Ahmad Al Harthy maintained his top three position in the Pro-Am 1 Class standings, despite two tough races around the Snetterton 300 circuit, which saw the Porsche Carrera Cup GB racer barged out of potential podium finishes in both.
The Omain Air Racing Team driver starting the opening race from second in class, but he slipped to third behind Derek Pierce initially. Al Harthy ran right on his tail and despite being clearly quicker, couldn't find a way past. As the race headed towards its end, Ahmad lost third place to Rory Butcher, but when his rivals made contact on the penultimate lap, he shot past to get into second. On the final lap though, a late passing attempt by Alex Martin knocked Ahmad off circuit, the Oman racer recovering to sixth position.
The second race saw Ahmad make a great start and move into third in class, however he dropped back to fourth when boxed out at the hairpin. After a short safety car period, Ahmad ran in a tight four car battle, with Pierce ahead. On the final lap, he tried a move around the outside at Agostini, but he was subsequently knocked off circuit, ending up seventh in class.
Ahmad said: “We lost a lot of points this weekend which is very disappointing for everyone at the Oman Air Racing Team. Actually though, I'm ok with it as I know there's nothing I could have done about the two incidents today. I didn't do anything wrong, I raced fairly as I always do and I was just taken out of both races.
“It's very frustrating but, at the same time, these things happen in motor racing. I really wanted to be on the podium this weekend and we had the pace for sure. Even though qualifying was tough with a lot of traffic we still had a chance to be on the podium in the races. We look forward now though to the next two rounds at Knockhill – hopefully we'll be back on the podium there.”
