Oman’s Ahmad Al Harthy back in the points in Rolex 6 Hours of Sao Paolo
Team WRT racer and team-mates Rossi and van der Linde drive faultlessly
Top 10 finish achieved after generally challenging FIA WEC event in Brazil
High determination and an immense amount of effort from Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi and Kelvin van der Linde resulted in a very hard-fought top 10 finish in the Rolex 6 Hours of Sao Paolo on Sunday, 13th July, as the second half of the FIA World Endurance Championship got underway.
Contesting an uphill battle all weekend at the famous Brazilian track, the Team WRT trio and the squad itself maximised the performance available to them with the No.46 BMW M4 LMGT3 after overcoming a difficult qualifying on Saturday, 12th July.
Never giving in, fantastic teamwork and consistency of performance meant the squad did manage to come away from round five of the FIA WEC season inside the points-paying top 10, a result Al Harthy says was the most which could realistically be achieved this time around at Interlagos.
Qualifying, normally such a strong suit for Al Harthy and the Team WRT squad, didn’t work out as planned and so the team had to settle for 14th on the grid. The session was incredibly close though, with the Omani only missing out on the top 10 cut-off for the Hyperpole session by 0.2 seconds.
Al Harthy took the start of the race but after maintaining position initially, he was elbowed down to 17th place. Battling back with strong focus, he was back inside the top 15 with less than 20 minutes of the race elapsed and close behind the sister BMW. Both WRT cars gained two spots each shortly after and Al Harthy then made his first pit-stop from 13th before the end of hour one.
Van der Linde took over and when the action settled he was in 12th position, as the team’s strategy began to unfold. Climbing through to fifth with one hour and 45 minutes completed, before the end of hour two OQ Group, Sohar International, Omantel, Oman LNG, BMW Oman, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth and Experience Oman supported Al Harthy returned to the driving seat.
Holding sixth position initially, and driving well around the 4.3-kilometre counterclockwise Interlagos track, he concluded his second run nicely inside the top eight as the differing strategies of the teams played out. Van der Linde took over later in hour three with the car in 10th place when he emerged, and the South African reeled off a series of great passes.
With three hours and 45 minutes in the book van der Linde had moved up into third and at the next stop Rossi climbed into the BMW for his first miles of the race. When the race order settled once more he held sixth place and after the team’s fifth pit-stop, with just under 90 minutes to go, Rossi remained behind the wheel and emerged eighth in LMGT3.
Climbing into the top six as the strategies again mixed the order, van der Linde returned to the No.46 car with just half an hour remaining and ultimately finished in 10th position, the highest placed of the BMW entries and a deserved championship point.
Ahmad Al Harthy:
“I think it was a very strong race for us, we managed to make up so many positions throughout the six hours and to finish with a championship point makes all of the effort worth it. We know we’re not the most competitive car at the moment but hopefully things can change quickly for Austin.
“We executed a perfect race, I would say one of the best executed in terms of teams, so that’s a very proud thing for us and we all drove perfectly as well. Now we have a bit of time to analyse all of the data and hopefully have a more competitive car when we arrive at the Circuit of the Americas for the next round of the championship.”
From South America, the FIA World Endurance Championship will head north next to the United States of America for round six of the season, the Lone Star Le Mans at COTA in Austin, Texas, over the weekend 6th/7th September.
Rolex 6 Hours of Sao Paolo LMGT3 Race Result:
1st Jose Maria Lopez / Clemens Schmid / Petru Umbrarescu
(Akkodis ASP Team / Lexus RC F)
2nd Charlie Eastwood / Tom Van Rompuy / Rui Andrade
(TF Sport / Corvette Z06)
3rd Eduardo Barrichello / Valentin Hasse Clot / Anthony McIntosh
(Racing Spirit of Leman / Aston Martin Vantage AMR)
4th Michelle Gatting / Rahel Frey / Celia Martin
(Iron Dames / Porsche 911 GT3 R)
5th Finn Gehrsitz / Arnold Robin / Yuichi Nakayama
(Akkodis ASP Team / Lexus RC F)
10th Ahmad Al Harthy / Valentino Rossi / Kelvin van der Linde
(Team WRT / BMW M4)
2025 FIA WEC LMGT3 Driver Standings (after Rd5):
1st Riccardo Pera / Richard Lietz / Ryan Hardwick, 89pts
2nd Alessio Rovera / Francois Heriau / Simon Mann, 76pts
3rd Ben Keating / Daniel Juncadella / Jonny Edgar, 66pts
14th Ahmad Al Harthy / Valentino Rossi / Kelvin van der Linde, 22pts
2025 FIA WEC LMGT3 Team Standings (after Rd5):
1st Manthey 1st Phorm (Porsche 911 GT3 R), 89pts
2nd Vista AF Corse (Ferrari 296), 76pts
3rd TF Sport (Corvette Z06), 66pts
13th Team WRT (BMW M4 LMGT3), 22pts
