(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) The Oman Racing Team (ORT) trio of Ahmad al Harthy Michael Caine and Joe Osborne finished a modest 11th in the Pro Cup class and 32nd overall after the concluding race of the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series at Nurburgring in Germany which was marked by treacherous weather conditions on Sunday.
Belgium's Laurens Vanthoor emerged as the Pro Cup champion sharing his Belgian Audi Club Team WRT with Christopher Mies and Cesar Ramos. Despite the modest finish Muscat-based Ahmad said he was 'happy' with the finish in the challenging Nurburgring 1000 race that was marked by thick fog and heavy rainfall.
Contact with an opponent car during the opening lap of the six-hour contest put the Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 crew on the back-foot from the outset. A subsequent electrical issue with the windscreen wipers only added to the difficulties and cost the ORT car significant time.
However consistently strong stints from Caine Ahmad and Joe Osborne - the latter standing in at the eleventh hour for the unwell Stephen Jelley - helped ORT battle back from its woes to complete the race and just about miss the top-ten bracket.
'Michael got caught up with a Bentley during the first lap just when the weather was really terrible. It was foggy rainy and grey - not nice conditions for racing' said Ahmad. 'After the contact Michael had to pit as there was some damage to the car. And then we had an electrical issue with the wipers so that meant a ten-minute delay in the pits.
'Following the delay we treated the race as a development run and just concentrated on our pace. After Michael had his two hours I took over for my two-hour stint and I was very happy with my pace. We lapped consistently and it was very positive. Joe then came in for his run. A big 'thank you' to him for filling in for Stephen.'
Having qualified with a season-best eighth fastest hopes were high of a top points finish for ORT to end the campaign on a positive note. The race however had to begin behind the safety car due to the treacherous conditions. After 20 minutes the action proper began with Caine setting about the task in hand but after clipping the No 8 Bentley the British racer had to visit the pits.
Climbing from overall 37th to 31st after the first hour of racing Caine then had to visit the pits once again this time with an electrical problem. 'We finished the race which was great and we are glad we ended the season strongly even if it wasn't the result we wanted' said Ahmad. 'This will make us even stronger and better in the future.'
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