Al Manar Racing's Al Zubair eyes success on Zandvoort debut
Fresh from winning the second of the two one-hour races at Brands Hatch in England two weeks ago that has firmly put the Omani and his German team-mate into early title contention, the pair again lay faith in the Al Manar Racing by Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO as they chase Gold Cup honours.
Al Manar Racing by Team WRT currently holds second place in the Teams' Championship, just half a point behind CSA Racing, and are third in the Drivers' Championship (41.5 points) behind Thierry Vermeulen/Chris Lulham (54.5 points) and Arthur Rougier/James Kell (42 points).
Al Manar Racing by Team WRT currently holds second place in the Teams' Championship.
Al Zubair said: 'Looking forward to the weekend in Zandvoort. Like the first round, it is going to be a very difficult track. I have never personally raced there before. Luckily, we tested there in March, so a bit of track time definitely helps.
'After a good weekend at Brands Hatch, we go straight to the second round here. We need to keep the ball rolling, keep it consistent and go for the points. That will be important at the end of the championship and that is the target for us.'
Bronze Cup entrants bolster the Zandvoort grid to a record 41 cars and join forces with the Pro, Gold and Silver Cup entrants. This is only the third time in Sprint Cup history that the number has exceeded 40. The race weekend will also be shared with competitors in the GT2 and GT4 European Series and the GB3 Championship.
Al Manar Racing by Team WRT are third in the Drivers' Championship (41.5 points).
Competition for Al Manar Racing by Team WRT comes from the Sainteloc Racing and Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3, the Emil Frey Racing's Ferrari 296 GT3 and the CSA Racing and Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3s.
Free practice takes place on the Dutch coastal track from 10.20hrs on Friday (May 16) and precedes an hour of pre-qualifying from 15.10hrs. The first qualifying session fires into life at 10.0hrs on Saturday (May 17) and the first of the one-hour races gets underway at 15.00hrs.
Sunday's action sees the second qualifying session start at the earlier time of 09.00hrs with race two getting the green light from 14.45hrs.
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