Illness forces Al Zubair to miss out as Soucek and Barker fly team flag

HUNGARORING (HUNGARY): Illness has forced Oman’s Al Faisal al Zubair to miss out on the third round of the 2021 International GT Open Championship at the Hungaroring, but team-mate Andy Soucek is taking part nonetheless with replacement driver Benjamin Barker.

The Lechner Racing Team Porsche 911 GT3 R crew currently lead the championship by a single point heading into the weekend’s two Hungarian races, but Al Zubair was not able to travel.

“I have been forced to miss this round,” said the disappointed young Omani. “I will resume my participation after I recover. I wish success to my team-mate Andy Soucek and the team and I promise to return for the next round at Imola in Italy.”

Al Zubair’s replacement, Barker, is 30-years-old and resides in London. He has been competing in the LMGTE Am class of the FIA World Endurance Championship in a GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR. He was the 2010 Australian F3 champion, the Bathurst 12Hour winner on four occasions (2013, 2018, 2019 and 2020) and won the Dubai 24-Hours in 2020.

Soucek and Barker topped the opening free practice session on Friday morning with a fastest lap of 2min 01.472sec.

That enabled the Lechner Racing GT3 crew to win the session by 0.033 seconds from Michele Beretta and Frederik Schandorff in the Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini. Belgium’s Baptiste Moulin and Japanese team-mate Yuki Nemoto were third in the second of the VSR Lamborghinis.

The duo finished fifth in the second of the practice sessions on Friday afternoon in a stint where the Polish Olimp Racing team topped the times in a Mercedes AMG GT3. Kessel Racing’s Michael Drinan and Robby Foley were second quickest, as attention then turned to the car set-up for the first of the weekend’s races.