Friday 09 / May / 2025
Muscat: Oman’s Ahmad Al Harthy is gearing up for the undoubted biggest race on the global motorsport calendar this coming weekend, 15th/16th June, when the Team WRT driver contests the renowned 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second time in his glittering career.
After starring at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France during last year’s staging of the endurance classic, where he achieved a sensational second place finish in class on his debut before declaring it the ‘proudest day’ of his racing career, Al Harthy is now relishing his fresh challenge for the 2024 race.
As part of his first season competing with Team WRT and driving the BMW M4 LMGT3, which has an eye-catching new livery for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Omani is setting his sights high for the big race which also acts as round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Fourth in the LMGT3 points table ahead of this week’s twice-round-the-clock spectacular with star team-mates Maxime Martin and Valentino Rossi, Al Harthy has delivered some outstanding drives thus far in 2024 and has also shone in qualifying.
Notably progressing to Hyperpole at all three FIA WEC race meetings so far contested, with a season-best qualifying of second place at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium last time out, the Omani has been in impressive form all year and has adapted to the BMW very well indeed.
In the races, the trio took fourth place at Losail in Qatar during round one of the campaign and then claimed a maiden podium with second in LMGT3 at Imola in Italy in round two. At Spa last month, an unfortunate retirement resulted from contact where Al Harthy was the innocent party.
Le Mans, of course, is the grandest race in world motorsport and after such an impressive debut in the event last year – where Al Harthy made history with his performance, proudly flying the flag of Oman on the podium – he is carrying high hopes into the coming week’s preparations.
Featuring a combined entry of more than 60 cars, with 23 cars in LMGT3, the coming weekend’s encounter will be one of the absolute highlights of the racing year and Al Harthy is determined to deliver pride and success for his home nation and prestigious partners OQ, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Omantel and BMW Oman.
Ahmad Al Harthy:
“I’m so pleased to be back at Le Mans and really looking forward to this year’s race and all of the build-up throughout the week, especially with Team WRT and BMW for the first time. It’s always an honour and pleasure to race at one of the biggest events in the world and, for sure, I have very good memories of the Le Mans 24 Hours from last year where we finished second.
“We started the week with the Prologue on Sunday, then we head into official testing later in the week, qualifying andhopefully we can progress to Hyperpole once again. I’mproud to represent Oman for the second time in the world’s premier endurance race, seeing the flag is always such strong motivation and it is the biggest honour to represent Oman in such a huge and important race.
“I am very much looking forward to welcoming our incredible partners and supporters to this amazing race weekend, we are obviously aiming for the best result we can achieve and I know all of the guys in the team are ready and determined to do the best job we possibly can.”
Opening free practice at the Circuit de la Sarthe will get underway at 14.00 local time on Wednesday, 12th June, with first qualifying following at 19.00, ahead of second practice at 22.00. On Thursday, 13th June, third practice is scheduled to start at 15.00 local time with Hyperpole at 20.00 and the fourth and final ‘night’ practice at 22.00.
Following a day’s rest, the 24 Hours of Le Mans competitors will undertake a warm-up session at 12.00 local time on Saturday, 15th June, ahead of the start of the big race at 16.00.
FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 Driver Standings (after Rd3)
1st Aliaksander Malykhin / Joel Sturm / Klaus Bachler, 72pts
2nd Augusto Farfus / Darren Leung / Sean Gelael, 37pts
3rd Alex Riberas / Daniel Mancinelli / Ian James, 37pts
4th Ahmad Al Harthy / Maxime Martin / Valentino Rossi, 36pts
5th Clement Mateu / Erwan Bastard / Marco Sorenson, 30pts
