(MENAFN- Gulf Times) This coming weekend the third round of the FIA Endurance Series takes place in the Netherlands in the Zandvoort 12hr. Some 50 GT, touring cars and 24H Specials will be on the grid for the race at the famous Grand Prix circuit on the Dutch North Sea coast.
Still buoyant after his successful debut in the Dubai 24hr, where Qatar's Amro al-Hamad and his team won second-place podium finish in the SP2 class, he has joined MARC cars racing team from Australia once again.
Having missed the second round in Mugello, al-Hamad is relishing the chance to get back behind the wheel again. Juggling high pressure work commitments and racing goes hand in hand for the thrill-seeking Qatari as he travels the world for his work commitments at Shell Qatar as an equipment engineer and also for his passion for sportsbikes and competitive free diving as an instructor in Qatar. During his visit to the region for some pre-race fitness preparation, Amro took some time out to test out the world's deepest diving pool at Nemo33 in Belgium, free diving up to depths of 33m.
"I am so looking forward to join the MARC Cars Australia team as I have enjoyed the experience with them during the 24 hours of Dubai race. I saw the level of professionalism and engineering involved in building these cars, along with the hard-working team behind the scenes making these cars immaculate endurance machines ready to take a 12 hours or a 24 hours race with ease. The rest goes to the drivers to keep the cars on the track without any incidents," he said.
The 12hr race will be split up into two parts due to noise regulations: the first three hours of the race will take place tomorrow afternoon, with the remaining nine hours to be run on Saturday, May 30, followed by a spectacular beach party with prize-giving ceremony in the evening.
MARC Cars Team, have been performing very well with their recently developed 500 BHP Ford Focus 5.0Ltr V8, specialised for endurance racing. The team has previously contested the Zandvoort 12HR, Zolder and Barcelona 24HR events and the Bathurst and Hungary 12 hour with excellent results.
"I will be sharing the car with James Kaye the former BTCC champion from the UK and Ben Gersekowski Australia's Formula 3 front runner and Gary Jacobsen.
"This will be my first race ever European race at Zandvoort Circuit in the Netherlands. The track is quiet technical without many visual markers and the run off areas are limited, leaving no space for error and is less forgiving than the usual tracks we have in the Middle East. Combining this with fact that it's a right hand drive car, we could experience harsh weather conditions and the various other challenges of endurance racing will make it very exciting."
Qualifying takes place tomorrow with the first part of the race running later that day between 4pm and 7pm. The remainder of the race will commence on Saturday at 8:43 am finishing at 5:45pm.
The race will be broadcast live on Motors TV. With a live stream and commentary by the team from Radiolemans.com, the coverage can also be accessed on the series' website, www.24hseries.com, and on the series' Youtube channel. Regular updates are also available on Twitter (@24HSeries) and Facebook (24H Series).
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