MEDIA INFORMATION
Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS
Round 2 – Paul Ricard 1000km, June 3rd-5th, 2022
For immediate release
Sunday, June 5th, 2022
AL-ZUBAIR, SCHILLER AND JEFFRIES SNATCH STUNNING SILVER CATEGORY
WIN IN FANATEC GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE RACE AT PAUL RICARD
PAUL RICARD (FRANCE): Oman’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair, Germany’s Fabian Schiller and Zimbabwe’s Axcil Jeffries sealed a stunning victory in the Silver category and finished a superb seventh overall at the six-hour Paul Ricard 1000km, round two of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS. They now lead the prestigious endurance series by two points.
The trio teamed up to drive a Mercedes-AMG GT3 running under the Al-Manar Racing by HRT banner for the second time and held third place for long periods before moving up to take the lead and the eventual win in the latter stages of the demanding race on the French circuit.
Al-Zubair said: “It was a very good race, with P7 overall and P1 in Silver. This is definitely something to be very proud of. It’s our second race in the championship and, with such experienced drivers and 18 Pro line-ups, it’s definitely a special result for us. We are happy and it’s a great way to go into the next round at Spa. We are excited for that.”
The trio had qualified the Mercedes in third place for the Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS round that started at 18.00hrs and finished at midnight. Al-Zubair took the wheel for the first stint and the Omani stayed out on the track for the first two hours of the race, the talented youngster holding fourth after 19 laps and moving back up to third after 27 laps and just under an hour of the race.
By the end of the first hour, he was out in front in the Silver category, before dropping back to third after 42 laps and around 80 minutes of the race. The Mercedes maintained third through the driver change, where Al-Zubair was replaced by Jeffries, who also maintained third behind the Attempto Racing Audi and the Akkodis ASP Mercedes through 102 laps and three and a half hours of the race.
Schiller took over for the final stint and the German was able to move to the front heading into the final hour, with 150 laps on the board and the Akkodis ASP Mercedes a mere 7.652 seconds behind in second place and the Team WRT Audi a further 11 seconds adrift.
Schiller extended the gap to 10.562 seconds after 158 laps and reached the chequered flag after 176 laps to secure the win.
The Al Manar Racing trio had finished fourth in the Silver category in the free practice session, with a fastest lap of 1min 55.544sec putting them a mere 0.624sec off the fastest time set by Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer, Benjamin Goethe and Thomas Neubauer in their Team WRT Audi R8 LMS.
Al-Zubair, Schiller and Jeffries faired better in the pre-qualifying session and a lap of 1min 54.902sec put them second in the Silver category behind Marius Zug, Nicolas Schöll and Alex Aka in their Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS.
The all-important three qualifying sessions took place on Saturday morning. Michele Beretta, Yuki Nemoto and Benja Hites topped the Silver times in Q1 with a best tour of 1min 54.500sec in their VSR Lamborghini Huracan. Al-Zubair, Schiller and Jeffries were classified in fourth with a best run of 1min 54.859sec.
The Al Manar Racing trio were down in eighth in the Q2 session with a lap of 1min 54.750sec, with Konsta Lappalainen, Tuomas Tujula and Stuart White topping the Silver category times in an Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini.
Simmenauer, Goethe and Neubauer ran fastest in Q3 and the third fastest lap of 1min 54.304sec put Al-Zubair, Schiller and Jeffries up to third in the session.
With the lap times combined from the three qualifying sessions, the Al Manar Racing Mercedes qualified in third in the Silver category behind the Team WRT Audi and the Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini. They were also classified in a highly respectable 13th place on the 53-car grid.
The 24 Hours of Spa takes place on July 28th-31st.
2022 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe
Silver Championship – current positions:
1. Al Faisal Al-Zubair/Axcil Jeffries/Fabian Schiller 43pts
2. Benjamin Goethe/Thomas Neubauer/Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer 41pts
3. Thomas Drouet/Tommaso Mosca/Casper Stevenson 24pts
4. Louis Proctor/Finlay Hutchinson/Diego Menchaca 23pts
5. Aurelian Panis/Cesar Gazeau/Nicolas Baert 21pts
Ends
For further information:
Firas Nimri, Tel: + 962 7 7728 2000, E-mail: firas@nimri.com.
Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS (gt-world-challenge-europe.com)