Omani champion Faisal Al Zubair is preparing to compete in the opening round of the 2023 International GT Open series, which will take place this weekend at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimão, southern Portugal.
Faisal will be driving a Mercedes-AMG GT3 car representing the "Al Manar Racing Team," prepared by "GetSpeed Performance," and he will share driving duties in this race with German driver Fabian Schiller.
The participant list for this round includes 33 cars, with subsequent rounds planned in Belgium, Hungary, France, Austria, Italy, and Spain. The "Al Manar Racing Team" and its drivers Faisal and Fabian have a diverse global racing program for the 2023 season, participating in rounds in Hungary and Spain, in addition to the first round in Portugal.
This round features races from the "Euroformula Open," "GT Cup Europe," and "TCR Europe" for touring cars.
The competitions will start with a special practice session on Thursday, followed by two free practice sessions on Friday. On Saturday, a 30-minute qualifying session will take place at 11:10 AM, culminating in the first race at 4:30 PM, which will be a rolling start and will last for 70 minutes.
A second qualifying session for the second race will be held at 9:00 AM on Sunday, followed by the second race at 1:35 PM, which will last for a full hour.
It is worth noting that Faisal finished third in the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series and third in the 2021 International GT Open series. Faisal said: "I feel very excited to start the 2023 European racing season. I am very optimistic about it, and I feel a lot of confidence, and I am pleased with the working atmosphere and performance levels at GetSpeed." He added: "I look forward to starting the Open GT competitions. There are some strong teams in the championship, so it certainly will not be easy. However, we come fully prepared, and we aim to turn ambitions into excellent results. We will certainly strive for victory."
