Al Faisal teams up with Zele Racing to make his first foray into German Porsche racing
NURBURGRING: With over six weeks before the final two rounds of the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup in Mexico City, Oman’s Al Faisal Al Zubair has decided to use the time constructively and has taken the decision to tackle the final three double-header rounds of the 2017 Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, starting with a race meeting at the 3.629km Nurburgring Sprint circuit from September 9 to 10.
Now in its 32nd season, the German one-make series is one of the most prestigious in the world and second only to the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup for enthusiasts of the German sports car marque. The standard of competition is very high.
This year’s series began at Hockenheim in May and finishes at the same circuit. Al Zubair has already missed other rounds at Eurospeedway Lausitz, Spielberg, the Norisring and the legendary Nurburgring GP Circuit and has entered this weekend’s race and subsequent rounds at the Sachsenring (September 16-17) and Hockenheim (October 14-15) to further his experience and keep him in a positive frame of mind before the Mexican finale at the end of October.
This year’s Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup has developed into a twohorse race between Al Zubair’s Lechner Racing teammate Michael Ammermuller and Dennis Olsen. The duo have also been two of the men to beat at the previous rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany as well and claimed two pole positions apiece, although Olsen has won five of the eight races with the other three wins falling to Christian Engelhart, Larry Ten Voorde and Nick Yelloly.
Al Zubair teams up with the Austrian racing outfit Zele Racing for his first foray into German Porsche racing. The team was founded in 2001 by Hermann and Michael Zele and also looks after Austrian driver Philipp Sagar, Slovakian rookie Richard Gonda and Luxembourg’s Dylan Pereira.
“We decided to take part in the three German rounds of the Por- sche Carrera Cup Germany in the gap between the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup races in Monza and Mexico,” said FZ Racing’s Al Faisal. “I am going to try and achieve the best result I can.
“Monza was really good for me and much better than the previous weekend in Spa. We showed our pace and achieved a good result. I am hoping to do the same in the German Porsche Carrera Cup. It will not be easy with my lack of experience at the circuit, but I am excited at the challenge and confident that we can do well.”
Teams will be permitted to carry out practice on the circuit for one hour from 1310hrs on September 8. The qualifying session gets underway on Saturday morning at 1115hrs and the first of the two races takes centre stage from 1730hrs (1930hrs - Oman time).