Riyadh : International driver Al Faisal bin Khalid Al Zubair and the Omani Al Manar Racing Team maintained their top positions in the overall standings of the 2025 GT World Challenge powered by AWS in the Gold Cup category after concluding their participation in the Crowdstike 24 Hours of Spa race at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
Al Faisal and his teammates achieved fifth place in the overall standings of the Gold Cup category, amidst a race that saw 73 cars from various manufacturers competing. With the conclusion of this round, the Omani Al Manar Team leads the overall standings of the Gold Cup category for endurance and sprint races with 98.5 points, while Al Faisal Al Zubair is in second place in the overall drivers' standings for the Gold Cup category with 106.5 points. Al Faisal aims to reclaim the lead in the remaining rounds of the current season.
Al Manar Racing Team will return to competition in the next round, which will be held at the Misano World Circuit in Italy, as part of the GT World Challenge Sprint Cup from July 18 to 20.
Al Faisal Al Zubair, along with drivers Jens Klingmann, Ben Tuck, and Neil Verhagen, secured valuable points by finishing fifth in the Gold Cup category amidst strong competition and a record number of spectators, reaching 128,000 throughout this round. Al Manar Racing Team completed 546 laps, only two laps behind the winning https://www.google.com/search?q=Verstappen.com Racing team with an Aston Martin, and Garage 59 in second place with a McLaren, missing out on victory due to a tire problem in the final hour of the race.
CSA Racing also finished third in this race with a McLaren, while Wright Motorsports' Porsche came in fourth ahead of Al Manar Racing Team from WRT. This result strongly keeps the team in contention for both the drivers' and teams' championships.
After Al Manar Racing Team, in technical cooperation with WRT, secured ninth place in qualifying for the world's toughest GT endurance race, the main event of the GT World Challenge Endurance Cup, with a BMW M4 GT3 Evo, the team's quartet fought their way to cross the finish line in the top five, and even advanced to fourth place at several stages of this exceptional and challenging race at Spa-Francorchamps.
Klingmann took over driving duties in the early stages of the race, starting from ninth place in the Gold Cup category and managing to advance to seventh place after only three laps, with Herberth Motorsport's Porsche leading with Joel Sturm until the second hour of the race.
After that, Tim Heinemann drove the Porsche in the lead, while Tuck replaced Klingmann in the cockpit of Al Manar Racing Team's BMW, but he dropped to ninth place during the driver change.
The team managed to advance to fifth place after 4 and a half hours, then dropped back to seventh two hours later. During the night, after 10 and a half hours into the race, they managed to advance to fourth place and then dropped back to fifth again.
With six hours remaining in the race, Klingmann was in the cockpit again, while https://www.google.com/search?q=Verstappen.com Racing's Aston Martin led. Klingmann snatched fourth place with 5 hours and 40 minutes remaining, but Verhagen took over driving in the next stint and dropped to fifth place with 4 hours remaining in the race, while Garage 59's McLaren snatched the lead in the Gold Cup category.
Tuck had to drive the car in the final stages of the race, and the Brit successfully crossed the finish line in fifth place in the Gold Cup category.
Free Practice and Qualifying
Thursday's free practice saw Garage 59's McLaren record the fastest time, 2:17.422 minutes. In qualifying, RJN led the first session with a time of 2:25.102 minutes, while Al Faisal Al Zubair was in fourth place behind Boutsen Ginion Racing and Garage 59. Garage 59's car led the second session, and Verhagen came in third behind Tresor Attempto Racing with an Audi.
Garage 59's McLaren also managed to lead the third session with driver Dean Macdonald, while Ben Tuck was in fifth place for Al Manar Racing Team, and Garage 59's dominance continued in the fourth session with Louis Pret, but Klingmann dropped to 11th.
With all times combined, https://www.google.com/search?q=Verstappen.com Racing took pole position ahead of Herberth and Wright's Porsches, while Al Manar Racing Team from WRT started from ninth place.
Despite this result, Al Manar Racing Team from WRT remains strongly in contention for the Gold Cup title in the 2025 GT World Challenge season by scoring valuable points in this race, with two rounds remaining in the Endurance Cup at the Nürburgring and Circuit de Catalunya, in addition to three rounds in the Sprint Cup at Misano, Magny-Cours, and Valencia.
Teams – Gold Cup Standings
https://www.google.com/search?q=Verstappen.com Racing: 91 points
Al Manar Racing by WRT: 69 points
CSA Racing: 66 points
Garage 59: 33 points
Optimum Motorsport: 30 points
Tresor Attempto Racing: 29 points
Boutsen Ginion Racing: 29 points
RJN: 26 points
Drivers – Gold Cup Standings
Lolhame / Vermeulen / King: 91 points
Rougier / Gachet / Kiel: 66 points
Al Zubair / Klingmann / Tuck: 65 points
Bla: 33 points
Brett / Smalley / MacDonald: 31 points
Al Faisal Al Zubair: We scored valuable points from this round and completed half of the current season's journey
International racer Al Faisal Al Zubair said: "This was not our best race in terms of the final result, but the most important thing is that we gave our best with the strength we got from the BMW car."
He added: "We saw that BMW cars could not have the necessary speed to compete for victory due to the Balance of Performance (BoP) parameters. Our car was 15 kg heavier (an additional weight penalty) after qualifying. I don't think that was fair. I am happy with the position we finished the race in, and we scored valuable points in the championship competition, especially with points distributed after 6 hours, 12 hours, and 24 hours. But it is difficult to accept this result after the success we achieved last year."
He continued: "The task was not easy, and our driving was good, without penalties, and we had a high level of consistency in performance. There were some contacts during the night, but they were caused by other drivers. The car was good, and we managed to cross the finish line, and we did not achieve the desired result, but it is impossible to win all races, and we still have to participate in the remaining half of the season, and we have enough time to compensate for the result of this race."
