Omani colours glow as Al Faisal Al Zubair powers to Gold Cup glory under grey skies at Brands Hatch
After finishing fifth in the first of the two short races, Al-Zubair and Klingmann delivered a masterclass in pit strategy to kick start their season in the new series with outright victory in the Gold Cup category and sixth position overall in Sprint race two at the helm of the Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
Al-Zubair said: 'Starting off doing very minimal laps in the Sprint Championship was something to get used to. Brands Hatch is such a difficult track and we didn't have much running time. There were a few red flags in practice. I think we did a total of 20 laps before we got into qualifying. It was not so easy.
'We started off with qualifying on the wrong foot. We finished fifth in class in the first race and then we won the second race. To jump so many people in the second stint and in the pit stop is something that we should be very happy of. It is good to get a start like this and we can look forward to the rest of the season.'
Al-Zubair began the opening one-hour Sprint race from sixth on the Gold Cup grid but was not able to make headway through the opening laps. Arthur Rougier drove the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari to give the CSA Racing McLaren a brief lead but Chris Lulham hit the front again in the Ferrari after the mid-race pit stop and driver change.
Klingmann took over from Al-Zubair with the sole target of moving up the field and he managed to sneak ahead of James Kell in the CSA Racing McLaren following the driver changeovers after 23 laps.
Lulham continued to lead from Louis Prette in the Garage 59 McLaren as the opening Sprint race headed into its closing stages and on to the chequered flag. Klingmann held on to secure a fifth-place finish for the Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT BMW after 42 laps of racing.
Race two took place in similar cool and overcast conditions in the afternoon. Klingmann took the wheel for the first stint and quickly settled into fourth place behind the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari, the Saintéloc Racing Audi and the Tresor Attempto Racing Audi.
Full course yellows failed to prevent Klingmann from maintaining his position but the damage was done at the driver changeover when the Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT delivered the strategy to perfection and Al-Zubair hit the front.
The Omani continued to lead from the defending champions, Saintéloc Racing, and overcame another full course yellow to win race two with a margin of just under three seconds to Thierry Vermeulen and Chris Lulham in the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 after 37 laps.
Al-Zubair and Klingmann carried out free practice on Saturday morning and ran the Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT BMW for 30 laps. The team carded a best lap of 1min 24.186sec that put them fifth of the Gold Cup runners. The Emil Frey Racing Ferrari topped the times with a tour of 1min 23.178sec.
Pre-qualifying was next on the agenda but the Al-Manar Racing duo could only manage a best lap of 1min 24.720sec and the bragging rights from the Gold Cup session went to the Garage 59 McLaren with a time of 1min 24.122sec.
Qualifying was split into two sessions and Al-Zubair managed six laps in Q1. The Omani carded a best tour of 1min 24.626sec and that put him in sixth in the stint with Thierry Vermeuelen winning Q1 for Emil Frey Racing with a lap of 1min 23.374sec.
Klingmann faired slightly better in Q2 and was classified in fifth of the Gold Cup runners with a best lap of 1min 24.012sec with Chris Lulham winning the stint for Emil Frey Racing to claim pole position for the first of the two one-hour sprint races.
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