Oman’s Alfaisal Al Zubair is now within touching distance of the season nine title in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East after a dramatic penultimate round at Bahrain International Circuit.
He arrived 19 points behind British leader Tom Oliphant. In qualifying for race one, guest driver Dylan Pereira took pole just 0.055 seconds ahead of Al Zubair, who in turn edged Oliphant by 0.003 seconds.
Al Zubair defended second hard against Oliphant’s repeated attacks until lap two, when the pair made contact. Oliphant went off and retired, while Al Zubair continued to finish second behind Pereira and took the lead of the championship.
Fighting back from ninth
Al Zubair qualified fourth for race two on used tyres, but a penalty dropped him to ninth on the grid.
Qualifying was good, I did it on used tyres and got fourth. We got a penalty, which honestly I don’t think was deserved because I didn’t do anything on purpose. But that’s OK.
Alfaisal Al Zubair
He fell to 11th on the first lap after being hit from behind, then used his new tyres to climb up to fifth, chasing Glen Gedye in fourth. Oliphant finished second.
We finished fifth with competitive lap times. From now on my goal is to score points at the last round. I think Oliphant and I are now level on points.
Alfaisal Al Zubair
Oliphant will miss the final round because it clashes with the British Touring Car Championship. Al Zubair needs just one fifth place in either of the two final races to be crowned champion.