MUSCAT : The pair are tackling the Gold Cup category in their BMW M4 GT3 EVO and currently hold second in both the Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships following a fifth place and a victory in the two one-hour races at Brands Hatch in England and a pair of third-place finishes at Zandvoort in the Netherlands.

Emil Frey Racing leads the way in the Teams’ Championship on 60 points with Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT 18.5 points behind in second place and three clear of a tying Saintéloc Racing and Tresor Attempto Racing. 

Oman’s Al-Zubair said: “I am really looking forward to going to Misano. It will be my first time racing there. My first time driving there was in March during testing and it was a track that I enjoyed. But I want to see what the racing is like there. We are currently second in the championship, so the most important thing is to collect points and make sure that we are completing the races. 

“The target, as always, will be to go for the wins. The competition in Gold Cup has been extremely strong this year but I hope that we can give our rivals a good fight and also push for the overall positions as well,” he said. 

This weekend’s race meeting at Misano on the Italian Adriatic coast has attracted a record 44 entries across the various classes. It is the 11th consecutive year that the circuit has hosted the Sprint Series. 

Misano is officially known as Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in memory of the local MotoGP rider, who lost his life in a crash in 2011. The 4.226 km circuit is located near the town of Misano Adriatico in the Rimini province and also hosts the MotoGP World Championship. 

Competition for Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT in Misano comes from the Saintéloc Racing Audi R8, the Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3, Emil Frey Racing’s Ferrari 296 GT3 and Tresor Attempto Racing’s Audi R8 LMS GT3. 

Free practice takes place on the Italian circuit from 13.40hrs on Friday (July 18th) and precedes an hour of pre-qualifying from 19.20hrs. 

The first of the two qualifying sessions gets underway at noon on Saturday (July 19th) with Q2 following at 12.15hrs. The opening one-hour gets the green light at 20.15hrs.

Sunday’s action sees the second qualifying sessions scheduled for 10.25hrs and 10.40hrs, respectively, with race two getting started at 14.45hrs.

TEAMS – latest Gold Cup standings

1. Emil Frey Racing 60pts
2. Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT 41.5pts
3. Saintéloc Racing 38.5pts
4. Tresor Attempto Racing 38.5pts
5. Garage 59 25.5pts
6. CSA Racing 9pts

DRIVERS – latest Gold Cup standings

1. Chris Lulham/Thierry Vermeulen 60pts
2. Al-Faisal Al-Zubair/Jens Klingmann 41.5pts
3. Gilles Magnus/Paul Evrard 38.5pts
4. Sebastian Øgaard/Leonardo Moncini 38.5pts
5. Louis Prette/Adam Smalley 25.5pts
6. Arthur Rougier/James Kell 9pts

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