Al-Manar Racing's Al Zubair and Klingmann aim to round off Sprint Series campaign on winning note in Valencia

Sports Tuesday 16/September/2025 18:18 PM
By: Times News Service
Al-Manar Racing's Al Zubair and Klingmann aim to round off Sprint Series campaign on winning note in Valencia

Valencia: Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair and Jens Klingmann round off their challenge for honours in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Series at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo Valencia in Spain this weekend. 

The BMW M4 GT3 EVO pair are in confident mood after their stunning Gold Cup category at the penultimate round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS at the Nürburgring at the end of August. 

They were also in form at the last round of the Sprint Series at Magny-Cours in France at the start of August, where they earned second and fourth-place finishes in the two Sprint races. They are currently classified in fifth in both the Teams’ and Drivers’ Championships. 

Oman-based Al-Zubair said: “Very excited to get it going again and get to the final round of the Sprint series, the penultimate round of the whole championship. We are in a solid position now but, coming off the win at the Nürburgring, our momentum heading into the final two rounds is strong.

“Hopefully, we can end the Sprint and the Endurance championships on a high note, The team has been getting stronger and stronger. I hope we can cement in more good result and bring back more podiums this weekend. That is the goal and to gain as many points as possible.”

All Sprint titles across the four classes will be decided in Valencia, where the race weekend has attracted a 40-car grid. 

Emil Frey Racing’s Chris Lulham and Thierry Vermeulen lead the Gold Cup category on 90 points from Saintéloc Racing (87.5pts) and the Garage 59 Team (80pts). Tresor Attempto Racing (73pts) and Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT remain fifth with 68.5 points. 

This will be the fourth time the series has visited the 4.005km circuit after previous visits in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Located in neighbouring Cheste, Circuit Ricardo Tormo Valencia was built in 1999 and is named after the late Spanish two-time world champion motorcycle racer Ricardo Tormo. The circuit is well known as a host venue for MotoGP.

The GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Series shares the circuit this weekend with the GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli, the Porsche Carrera Cup France and the Clio Cup Series. 

Private testing is permitted on the Spanish circuit on Thursday for GTWC entrants but the first official free practice session takes centre stage from 09.40hrs on Friday (September 19th). Pre-qualifying rounds off the day’s action at 15.00hrs. 

Qualifying for the first of the Sprint races is scheduled for 09.00hrs on Saturday morning and the first Sprint race fires into life at 14.00hrs. Sunday’s action follows a similar timetable with Q2 at 09.00hrs and the second race getting the green light at 14.00hrs. 

SPRINT SERIES
TEAMS – latest Gold Cup standings
1. Emil Frey Racing 90pts
2. Saintéloc Racing 87.5pts
3. Garage 59 80pts
4. Tresor Attempto Racing 73pts
5. Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT 68.5pts
6. Barwell Motorsport 15pts
7. CSA Racing 9pts

DRIVERS – latest Gold Cup standings
1. Chris Lulham/Thierry Vermeulen 90pts
2. Gilles Magnus/Paul Evrard 87.5pts
3. Louis Prette 80pts
4. Sebastian Øgaard/Leonardo Moncini 73pts
5. Al-Faisal Al-Zubair/Jens Klingmann 68.5pts
6. Thomas Fleming 54.5pts
7. Adam Smalley 25.5pts
8. Bijoy Garg/Ricky Collard 15pts
9. Arthur Rougier/James Kell 9pts