Wrotham based Oman Racing Team finished their home round of the Blancpain Edurance Cup on the podium at the weekend. 
It was an excellent comeback for the Kent outfit at Silverstone in the Pro-Am class, in what was an action packed three hour race.
The #44 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, piloted by Ahmad Al Harthy, Devon Modell and Jonny Adam finished 2nd in class narrowly missing out on the top spot after an epic last lap dash to claim the Kent-based squad’s first ever podium finish in the Blancpain Endurance Series. The weekend’s strong results also see the Oman-backed squad move into second place in the Team and Driver standings – a mere three points off the Pro-Am Championship lead.
“I think this weekend was right up there as one of my most enjoyable GT races” commented David Bartrum, Oman Racing Team Principal. “It was a fantastic feeling for the team and the drivers, everyone did a great job. It was great to have so many Omani supporters with us in the garage and to have them supporting Ahmad and the team just added to the atmosphere of the occasion.”
“Getting our first ever Blancpain podium at our home circuit was just brilliant;” Bartrum added. “I think the whole team and the drivers deserved it and we can build from the first two rounds this year. Going forward we’re showing the strength of the team and the drivers and we’re really enjoying our racing.”
After posting competitive times during Saturday’s free practice and pre-qualifying sessions, the Oman Racing Team squad’s hopes of a strong qualifying position looked dismal when a wheel nut failure caused the right rear wheel to come off during Modell’s qualifying run. A swift turnaround by the Motorbase-crew saw Al Harthy set a timed lap in Q2 before handing over to Adam who delivered a class performance in the #44 Vantage to secure 3rd in the Pro-Am class and 10th overall for the afternoon’s three hour race.
Modell took the opening stint racing against many of the best drivers on the grid and the 25-year-old did well to maintain 3rd in class during the opening despite dropping back into 18th overall. Pitting early on in the window, Modell handed the Vantage over to Al Harthy just before the hour mark. A hold up in the pit lane unfortunately saw the #44 slip back into 5th in class, 23rd overall but the Omani immediately set to work moving up through the field and back into podium contention reclaiming 3rd in class by lap 36.
With debris on track the safety car was deployed just before the halfway mark and Al Harthy closed the gap on the second placed Pro-Am #34 Ferrari, running in 18th overall before heading into the pits for the final handover to Adam. A perfectly executed pit stop saw Adam re-join 3rd in class, P20 overall with just over an hour remaining on the clock where he quickly moved past the Ferrari to take 2nd in class. A second extended full course yellow safety car period with just 40 minutes left to run bunched the field up and when the race restarted almost 20 minutes later Adam was in the midst of a nail-biting battle between the leading three Pro-Am cars as the race approached its closing laps.
Trading places with the #56 Mercedes and #74 Audi in the final 10 minutes, the trio raced side by side as they battled hard for Pro-Am honours. Despite struggling with power steering issues, Adam saved the best until last and pulled off an ambitious move from 3rd on the final lap to snatch 2nd in class and 18th place overall for the Oman Racing Team.
Speaking after the weekend, Modell said: “Qualifying didn’t exactly go to plan returning to the pits on the back of a truck with a wheel missing but thankfully it was all upwards from there! Jonny put a mega lap in to put us 10th on the grid and we managed to stay out of trouble and in contention from the start of the race. It was quite hard to watch from the pits at the end, seeing everyone’s reactions in the garages as we battled for places didn’t help anyone’s stress levels but a great race for spectators and a real testament to the racing that it came down to a five lap battle at the end.”
Images courtesy of PM Images