Mechanical problem ends strong bid from Al Harthy in 24hrs of Spa
Spafrancorchamps in Belgium was, for once, a less-thanhappy hunting ground for Oman’s Ahmad al Harthy over the weekend, June 29-30, when a mechanical problem with the No 30 BMW M4 GT3 — with just eight hours to run — ended involvement in this year’s Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa.
From the outset in the Centenary staging of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup’s blue riband event, Al Harthy’s OQ by Oman Racing team didn’t put a wheel wrong in terms of driving or the pit-stops as a top result in the Bronze class became a distinct reality.
Unfortunately, though, the as-yet unidentified mechanical issue on Sunday morning brought an immediate end to the challenge of Al Harthy and team-mates Sam De Haan, Jens Klingmann and Calan Williams.
Beginning the championship’s blue riband race at 16.30 local time on Saturday from 11th in the Bronze class, but with hopes of a major push for a very strong result with a competitive race set-up, everything started well with Klingmann taking the first stint.
Al Harthy took over after the opening pit-stop in the first hour and held fifth in the Bronze class, but after picking up some debris he had to pit again around 75 minutes into the encounter and dropped to 18th in class as a result.
Facing a tough challenge, and running out of sequence with the competition, Al Harthy made terrific progress through the order and as the race approached the end of hour two, the Omani had climbed into eighth in Bronze. Continuing to make gains, he was back up into the class top five before the second scheduled pit visit.
Through the various driver cycles over the coming hours, with De Haan and Williams making their first appearances of the race, the strong run continued apace as evening became night and the OQ, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Omantel and BMW Oman supported entry ran strongly.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms over the Ardennes made the night portion of the race particularly challenging and treacherous, but Al Harthy and his team-mates kept their bid on track with some very impressive, committed and yet sensible driving.
With two-thirds of the race complete on Sunday morning, Klingmann was eighth in Bronze before handing the car over to Williams.