(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) It was a dream start for Oman Racing to its 2017 season at the world-renowned Monza circuit in Italy on Sunday. The duo of Ahmad al Harthy and Jonny Adam came up with impressive pace to finish second in the pre-qualifying session on Saturday.
And then, Adam produced a top-class performance to emerge the fastest in the qualifying of Pro-Am Cup in the opening round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup at the Three Hours of Monza on Sunday morning.Driving the No 97 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 car, Adam clocked one minute 47. 807 seconds to claim the Pro-Am Cup pole and put Oman Racing at an impressive seventh place overall in a grid of 50 cars.
AF Corse's Alessandro Pier Guidi in Ferrari 488 GT3 proved to be fastest overall in the qualifying as he sealed the pole in the dying seconds of the session, edging in front of Norbert Siedler (Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini) and Davide Rigon (SMP Racing Ferrari).
A file photo of Oman Racing drivers, Ahmad al Harthy (right) and Jonny Adam in Muscat
Never before has qualifying for a Blancpain GT Series round been so close - at the end of third and final qualifying - no fewer than 32 cars were separated by less than a second. As usual, the last 15 minutes of qualifying were key for the determination of the starting grid. Despite a tight qualifying in the Pro-Am Cup grid positions, the Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin was the only Pro-Am Cup team to qualify in the top-12 overall.
Adam proved to be some two tenths quicker than the Spirit of Race Ferrari of Andrea Bertolini and the Sainteloc Racing Audi of Christopher Haase in the final qualifying. With nine cars inside the 32 that were within the same second, it is clear that the fight for Pro-Am honours will be tough as well.
Earlier on Saturday, Adam ended the day second fastest in his class during pre-qualifying session behind Haase, who was one tenth of a second quicker.
After the second-place in pre-qualifying on Saturday, Ahmad said, 'It's been a good start but we know there's a lot more work to do.'
'Overall, we're very pleased with how the weekend has started. We've been working on race pace and qualifying settings. It was busy on track, it always is in Blancpain, but our day went smoothly and everyone at the team is working really well together. The guys are doing a great job and the car is fantastic.'
Ahmad began his weekend on Friday during the 'Bronze Test' where he was the pace-setter in Pro-Am and second quickest overall. In the subsequent free practice on Saturday morning, the Oman Racing Aston Martin was placed ninth fastest in Pro-Am before climbing the order in pre-qualifying.
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