Ahmad Al Harthy of the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 was surprised to qualify towards the front of the LMGT3 field for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday 11 May.
Speaking to Motorsport Week after qualifying third – which was promoted to P2 after the disqualification of the #95 United Autosports McLaren – he said: “Spa is a very tricky circuit, [a] very long circuit… we didn’t expect that, so I’m really delighted with how it panned out.
“It’s a very, very difficult track for race-temps [temperatures] and the tyres are going to be a very crucial part. I think we all know it.
“It’s an endurance, it’s still not a sprint. But for you to win you have to be as close as you can to a sprint pace.
“So there’s a lot that goes into it in terms of teamwork [and] strategies.
“And I hope that we can all have a clean race. It’s a six hour race and you can’t win it in the first corner.
“… So that is also very important – to get everything right. If you don’t, you don’t end up on the podium.”
The circuit hosting the third round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship calendar differs greatly from the previous venue, Imola.
Tyre management in qualifying meant that drivers needed to make their laps count, as only one or two flying laps could be conducted in the pursuit for pole position.
Al Harthy’s lap time of 2:21.138 was under four tenths away from Sarah Bovy’s pole position, and now the podium-scoring #46 starts on the front row for the six-hour race.
The #46 crew, which sees Al Harthy partnered with Maxime Martin and Valentino Rossi, will aim for a consecutive podium finish, although find themselves in the fight with the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3.R behind them.
