Monday 04 / August / 2025
MUSCAT: Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair and Jens Klingmann followed up a superb second place in the Gold Cup category in the first Sprint race with fourth position in race two at the latest round of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Series at Magny-Cours in France.
The BMW M4 GT3 EVO duo initially finished third in race one and were promoted to second after a post-race penalty was applied to one of their Gold Cup rivals. The duo started at the rear of the Gold Cup grid for race two but managed to move up two positions to take points for fourth place.
Oman-based Al-Zubair said: “It was a tough weekend. It was difficult. I think we maximised what we had with the BMW. Comparing to some of the other manufacturers it was almost impossible to do any better. Saying that, it’s good points for the championship but, at this rate, we are a little out of hand.
“P2 was good yesterday. I don’t think we could have done any better. We were slower than the other cars. In Sprint we are fourth now in the championship. We were strong in testing here and we get 30kg more (weight penalty) and 30mm more. It depends what we get for the final round.”
The result now means that Emil Frey Racing’s Chris Lulham and Thierry Vermeulen lead the series on 90 points from Saintéloc Racing (87.5pts) and the Garage 59 Team (80pts). Tresor Attempto Racing (73pts) and Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT remain fifth with 68.5 points.
Emil Frey Racing topped the times in free practice on Friday morning with a best lap of 1min 37.472sec in a session where Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT struggled a little down in sixth place with a best lap of 1min 38.559sec.
Pre-qualifying followed on Friday evening and the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini topping the times with a 1min 44.691sec run. Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT used the session to dial in the BMW and find the optimum setting for first qualifying on Saturday afternoon.
Klingmann took part in the first qualifying session and a best run of 1min 36.921sec gave the German fourth place on the grid behind the pole-winning Chris Lulham of Emil Frey Racing, the Garage 59 McLaren and Saintéloc Racing’s Audi. Tresor Attempto Racing and Barwell Motorsport line duo in fifth and sixth on the grid for the first of the one-hour Sprint races in the evening.
Klingmann took the wheel for the first stint in Sprint race one and made good progress with the car well-placed in third after the driver changeover with Al-Zubair taking the wheel. Lulham’s start from pole position came to nothing after the Emil Frey Racing driver was the innocent victim of a collision at the Adelaide hairpin on the opening lap of the race.
Al-Zubair went on to put in a superb stint behind the wheel of the BMW under the lights and was rewarded with second place in the final results of the race behind Louis Prette in the Garage 59 McLaren after a post-race penalty had been applied to one of his rivals that lifted the BMW up a place in the rankings. The Tresor Attempto Racing Audi rounded off the podium places. The result also lifted Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT back into title contention.
Al-Zubair carded a best lap of 1min 37.269sec in the second qualifying session for Sprint race two and that put the Al-Manar Racing BMW in sixth place on the starting grid for the Gold Cup runners. Pole position went to the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari with a time of 1min 36.107sec.
Al-Zubair made a strong start, quickly passed Sebastian Øgaard in the Tresor Attempto Racing Adi to snatch fifth place and set his sights on the Garage 59 McLaren. But the Omani was repassed by the Audi and had to come back from sixth place again.
The driver changeover ran smoothly and Klingmann settled into fifth position with just under half an hour remaining. He managed to pass Bijoy Garg in the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini and set his sights on third-placed Leonardo Moncini in the Tresor Attempto Racing Audi.
A full course yellow hampered any thoughts of progress towards the end of the race but action did resume with a few minutes remaining on the clock. Klingmann retained fourth place to the chequered flag with the win falling to Saintéloc Racing from the Garage 59 team and Tresor Attempto Racing.
Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT returns to action for the next round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at the Nürburgring in Germany on August 29th-31st.
TEAMS – latest Gold Cup standings
1. Emil Frey Racing 90pts
2. Saintéloc Racing 87.5pts
3. Garage 59 80pts
4. Tresor Attempto Racing 73pts
5. Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT 68.5pts
6. Barwell Motorsport 15pts
7. CSA Racing 9pts
DRIVERS – latest Gold Cup standings
1. Chris Lulham/Thierry Vermeulen 90pts
2. Gilles Magnus/Paul Evrard 87.5pts
3. Louis Prette 80pts
4. Sebastian Øgaard/Leonardo Moncini 73pts
5. Al-Faisal Al-Zubair/Jens Klingmann 68.5pts
6. Thomas Fleming 54.5pts
7. Adam Smalley 25.5pts
8. Bijoy Garg/Ricky Collard 15pts
9. Arthur Rougier/James Kell 9pts
