(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) In less than three weeks time, Sakhir circuit in Bahrain will be hosting the Formula One race and the city seems ready and decked up to welcome the F1 stars. With a series of events lined up for next month's Grand Prix, excitement seems to be building up.
Adding to the thrill of motorsports lovers in Bahrain on Friday was the fifth round and ninth race of the 2017-18 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East Series.
Amid lot of drama and thrill, Oman's talented Al Faisal al Zubair came up with a solid performance to set himself up closer to his maiden championship title with a runner-up finish after his main rival, Tom Oliphant of Great Britain, floundered and failed to finish the race following a contact with Al Faisal in lap three.
Luxembourg driver Dylan Pereira avoided drama on the track to take his second win of the season.
Al Faisal al Zubair drives his car during round five at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, on Friday
Al Faisal's podium finish in a high-octane race saw him go top of the championship standings with 196 points with three races left. Oliphant, who retired after the contact, is close behind with 192. Drivers can drop their two worst scores of the season in the 12-race series.
It means the tenth race of the fifth round on Saturday could be a key battle between the two drivers with pressure on Oliphant, who had earlier announced that he would not be participating in the sixth and final round, which would be part of F1 weekend as a support race.
Glynn Geddie of Scotland finished a distant third on a day when Oman's other racer, Khalid al Wahaibi, was unlucky to be forced out for no fault of his after climbing to fifth place from his eighth spot in just two laps.
The 17 year old Khalid saw himself enter turn one on the restart with Magnus Öhman of Sweden and Isa al Khalifa of Bahrain either side of him after a safety car had been brought in following lap three incident.
Only Öhman came out of the turn, with Khalid and Isa forced to pull over in the fifth lap. South African Saul Hack also paid the price of their collision as he was caught in the aftermath, forcing him to also post a DNF (did not finish).
Al Faisal kept his focus and finished where he started, in second place, and appeared satisfied with his speed and performance.
The Omani clocked impressive lap times in practice and qualifying, and will hope to finish strong on Saturday evening to shut out Oliphant in their joint pursuit of the title.
In his remarks to Muscat Daily after the race, Al Faisal said, 'Initially I had to focus on defending my position against Oliphant going into the first turn. He was closing the gap right behind me and on the final turn he went to the inside.
'I gave him room, but there was contact and he left the track. I continued as my damage wasn't that bad.
'Glynn [Geddie] was quick behind me too, and put me under quite a bit of pressure. He drove well and I am pleased for him as he managed to get his first podium finish of the season.
'I'm also satisfied that I managed to get the car back today, as the points are vital for me at this stage of the season for my title hopes.'
Al Faisal said, 'Tomorrow, I will try to play safe as my podium finish today has raised my title hopes. I will look for another podium finish.'
Oman's Khalid al Wahaibi in action during round five of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East in Bahrain on Friday
A disappointed Khalid said, 'I made a great start to the race coming from P8 to P5 in two laps. That was exactly what we wanted. I got in front of two cars off the start. I was aiming to close out the race in P5, or even P4, but it was not meant to be today.
'I got hit off into turn one after a restart and there was nothing I could do about it. These difficult times is where you learn from mistakes or bad things or learn to improve. Hopefully, I can do better in the second race.'
Earlier, Oliphant had won the morning's practice session with a fastest lap of 2min 03.22sec during an eight-lap stint.
Both Al Faisal and Khalid made cautious starts with the former carding a best time of 2min 03.810sec to slot into sixth position and Khalid finishing 12th, seventh of the Silver drivers and second rookie.
However, it was qualifying that mattered and Al Faisal delivered the good when it mattered to qualify in second position behind the experienced Pereira for the first of the races with a fastest time of 2min 02.745sec. Oliphant was third and Charlie Frijns qualified in fourth.
Khalid also showed a marked improvement in the qualifying session and his fastest lap of 2min 04.031sec gave him third of the Silver drivers behind Daniel Lu and Magnus Oehman and second rookie.
A total of 18 drivers from 14 different countries took part in the 12-lap race.
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