Sunday 21 / June / 2026
Fresh from his first podium finish of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season just three weeks ago at Monza in Italy, Oman’s Ahmad Al Harthy is resolute in his aim to build on that momentum going into next weekend’s huge Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa.
Round three of the campaign at the unmistakable Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium is the biggest race of the year in GTWCE, in fact it’s the absolute crown jewel event in global GT3 endurance racing with a grid of 70 cars in total.
Following a fantastic performance at Monza, where Al Harthy and team-mates Calan Williams and Javier Sagrera climbed from eighth in the Bronze Cup to third in class – rising from 47th in the overall order into a lofty 13th position – round three brings another opportunity to challenge for silverware. Heading to Spa, they are fifth in the Bronze standings and only five points outside the top three.
With this coming weekend’s race being a non-stop twice-round-the-clock contest, so the Oman Racing by Century Motorsport squad has expanded its driver line-up to four with Brazil’s Pedro Ebrahim joining the aforementioned trio.
Much like Monza, Spa-Francorchamps is a track where Al Harthy has enjoyed a huge amount of success during his storied career in international GT racing and it is that experience of the 24 hour which he aims to utilise to good effect in the 2026 edition of the great race.
Of course, Al Harthy is a former Pro-Am class winner at the 24 Hours of Spa – back in 2019 an astonishing performance was delivered when the Omani and his then team-mates charged to victory not just from the back of the grid, but actually from a pitlane start. Two years earlier Al Harthy raced to his first 24 Hours of Spa podium with a fantastic performance in GTWCE’s crown jewel event.
Pre-event practice begins on Tuesday, 23rd June, where OQ, Omantel, Oman LNG, Oman Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth and BMW Oman supported Al Harthy will gain his first track time of the week and his target is to get preparations off on a strong footing.
Ahmad Al Harthy:
“It’s amazing to be back at Spa this week for the 24 hours, it is by far the biggest GT3 race in the world and an event where we have enjoyed a lot of success over the years. We really have had some incredible results at Spa and I know the guys at Oman Racing by Century Motorsport are focused and hugely determined to aim high for our first 24 hours together.
“The performance and result at Monza was fantastic, while we didn’t have the quickest package out there our team work and great strategy made the difference. That will be important this weekend, along with strong reliability, and so we’ll use all of the practice and test sessions as constructively as we can to prepare for the most challenging race of the season.”
Testing will begin at Spa-Francorchamps on Tuesday, 23rd June, before the annual parade of race cars to Spa city centre on Wednesday, 24th June. Two further practices will precede qualifying on Thursday, 25th June, following which will be a 90-minute night practice. On Friday, 26th June, the Superpole session will take place featuring the fastest 20 cars overall from qualifying.
Saturday, 27th June, will be the start of this year’s Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa at 16.30 local time with the race concluding at 16.30 on Sunday, 28th June. Qualifying, Superpole and the race will all be streamed live online HERE
GTWCE Endurance Cup – Bronze Cup Standings (after Rd2)
1st Dustin Blattner/Lorenzo Patrese/Dennis Marschall, 37pts
(Kessel Racing/Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO)
2nd Antares Au/Loek Hartog/Riccardo Pera, 33pts
(Rutronik Racing/Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO)
3rd James Kellett/Darren Leung, 29pts
(Paradine Competition/BMW M4 GT3 EVO)
4th Marvin Dienst/Gabriele Piana/Rinat Salikhov, 25pts
(Winward Racing/Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO)
5th Ahmad Al Harthy/Javier Sagrera/Calan Williams, 24pts
(Oman Racing by Century Motorsport/BMW M4 GT3 EVO)
