Zubair heads to Austria to take part in Carrera Cup
AUSTRIA: Oman’s Al Faisal Al Zubair will continue his training programme between rounds of the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup by taking part in a round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland at the 4.318km Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, this weekend.
The Lechner Racing Team Middle East driver tackled two rounds of the series towards the end of last season, prior to the final round of the Super Cup in Mexico, and that laid the foundation for his eventual Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East triumph over the winter in the Gulf region.
Fellow countryman Khalid Al Wahaibi will also be taking part in the Austrian race after a near three-month lay-off since his rookie and silver class exploits in the Middle East series. The weekend will also mark the first ever European race for the Omani youngster.
Many of the Super Cup drivers take part in rounds of Germany’s premier one-make series, including BWT Lechner Racing’s Michael Ammermüller, who won both of the opening races at Oschersleben and also leads the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup after the opening two rounds in Barcelona and Monaco.
Other drivers who Zubair and Wahaibi will be hoping to compare themselves against include Austria’s Thomas Preining, Dutchman Larry ten Voorde and Luxembourg’s Dylan Pereira.
Zubair said: “I’m excited for the weekend. We have made a good start in the Super Cup at the first two races but we have a bit more pace and, hopefully, we can get a good result at the round of the German Cup.”
“I am looking forward to my first race of the summer season,” said Wahaibi. “It’s been a long time since I was last in the car - almost three months since Bahrain.
“I am excited to be in my first European race. It will be a new experience for me to see new competition and typically stronger in Europe and the German Carrera Cup. I was testing last weekend.
“There have been a lot of improvements since the Middle East season and I am looking forward to competing with the rest of the field and excited to get started again.”