Ahmad Al Harthy produced a solid performance in qualifying for Rounds 11 and 12 of the 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Snetterton. Returning to action after a seven week break since the last rounds at Croft, the Redline Racing star performed well to secure fourth place in Pro-Am 1 for both rounds.
Al Harthy, who is backed by Oman Air, National Bank of Oman, Nawras, Brand Oman and Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, posted a best time of 1m09.881 seconds to get fourth for race one. This was remarkably matched to the exact 1,000th of a second by his team mate and Pro-Am 1 rival Archie Hamilton, though Al Harthy was given the position after setting the time first. His second best time of 1m09.907 seconds secured him the same position for the second race.
The session remained dry, despite dark clouds covering the sky, and was interrupted twice by stoppages. The second led to the session finishing five minutes early, though Al Harthy had already parked up in the garage by this point, deciding to reserve his tyres for raceday.
“We took a gamble by not going out for the last few minutes and that paid off, hopefully I should have fresher tyres for the races”, said the 28-year old Omani racer, “I'm pleased with our pace today, the goal was to qualify in the top four in Pro-Am 1 and we've done that so I'm very happy.”
Al Harthy heads into the races lying fourth in the Pro-Am 1 standings, 16 points behind Tony Gilham in third and 45 points off class leader Ollie Jackson. Gilham begins both races one place ahead of Al Harthy, so the Middle Eastern driver will be hoping to get past quickly and gain some points on his rival.
