Al Harthy, Valentino, Kelvin secure hard-fought 9th at Spa
Team WRT trio Ahmad al Harthy, Valentino Rossi and Kelvin van der Linde had to be satisfied with a ninth place result during round three of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Belgium on Saturday, in an encounter where the pace of the No.46 BMW M4 was largely maximised.
Aiming to mount a podium challenge ahead of the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, continuing the momentum from their fabulous second place at Imola in Italy last month, other than a speed-limiter glitch in one of the pit-stops the race went fairly faultlessly.
Oman's Al Harthy raced very competitively from ninth on the LMGT3 grid during his two hour-plus stint. Making excellent early gains after a superb start, he ensured the team was in the best position possible as the No.46 car spent a good portion of the first 120 minutes in and around the top three.
2025 FIA World Endurance Championship
Following the system glitch at Al Harthy's second stop, an unfortunate drive-through penalty had to be served before Rossi and van der Linde then took the concluding parts of the six-hour race at the famous Ardennes track.
Qualifying on Saturday went well for Al Harthy, ending the run seventh fastest and just half a second shy of provisional pole. Progressing the Team WRT entry into the all-important Hyperpole session immediately after, which Rossi contested, the Italian ended up ninth in the top 10 grid shoot-out.
Following the team's second stop Al Harthy found himself ninth in LMGT3 and into the third hour he climbed back into the top six and worked hard to undo the damage of the penalty stop before Rossi took over. Battling his way back to the tail of the top six by the end of hour three, when the Safety Car was again required, soon after he moved into second as further pit-stops were made.
Spa Francorchamps, Belgium
Rossi then pitted and rejoined in seventh, climbing up to third with just a couple of hours remaining as the Safety Car circulated once more. At the next pit visit van der Linde took his first race miles with roughly 90 minutes to go and although moving up from the top 12 to fifth, after a final stop with 40 minutes left the South African was 12th again and had to ultimately settle for ninth position.
Round four of the FIA WEC season, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be contested over the weekend 14th/15th June at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France.
TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps LMGT3 Race Result:
1st Alessio Rovera / Francois Heriau / Simon Mann
(Vista AF Corse / Ferrari 296)
2nd Dennis Olsen / Stefano Gattuso / Gianmarco Levorato
(Proton Competition / Ford Mustang)
3rd Davide Rigon / Thomas Flohr / Francesco Castellacci
(Vista AF Corse / Ferrari 296)
4th Ben Barker / Bernardo Sousa / Ben Tuck
(Proton Competition / Ford Mustang)
5th Mattia Drudi / Ian James / Zacharie Robichon
(Heart of Racing Team / Aston Martin Vantage)
9th Ahmad Al Harthy / Valentino Rossi / Kelvin van der Linde
(Team WRT / BMW M4)
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