The Total 24 Hours of Spa, the fourth and penultimate round of the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series, is nearly here and one man to watch out for is Saudi Arabia’s Saud Turki AlFaisal who joins his older brother Abdulaziz Turki AlFaisal in one of the most respected teams on the grid, Germany’s Team Black Falcon.
Saud will be one of very few Arab drivers at the event; he will share a Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 with three other drivers, Australia’s Richard Muscat, Russia’s Vladimir Lunkin and Germany’s Christian Bracke.
This will not be Saud’s first participation in a 24-hour race as he previously took part in the 24 Hours of Dubai in 2010, driving an Al Faisal Racing BMW M3 GT4, and successfully crossed the finish line after a long and arduous race. However, Total Spa 24 Hours will be his first 24-hour race on the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and his first ever in a GT3 car.
Unlike Abdulaziz Turki AlFaisal, who’s quite seasoned in endurance racing and aims to finish on the podium this weekend in the sister #19 Mercedes, Saud’s target is to first finish the trying race and gain as much experience as possible on his #18 SLS AMG GT3.
Saud has had his hands full this season in the 2014 Euroformula Open series. He won the Cup class in the championship’s first round at the Nürburgring before switching to the latest Dallara chassis, the F312. Total 24 Hours of Spa will without a doubt help Saud grow accustomed to the racetrack before the sixth round of the Euroformula Open series that is also taking place at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in early September.
The 24-hour race, a true test of talent and patience, is scheduled on Saturday, July 26th at 16:30 (local time); it will be preceded by Free Practice, Pre-Qualifying, Qualifying and Night Qualifying on Thursday, followed by Super Pole on Friday.