Wrotham based Oman Racing Team secured a top four finish at the opening round of the Blancpain Endurance Series last weekend. 

It represents a good finish for Motorbase at the Monza Autodromo Nazionale circuit in the Pro-Am class. The #44 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, driven by Ahmad Al Harthy, Devon Modell and AMR works driver Jonny Adam faced a fantastic grid of 57 GT3 cars on the world-famous Italian circuit and the new look line-up delivered an impressive team performance, just narrowly missing out on a podium spot.

A strong start to the weekend during Saturday’s free practice and pre-qualifying sessions rolled over into Sunday morning’s qualifying session with the #44 Aston securing 13^th position on the grid, 6^th in class and just 0.264 seconds off pole in the hugely competitive field.

Al Harthy took the opening stint and immediately set to work moving the Oman-backed Aston up through the order and had expertly made his way up into the top ten as the field completed the second lap. The Omani continued to battle his way through the Pro-Cup competitors with an outstanding drive up into 6^th place overall and 2^nd in class as the first mandatory pit stops took place.

Handing over to Modell after lap 31, the pit-stop reshuffle saw the Aston re-join the race in 15th overall, 3^rd in class and the 25-year-old drove a strong stint, maintaining position as the race progressed to briefly take the Pro-Am lead before the final round of pit spots.

Aston Martin works driver Adam took over the final driving duties with just under an hour remaining on the clock and the Scotsman quickly went to work to try to close in on the top three Pro-Am spot. Unfortunately the pace of the Ferrari’s proved too much for the Aston in the closing laps and the Motorbase-powered Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 crossed the line in 13^th overall to take 4^th in class.

Speaking after the weekend, Adam said: “It was a fantastic weekend for us and to come away from the opening round with points in the bag at this early stage is great for the team. It was so close all weekend, it’s unusual to go into a championship as big as the Blancpain with all of the cars so evenly matched and the Aston competed really well against the newer cars. Ahmad’s opening stint really set the tone for the race and we were so close to getting our first podium, but to get 4^th in class was a great result against such tough competition.

“The boys did a great job with the car as always, it ran faultlessly all weekend. We’re all really looking forward to the next round now as our home round at Silverstone. The Aston should suit the circuit really well and we’ll be aiming to get a couple of trophies next time out.”

The Oman Racing Team returns to the track for its home race on May 14-15 as the Blancpain Endurance Series heads to the Home of British Motorsport, Silverstone, for its only UK visit on the calendar.

Images courtesy of PM Images