Harthy recorded a comfortable victory in Round 4 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East at Yas Marina Circuit Sunday for his first win in the series as the F1 race weekend in Abu Dhabi headed for its climax. Starting in pole position for the second day in a row, Al-Harthy led from start to finish and eventually won by 4.2 seconds from Saudi Arabia's Prince Abdulaziz Al-Faisal who regained his outright lead in the 12-round championship. After his Round 3 victory 24 hours earlier, Saudi Bandar Alesayi had high hopes of improving on his third place on the grid, but he lost that at the start of the first lap to Stephane Lemeret of Dubai-based Al-Nabooda Racing, and had to settle for fourth place behind the Belgian. As on the previous day, the top six was completed by Saeed Al-Mouri, teammate of Prince Abdulaziz, and Swiss driver Armin Schmid. Finishing seventh overall, Qatar's Saadon Al-Kuwari, who is contesting the Porsche one-make series for the first time, maintained his 100 per cent record in the Mobil 1 Trophy for drivers over 45. Al-Harthy, who is also enjoying his debut season in the 12-round championship, certainly rose to the occasion as the Porsche GT3 Cup cars shared the stage with the Formula 1TM Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He was fastest in official practice on Friday, and set the two fastest times in qualifying on Saturday morning to earn pole position for both 14-lap GT3 Cup races this weekend. An early mistake in Round 3 let Alesayi through for victory. But Al-Harthy was virtually flawless today as he shrugged off some early pressure from Prince Abdulaziz, the driver he will now be chasing in what promises to be a thrilling title race which resumes in Abu Dhabi next month. __
