and British team-mate Ben Tuck produced strong performances in this weekend’s two International GT Open races at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France.
They drove the Al-Manar by Dragon Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO to second overall in Saturday evening’s opening race, matching their qualifying position, then climbed from 12th on the grid to finish fifth in Sunday afternoon’s slightly shorter second race.
It was a very positive weekend and one we should be particularly proud of after Misano, where we struggled a little. To come here, qualify second and finish second overall was fantastic. We had a very competitive car yesterday and there are a lot of positives we can take away from the weekend to take to Monza, which is a longer race. It is important that we are comfortable with the car.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
I am very happy with the way it all went. I felt that qualifying this morning was a little unfair and I struggled with that after we had a major electrical power outage at the race track that affected the whole region. Starting at the back was a bit difficult in dirty air and the Ferrari is known not to be the best car in dirty air.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
But to finish P5 today, a podium and P2 yesterday and close to a win was very positive. No handicap for the next race but, with Monza’s long straights, we will hope to have a good straight-line speed to battle some of the other manufacturers, like BMW and Mercedes, for example. Motivation is high and we proved here that we can have the Dragon car on the overall podium.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
Practice
The team started well in Friday’s first free practice session, where a lap of 2min 04.043sec put the Ferrari fifth out of 30 cars. It completed 24 laps, while the fastest Pro time (2min 03.624sec) went to the Scuderia Villorba Corse Lamborghini.
In the second session late on Friday afternoon, the Al-Manar duo set a best of 2min 04.437sec over 24 laps. The Team Motopark Mercedes of Christian Mansell and Maximilian Götz led the Pro times with 2min 03.383sec.
Tuck tops Pro qualifying
Tuck shone in the first qualifying session, setting a lap of 2min 02.153sec that put the Ferrari top of the Pro class and second on the overall grid for the 70-minute opening race.
Race one: just 1.069 seconds from victory
The pairing worked perfectly over the 30-lap race. Al-Zubair took over for the second stint and the duo held second to the chequered flag, just 1.069 seconds behind the winning ZRS Motorsport Porsche of Pietro Armanni and Alex Fontana. Mansell and Götz completed the podium for Team Motopark.
Race two: from 12th to fifth
Temperatures were cooler for Sunday morning’s second qualifying session. Al-Zubair completed 11 laps with a best of 2min 02.487sec in a session where less than a second covered the top 13 cars.
The Omani lined up 12th on the grid and eighth among the Pro runners, with the Elite Motorsport Ferrari of Tom Emson and Tom Lebbon fastest in Pro. A power cut in the area disrupted preparations, but Al-Zubair and Tuck worked their way through the field in the one-hour race to finish fifth.
Emson and Lebbon won race two ahead of a Team Motopark Mercedes and the ZRS Motorsport Porsche.
Al-Manar by Dragon Racing completes its three-race International GT Open programme at Monza in Italy on September 25th-27th.
Paul Ricard at a glance
- Race 1: 2nd overall, 1.069sec behind the winners
- Race 2: 5th from 12th on the grid
- Pro pole lap: 2min 02.153sec (Ben Tuck)
- Race 1 winners: Pietro Armanni / Alex Fontana, ZRS Motorsport Porsche
- Race 2 winners: Tom Emson / Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport Ferrari
- Next round: Monza, September 25th-27th