NEWS

The Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed trio of Oman’s Al-Faisal bin Khalid Al-Zubair, Austrian Dominik Baumann and Canada’s Mikaël Grenier sealed the runner-up spots in the Drivers’ and Teams’ championships in the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS Endurance Cup by finishing second in the Gold Cup category at the 6 Hours of Jeddah on Saturday evening.

The race was interrupted by a lengthy full-course yellow after a collision involving their pole-sitting rival Arthur Rougier in the CSA Racing Audi and Nicolo Schiro in the Kessel Racing Ferrari. The Al-Manar Racing crew gradually pulled themselves through the field to finish behind the championship-winning Saintéloc Racing trio of Paul Evrard, Gilles Magnus and Jim Pla in front of large crowds at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Al-Faisal said: “GT World Challenge is always a difficult championship but the track here in Saudi Arabia was extremely demanding. Honestly, we had a blast. All the drivers enjoyed it. What a blessing to see a championship like this in Saudi Arabia. Let’s hope we see more races in other Gulf countries.

“It was chaotic. We got a 30-second penalty and we got a five-second penalty and we got a puncture. But we still finished second and second in the championship. That is something we should be really proud of. We would have liked to have won the championship but I guess that gives us the target to improve one step next year.”

The Imperiale Racing Lamborghini crew of Dennis Lind, Alberto Di Folco and Philippe Denes rounded off the Gold Cup podium in Saudi Arabia after finishing four laps ahead of the Haupt Racing Team’s Arjun Maini, Michele Beretta and Jusuf Owega.

The Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed crew took part in a couple of pre-event paid test sessions before tackling the official free practice stint on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

The Saintéloc Racing trio topped the times in the free practice stint with a best lap of 2min 00.138sec. Tresor Attempto Racing were their closest challengers, while the Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed Mercedes carded a best tour of 2min 00.885sec.

Saturday’s qualifying was split into a session for each of the drivers. Al-Manar Racing struggled in the three stints and, when the sessions were combined, they had qualified down in sixth of the Gold Cup runners. Pole position went to Simon Gachet, Hugo Cook and Arthur Rougier in the CSA Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo with the championship-leading Saintéloc Racing qualifying in second.