Monza beckons: Al Faisal Al Zubair gears up with Al Manar Racing by Team WRT

Times of Oman

4 days ago

MUSCAT: The trio of Al Manar Racing by Team WRT - Al Faisal Al Zubair, Jens Klingmann and Ben Tuck - are all geared up to take on the challenge in Italy for this weekend's second round of the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS at the legendary Monza circuit.
The trio, Al Zubair from Oman, Klingmann from Germany and Tuck from Britain, finished on the podium at the opening round at France's Paul Ricard in their BMW M4 GT3 EVO and are hoping for another top-class performance in this weekend's three-hour race that features a third mandatory pit stop.
Klingmann was the overall winner of the race last year and he and Al Zubair have already arrived in Italy fresh from their double podium success in the recent Sprint races at Zandvoort in the Netherlands recently.
The Monza race weekend has attracted a massive 59-car field across the various classes with the Al Manar Racing by Team WRT trio lining up against nine rivals in the Gold Cup category.
The opening round was won by the CSA Racing McLaren crew of Arthur Rougier, James Kell and Simon Gachet and they will be aiming to defend their series lead against the likes of the second-placed Verstappen.com Racing Aston Martin, the Garage 59, Optimum Motorsport and Team RJN McLarens, the Tresor Attempto Racing Audi, the Paul Motorsport Lamborghini, Nordique Racing's Mercedes-AMG and Herberth Motorsport's Porsche.
Ahead of the race, talented Omani racer Al Zubair said: 'This will be the second round of the Endurance Championship, which I am really looking forward to. I really enjoy Monza. Unfortunately, we didn't finish the race last year because of a collision. We are hoping to have a much better result this time.
'Luckily, I think the BMW is more suited to Monza than the Mercedes. That should be of benefit to us. We are currently second in the championship, overall Sprint and Endurance. So, hopefully, we can have a strong weekend, score solid points and keep up the fight for the championship.'
The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS shares the circuit this weekend with the Lamborghini Super Trofeo and McLaren Trophy Europe.
Test sessions will be available on Friday but the first official two-hour practice session is scheduled for Saturday (May 31) from 10.10hrs. Pre-qualifying will then take place from 15.30hrs. An hour of crucial qualifying will get underway on Sunday (June 1) morning from 09.50hrs and the three-hour race fires into life at 15.00hrs.