Muscat – OQ by Oman Racing achieved an incredible outright victory in round four of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup at Monza in Italy on Sunday – one of the proudest moments of Ahmad al Harthy’s glittering motorsport career.

When a chaotic opening lap with a series of multi-car incidents resulted in the No.30 BMW M4 having to pit with damage, hopes of a Bronze class podium, let alone a challenge for outright victory in the three-hour race, looked unthinkable.

But inspired strategy from Team WRT, the squad which prepares and runs the OQ by Oman Racing entry, meant the car – in the hands of Sam De Haan for the first stint – made no fewer than three pit visits while the Safety Car was circulating following the lap one dramas.

Enabling the BMW to have repairs facilitated, while vitally remaining on the lead lap, importantly it also meant they had begun to clear the three mandatory timed pit stops that each entry had to serve during the race. Pain at the beginning led to sheer joy at the chequered flag thanks to steely focus, determination, faultless driving and nothing short of genius from Team WRT.

In addition to the stunning overall result, it is also the first Bronze class win for Al Harthy, De Haan and Jens Klingmann and the trio have become the first non-Pro class line-up, and maiden Bronze line-up to claim an Endurance Cup win outright. For Team WRT, it marks the outfit’s first race win in the Endurance Cup with BMW.

“Unbelievable, unbelievable – I can’t actually believe what happened! History, absolute history. It’s amazing to take this win, I am over the moon,” said Al Harthy.

“This means so much to everybody in the team, to Oman, to our incredible sponsors and I would like to dedicate this remarkable win to His Highness Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham bin Tarik al-Said of the Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth.

 “We actually had this plan drawn up, we said if it works it works and if it doesn’t we’ll look like we’ve done something wrong! It worked, it worked perfectly well, this was a team effort. Our engineer Will came up with the plan, he did an amazing job as well. This what racing is about, you know, you have to really work together as a team and today we proved that, like nobody else could have.

“We out-performed everybody, a huge grid of the most professional teams and drivers. To win it with OQ by Oman Racing, our first win with BMW, and to win our class and the race overall really is unbelievable. I am so proud to see the Oman flag fly high here in Monza, I cannot describe it. I also want to thank His Highness Sayyid Nazar Al Julanda Majid Alsaid, the Omani Ambassador to Italy, for attending the race and for his support along with that of everyone from OQ and all our partners.”

The fifth and final round of the GTWCE Endurance Cup season will be held on November 29 and 30, in Saudi Arabia – the 6 Hours of Jeddah. Before that on November 2, Al Harthy will bring the curtain down on his 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign at Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir.