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Times of Oman
a day ago
- Automotive
- Times of Oman
Al-Manar Racing's Al Zubair, Klingmann finish fourth in second Sprint Series race at Misano
MISANO (ITALY): Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT's Al-Faisal Al-Zubair and German colleague Jens Klingmann overcame the disappointment of a first-lap retirement from race one to finish fourth in the Gold Cup category in race two at the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Series on Sunday. At the wheel of their BMW M4 GT3 EVO, the duo performed well in the practice and qualifying sessions at the demanding Misano track in Italy, but Al-Zubair was handed a 10-place penalty on the starting grid for race two after the disappointment of the premature retirement from race one. The second race was red-flagged in the early stages and there was a significant delay while circuit armco was repaired. It developed into the longest one-hour race in history and took 3hr 18min to complete by the time the safety aspect of the circuit run-off area had been secured. Al-Zubair eventually handed over to Klingmann for the final 30 minutes but the Al-Manar Racing duo could not make further in-roads and had to settle for fourth place in the Gold Cup category and 20th overall behind the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari, the Saintéloc Racing Audi and the race one-winning Garage 59 McLaren. Oman-based Al-Zubair said: 'It was a long race and I think it was a bit difficult because we had a grid penalty to start. We started P32 (overall) but the car felt mega the whole race. We made it up to P21 in my stint but, unfortunately, we lost a bit of time in the pits, about seven seconds, and that dropped us out of P3 in Gold Cup. 'We finished P4. After collecting no points in the first race on Saturday, it was difficult and not the best weekend for us. We hope to collect more points at the next one and continue the fight for the championship. 'In race one, there was a bit of contact at turn six between my team-mate Jens, Chris Lulham and Maxime Martin. We were out of the race but we also got a penalty, so to finish P4 today is a result we should be happy with. Having the car working so well all weekend made it even more frustrating.' Al-Zubair and Klingmann made the perfect start to their race weekend by topping the times in the free practice session on Friday afternoon. They ran for 49 laps with a fastest run of 1min 33.026sec to lead the way from Emil Frey Racing and Saintéloc Racing. They then went on to top the Gold Cup times in the evening's pre-qualifying session. Klingmann finished first qualifying in second place behind Lulham in the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari and would line up in second place in the Gold Cup category and eighth overall on the grid for the first of the one-hour races. The Garage 59 McLaren was third. But lady luck determined that Klingmann's challenge for honours in the first of the races would be short-lived: after a twilight start, the German was clouted from behind after a few turns of lap one and was only able to limp to the pits with rear suspension damage before the Al-Manar Racing BMW was sidelined. The incident also took out pole sitter Lulham and the Briton's demise paved the way for Louis Prette to secure victory in the Gold Cup section for the Garage 59 McLaren after 36 laps of racing. The Monaco driver came home just ahead of Gilles Magnus in the Saintéloc Racing Audi and Leonardo Moncini in the Tresor Attempto Racing Audi. Ricky Collard retired the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini after 11 laps. The race one disappointment left Al-Zubair with it all to do in Sunday morning's qualifying for the second race. Magnus claimed pole for Saintéloc Racing and the Omani settled into fourth place with a best run of 1min 32.952sec after the BMW had been repaired by Team WRT technicians. Unfortunately, Al-Zubair was then handed a five-place penalty on the starting grid, as a result of the incident involving his team-mate in race one. A team appeal had successfully reduced the penalty from an original 10-place drop on the starting grid. The 2025 GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Series resumes with round four at Magny-Cours in France on August 1st-3rd.
Observer
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Observer
Al Zubair ready for third round of Misano race
MUSCAT: Al Manar Racing by Team WRT's Al Faisal al Zubair and German team-mate Jens Klingmann return to Sprint Series racing action this weekend when they tackle the third round of the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Series at Misano in Italy. The pair are tackling the Gold Cup category in their BMW M4 GT3 EVO and currently hold second in both the Drivers' and Teams' Championships following a fifth place and a victory in the two one-hour races at Brands Hatch in England and a pair of third-place finishes at Zandvoort in the Netherlands. Emil Frey Racing leads the way in the Teams' Championship on 60 points with Al Manar Racing by Team WRT 18.5 points behind in second place and three clear of a tying Saintéloc Racing and Tresor Attempto Racing. Oman-based Al Zubair said: 'I am really looking forward to going to Misano. It will be my first time racing there. My first time driving there was in March during testing and it was a track that I enjoyed. But I want to see what the racing is like there. We are currently second in the championship, so the most important thing is to collect points and make sure that we are completing the races. 'The target, as always, will be to go for the wins. The competition in Gold Cup has been extremely strong this year but I hope that we can give our rivals a good fight and also push for the overall positions as well.' This weekend's race meeting at Misano on the Italian Adriatic coast has attracted a record 44 entries across the various classes. It is the 11th consecutive year that the circuit has hosted the Sprint Series. Misano is officially known as Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in memory of the local MotoGP rider, who lost his life in a crash in 2011. The 4.226 km circuit is located close to the town of Misano Adriatico in the Rimini province and also hosts the MotoGP World Championship. Competition for Al Manar Racing by Team WRT in Misano comes from the Saintéloc Racing Audi R8, the Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3, Emil Frey Racing's Ferrari 296 GT3 and Tresor Attempto Racing's Audi R8 LMS GT3. Free practice takes place on the Italian circuit from 13.40hrs on Friday (July 18th) and precedes an hour of pre-qualifying from 19.20hrs. The first of the two qualifying sessions gets underway at noon on Saturday (July 19th) with Q2 following at 12.15hrs. The opening one-hour gets the green light at 20.15hrs. Sunday's action sees the second qualifying sessions scheduled for 10.25hrs and 10.40hrs, respectively, with race two getting started at 14.45hrs. TEAMS – latest Gold Cup standings: 1. Emil Frey Racing 60pts 2. Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT 41.5pts 3. Saintéloc Racing 38.5pts 4. Tresor Attempto Racing 38.5pts 5. Garage 59 25.5pts 6. CSA Racing 9pts DRIVERS – latest Gold Cup standings: 1. Chris Lulham/Thierry Vermeulen 60pts 2. Al-Faisal Al-Zubair/Jens Klingmann 41.5pts 3. Gilles Magnus/Paul Evrard 38.5pts 4. Sebastian Øgaard/Leonardo Moncini 38.5pts 5. Louis Prette/Adam Smalley 25.5pts 6. Arthur Rougier/James Kell 9pts
Muscat Daily
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Muscat Daily
Al Manar Racing's Al Zubair and Klingmann aim for sprint success in Italy
Muscat – Al Manar Racing by Team WRT's Al Faisal al Zubair and his German teammate Jens Klingmann return to Sprint Series racing action this weekend when they tackle the third round of the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Series at Misano in Italy. The pair are tackling the Gold Cup category in their BMW M4 GT3 EVO and currently hold second in both the Drivers' and Teams' Championships following a fifth place and a victory in the two one-hour races at Brands Hatch in England and a pair of third-place finishes at Zandvoort in the Netherlands. Emil Frey Racing leads the way in the Teams' Championship on 60 points with Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT 18.5 points behind in second place and three clear of a tying Saintéloc Racing and Tresor Attempto Racing. Oman-based Al Zubair said: 'I am really looking forward to going to Misano. It will be my first time racing there. My first time driving there was in March during testing and it was a track that I enjoyed. But I want to see what the racing is like there. We are currently second in the championship, so the most important thing is to collect points and make sure that we are completing the races. 'The target, as always, will be to go for the wins. The competition in Gold Cup has been extremely strong this year but I hope that we can give our rivals a good fight and also push for the overall positions as well.' This weekend's race meeting at Misano on the Italian Adriatic coast has attracted a record 44 entries across the various classes. It is the 11th consecutive year that the circuit has hosted the Sprint Series. Misano is officially known as Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in memory of the local MotoGP rider, who lost his life in a crash in 2011. The 4.226km circuit is located close to the town of Misano Adriatico in the Rimini province and also hosts the MotoGP World Championship. Competition for Al Manar Racing by Team WRT in Misano comes from the Saintéloc Racing Audi R8, the Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3, Emil Frey Racing's Ferrari 296 GT3 and Tresor Attempto Racing's Audi R8 LMS GT3. Free practice takes place on the Italian circuit from 1.40 pm on Friday and precedes an hour of pre-qualifying from 7.20 pm. The first of the two qualifying sessions gets underway at noon on Saturday with Q2 following at 12.15 pm. The opening one-hour gets the green light at 8.15 pm. Sunday's action sees the second qualifying sessions scheduled for 10.25 am and 10.40 am, respectively, with race two starting at 14.45 pm.
Times of Oman
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Times of Oman
Al Manar Racing's Al Zubair and Klingmann aim for sprint success at Misano in Italy
MUSCAT: Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT's Al-Faisal Al-Zubair and German team-mate Jens Klingmann return to Sprint Series racing action this weekend when they tackle the third round of the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Series at Misano in Italy. The pair are tackling the Gold Cup category in their BMW M4 GT3 EVO and currently hold second in both the Drivers' and Teams' Championships following a fifth place and a victory in the two one-hour races at Brands Hatch in England and a pair of third-place finishes at Zandvoort in the Netherlands. Emil Frey Racing leads the way in the Teams' Championship on 60 points with Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT 18.5 points behind in second place and three clear of a tying Saintéloc Racing and Tresor Attempto Racing. Oman-based Al-Zubair said: 'I am really looking forward to going to Misano. It will be my first time racing there. My first time driving there was in March during testing and it was a track that I enjoyed. But I want to see what the racing is like there. We are currently second in the championship, so the most important thing is to collect points and make sure that we are completing the races. 'The target, as always, will be to go for the wins. The competition in Gold Cup has been extremely strong this year but I hope that we can give our rivals a good fight and also push for the overall positions as well.' This weekend's race meeting at Misano on the Italian Adriatic coast has attracted a record 44 entries across the various classes. It is the 11th consecutive year that the circuit has hosted the Sprint Series. Misano is officially known as Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in memory of the local MotoGP rider, who lost his life in a crash in 2011. The 4.226km circuit is located close to the town of Misano Adriatico in the Rimini province and also hosts the MotoGP World Championship. Competition for Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT in Misano comes from the Saintéloc Racing Audi R8, the Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3, Emil Frey Racing's Ferrari 296 GT3 and Tresor Attempto Racing's Audi R8 LMS GT3. Free practice takes place on the Italian circuit from 13.40hrs on Friday (July 18th) and precedes an hour of pre-qualifying from 19.20hrs. The first of the two qualifying sessions gets underway at noon on Saturday (July 19th) with Q2 following at 12.15hrs. The opening one-hour gets the green light at 20.15hrs. Sunday's action sees the second qualifying sessions scheduled for 10.25hrs and 10.40hrs, respectively, with race two getting started at 14.45hrs. TEAMS – latest Gold Cup standings 1. Emil Frey Racing 60pts 2. Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT 41.5pts 3. Saintéloc Racing 38.5pts 4. Tresor Attempto Racing 38.5pts 5. Garage 59 25.5pts 6. CSA Racing 9pts DRIVERS – latest Gold Cup standings 1. Chris Lulham/Thierry Vermeulen 60pts 2. Al-Faisal Al-Zubair/Jens Klingmann 41.5pts 3. Gilles Magnus/Paul Evrard 38.5pts 4. Sebastian Øgaard/Leonardo Moncini 38.5pts 5. Louis Prette/Adam Smalley 25.5pts 6. Arthur Rougier/James Kell 9pts
Times of Oman
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Times of Oman
Al Manar Racing's Al Zubair and Klingmann claim two podium finishes in Zandvoort sprint races
MUSCAT: Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT's Al-Faisal Al-Zubair and Jens Klingmann picked up a pair of podium finishes in the Gold Cup category at the two one-hour Sprint races in round two of the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Series at Zandvoort in the Netherlands. They guided the Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO to third overall in race one on Saturday and repeated the feat at the Dutch circuit on Sunday afternoon to remain in contention for the Teams' and Drivers' Championships. Both drivers showcased their potential in both attacking and defensive driving during the course of the two absorbing races. Al-Zubair said: 'Very happy with the result. To come to the first time ever to Zandvoort and to finish P3 in a new car and a new team in the Sprint Championship is something we should be very happy with. On Saturday, we were close to second place but we lost position at the end of race one and finished third. 'Today, we were a solid P3 after a hard fight with the Saintéloc Audi. That made it quite fun. The most important thing now is that we are collecting solid points and we can hopefully continue on this path and secure top spot in the championship.' Victory in the first of the weekend's races went to the Saintéloc Racing Audi with the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari edging out the Al-Manar Racing crew for second place. Klingmann then qualified the Al-Manar Racing BMW in third place for the second of the one-hour Sprint races on Sunday with a best lap of 1min 34.508sec. Pole position went to Chris Lulham in the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari. Thierry Vermeulen of Emil Frey Racing passed the chequered flag to secure the win in race two. The Tresor Attempto Racing Audi finished second and Al-Zubair brought the Al-Manar Racing BMW home in third place just behind Leonardo Moncini in the Audi. Free practice got proceedings underway on Friday morning and the Al-Manar Racing duo got their weekend off to the perfect start by topping the session. They ran the Team WRT BMW for 50 laps and clocked the fastest tour of 1min 34.232sec on lap 17. The Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 was their closest rival with a best run of 1min 34.550sec. Pre-qualifying followed in the afternoon and the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari topped the times with a best tour of 1min 34.334sec. Al-Manar Racing's best run was a 1min 35.095sec lap. Saintéloc Racing's Gilles Magnus topped the times with a lap of 1min 33.033sec in Q1 and the Al-Manar Racing BMW was down in fifth place with a best run of 1min 33.930sec. That meant the crew started the opening race from the rear of the Gold Cup grid. Action in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup resumes at Monza in Italy on May 30th-June 1st.
