Muscat – BMW M4 LMGT3 racer Ahmad al Harthy produced a fantastic showing in FIA World Endurance Championship round six qualifying at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday to progress the number 46 car to Hyperpole – where Valentino Rossi then secured fourth on the grid.

Oman’s Al Harthy was in superb form in the opening 12-minute session at the Texan track, only the second visit of his motorsport career to the USA, and was in the battle for Hyperpole throughout for Team WRT in changeable conditions.

“It just really felt good, the change of conditions really helped the car. Every lap meant you had to improve and I was really glad that I could,” said Al Harthy.

“The main objective was to put it in the top 10, so finishing P2 in my session was definitely more than we expected. For Vale to then put the car on the second row of the grid demonstrated our car really does work will in those conditions. We know it’s going to be a very tough race, and we know the pace can drastically change during the race, so we have to just be realistic at the same time and try to do the best we can as both a team and as a package.”

The team had built up progressively during three free practice sessions, and the set-up for qualifying enabled Al Harthy to fully maximise his performance. Starting off with a bedding in lap of 2m25.897 seconds, he then reduced that time by three seconds the next time around to sit sixth fastest.

Improving further with the tyres coming up to temperature more on his penultimate lap of the session, the OQ Group, Sohar International, Omantel, Oman LNG, BMW Oman, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth and Experience Oman backed driver posted a time of 2m17.801 seconds.

He then found almost another half second on his last lap of the session with light rain in the air to shoot to the top of the timing screens with an effort of 2m13.371 seconds, but was ultimately edged back to a nonetheless excellent second fastest to carry the No.46 BMW forward into Hyperpole.

There, Italian team-mate Rossi took over driving duties and he produced the quickest time of 2m08.972 seconds to secure the fourth best time and a very well deserved second row grid start for the ‘Lone Star Le Mans’.

Al Harthy and Rossi will be joined for the six-hour race by regular team-mate Kelvin van der Linde and the trio will be aiming to mount a strong bid for silverware and a large helping of LMGT3 championship points.