(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) It was a case of so near yet so far for the Oman Racing team in the second round of the 2018 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in UK on Sunday.
Having qualified in a season-best third place for the main three-hour race earlier on Sunday, the trio of Muscat-based Ahmad al Harthy, Euan McKay and Charlie Eastwood, looked set to finish on the podium in their 'home' race only to see their hopes dashed in the final hour when Eastwood had an unfortunate contact with a fellow rival to slip in the standings.
A quick repair job in the pits ensured the Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 car was back on tracks and despite a late push, the Oman Racing, powered by TF Sport, could manage a fifth place in the Silver class.
The R-Motorsport Aston Martin V12 Vantage team scored a dominant overall victory from pole position with the trio of Matthieu Vaxiviere, Jake Dennis and Nicki Thiim winning by almost 11 seconds. Oman Racing finished an overall 39th among the 55-car grid.
In the Silver Cup class, the Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG crew of Abdulaziz al Faisal, Hubert Haupt and Gabriele Piana, took the top spot.
The contact took place with the 30 minutes left as Eastwood was involved in contact with a rival Lamborghini car. The damage forced the No 97 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 a pit visit. Significant chunk of time was lost and Oman Racing dropped from third to sixth place as it resumed the race.
'We showed this weekend we could be on the podium, we were fighting for it with less than 45 minutes to go,' said Harthy.
'I don't know what happened in Charlie's stint. There was an incident and the car had to come in to the pits, which made it difficult for a podium finish.
'Our pace throughout the race was strong. In my session it was busy traffic and I had to keep out of trouble to make sure I gave the best spot to my teammate. Euan did a really great job in his stint while Charlie was doing well till the unfortunate incident.
'We're showing our speed, we need to put it all together for the elusive podium.'
Earlier in final qualifying session, Ahmad took the first stint and produced a best time of 1m58.771 seconds which was secured before a red flag stoppage due to a car off the circuit.
McKay got behind the wheel of the Aston Martin in second session and lapped with a best of 1m57.840 seconds – the fastest Silver Cup competitor at that point. Eastwood then took the final session and delivered a time just a fraction better than the one McKay managed, a lap of 1m57.834 seconds.
Taking the best average from the three drivers, Oman Racing ended qualifying third quickest in Silver, its best show so far in the season.
Ahmad took the first stint of the three-hour race from an elevated second in Silver, due to a penalty for a rival, and handed to McKay at third place.
McKay threaded back into the race in sixth position before producing some impressive lap times. Running 4.5 seconds shy of second place as the second pit-window neared, McKay stayed out on track and moved through into the lead of Silver as others pitted. When he stopped with 55 minutes to go, Eastwood took over and joined the race in third position.
With only 35 minutes to go, a tangle with one of the Lamborghinis resulted in damage to the Aston Martin to derail Oman Racing hopes of a podium.
The third round of the Blancpain Endurance Cup season, the annual 1,000km 'into the night' race at Paul Ricard in southern France will be held on June 2.
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