Monday 01 / June / 2026
Monza specialist Ahmad Al Harthy celebrated yet another outstanding showing at the legendary Italian track during round two of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup on Sunday, 31st May, with Oman Racing by Century Motorsport’s first podium of 2026.
Thanks to an incredible performance from Al Harthy and team-mates Calan Williams and Javier Sagrera, added to excellent strategy from the team, the No.42 BMW M4 GT3 EVO came through a dramatic and crazy race in some style.
Rising from eighth in the Bronze Cup order, 47th overall on the grid, the OQ, Omantel, Oman LNG, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth and BMW Oman supported entry avoided a multitude of incidents to climb through into third in class and 13th position in the outright order.
Hard work and consistency seals first GTWCE trophy of season
Bright skies and very warm weather greeted the competitors for qualifying on Sunday morning and across the three periods Al Harthy, Sagrera and Williams combined to produce an average best lap which placed the No.42 BMW eighth in the Bronze Cup order.
Williams began the three-hour race, which got underway at 16.00 local time, and while air temperature alone was close to 32 degrees, the run into the first chicane from the rolling start was even hotter as chaos ensued – numerous cars at the front caught-up in an almighty collision.
Triggering an immediate Safety Car period, Williams had managed to safely thread his way through to maintain eighth in Bronze but gain 10 full positions overall to move into 37th place. With the cautionary period underway, the team took the opportunity to complete a pit-stop and when the race resumed 20 minutes later the Australian was eighth in class, but an elevated 17th overall.
Onto lap seven Williams had climbed to fifth in Bronze and 14th overall and he continued to make progress, taking class fourth and 13th place soon after. Quickly catching the Porsche of Ralf Bohn, Williams passed him into the Bronze top three with just over 30 minutes elapsed – although he was edged back to fourth in class by the similar BMW of James Kellett a couple of laps later.
With 10 minutes to go in hour one a car off at Ascari led to a Full Course Yellow period, Williams then pitted at the hour mark to hand over to Al Harthy. When the action got back underway with one hour and 50 minutes to go, the Omani held fourth in Bronze and 15th overall.
Another, albeit very brief, FCY came 10 minutes later due to a stranded car and Al Harthy came under attack at the re-start from the No.91 Porsche and so slipped to fifth in Bronze. Moving back into fourth in next to no time, he closed to within half a second of the No.222 Mercedes as both cars zeroed in on the second placed No.991 BMW.
With a great battle developing, the next FCY period came early in the second half of Al Harthy’s stint due to a car in the gravel at the first of the Lesmos. At his first chance the Omani pitted, importantly the squad’s third regulation stop of the race, and he remained in the car.
When racing resumed, with less than 70 minutes to go, Al Harthy was third in Bronze and 11th overall and he swarmed all over the rear of the No.991 BMW before passing for second in class and climbing into the outright top 10. He then gained another overall position to ninth before pitting from third in Bronze with 50 minutes remaining.
Sagrera got behind the wheel and with just under half an hour of racing left he had moved back up into the class top five. Dramatically, a stranded car with only 20 minutes left looked set to trigger another FCY and it duly came when, moments later, a Mercedes expired in a huge plume of smoke.
The action resumed with only seven minutes on the clock, Sagrera made his way into fourth in class and the outright top 15, and just three minutes later another collision at the chicane led to more chaos. Sagrera avoided any dramas and moved into third in Bronze before the Safety Car appeared, the race ending under caution with the BMW having gained an incredible 34 positions overall.
Ahmad Al Harthy:
“I’m really happy to be back on the podium and it’s so special for it to be at Monza again. It was all down to really, really strong team work. We clearly didn’t have the fastest package but, together with the drivers making no mistakes and the amazing strategy by the team, we managed to put the car in a very strong overall position and be third in Bronze – our first podium of the season.
“To step on the Monza podium again, after that historic win a couple of years ago, really was an amazing feeling and I have to say, as always, a huge thank you to all of our partners who keep believing in us. I was very, very proud to see the Oman flag flying again at Monza and we’ve closed up in the championship as well which is great.”
Next for Al Harthy is the crown jewel event of the GTWCE Endurance Cup season – the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa. Testing and practice will begin the third meeting of the campaign from Tuesday, 23rd June, with the huge 24-hour race itself beginning on Saturday, 27th June.
GTWCE Endurance Cup Rd2 Bronze Cup Race Result:
1st Dustin Blattner/Lorenzo Patrese/Dennis Marschall
(Kessel Racing/Ferrari)
2nd Jonathan Adam/Lorcan Hanafin/Giacomo Petrobelli
(Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn/Aston Martin)
3rd Ahmad Al Harthy/Javier Sagrera/Calan Williams
(Oman Racing by Century Motorsport/BMW)
4th Eddie Cheever/Christopher Froggatt/Jonathan Hui
(Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing/Porsche)
5th Robert De Haan/James Kellett/Darren Leung
(Paradine Competition/BMW)
6th Alex Fontana/Patrick Kolb/Bashar Mardini
(Lionspeed GP/Porsche)
GTWCE Endurance Cup – Bronze Cup Standings (after Rd2)
1st Dustin Blattner/Lorenzo Patrese/Dennis Marschall, 37pts
(Kessel Racing/Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO)
2nd Antares Au/Loek Hartog/Riccardo Pera, 33pts
(Rutronik Racing/Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO)
3rd James Kellett/Darren Leung, 29pts
(Paradine Competition/BMW M4 GT3 EVO)
4th Marvin Dienst/Gabriele Piana/Rinat Salikhov, 25pts
(Winward Racing/Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO)
5th Ahmad Al Harthy/Javier Sagrera/Calan Williams, 24pts
(Oman Racing by Century Motorsport/BMW M4 GT3 EVO)
