PORTIMÃO : Oman’s Ahmad Al Harthy ended his GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup campaign with a third-place Bronze Cup finish at Portimão on Saturday, securing Oman Racing by Century Motorsport’s second podium of the season.

Al Harthy shared the No.42 BMW M4 GT3 EVO with Javier Sagrera and Calan Williams in the three-hour race at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. The result lifted the crew to ninth in the Bronze Cup championship, one point outside the top eight.

“It’s an amazing feeling to be back on the podium, at one of the hardest tracks we have ever raced on,” Al Harthy said.

The trio qualified fourth in class on Friday, matching their best qualifying performance of the season with an average lap time of one minute 43.128 seconds across the three sessions.

Returning to the Portuguese circuit for the first time since 2023, Al Harthy took the opening stint in a field of 61 cars. He slipped to sixth in class on the first lap and lost another two places on the second before mounting a recovery.

He passed the No.91 Porsche and No.74 Ferrari on successive laps, then overtook the No.11 Aston Martin to move into fifth despite the team receiving a 10-second penalty for an on-track incident.

A spin for a Porsche running second in class helped Al Harthy climb to fourth. After briefly dropping to fifth, he regained the position before handing over to Sagrera 65 minutes into the race.

The middle stint was interrupted by further Full Course Yellow periods and a safety car following a two-car collision. Sagrera stayed in contention and passed the No.87 Mercedes for third as the race entered its final hour.

A penalty for the class-leading No.991 BMW promoted Sagrera to second before he pitted with 48 minutes remaining.

Williams took over for the closing stint and emerged third once the pit stops had played out, holding a 25-second advantage over his nearest class challenger.

Another caution period and subsequent safety car reduced the remaining racing time to 23 minutes, but Williams maintained third through to the finish as the race concluded after dark.

“The race was very complicated, very tough, but we managed to really produce a great result for the team,” Al Harthy said.

“It’s always a proud moment to see the Omani flag on the podium.”

Al Harthy thanked his team-mates, the Century Motorsport squad and partners OQ, Omantel, Oman LNG, Oman’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, and BMW Oman.

“This result is for them and is a nice way to start building for next year — we keep pushing!” he said.

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