Austrian Clemens Schmid won Round 6 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East at Yas Marina Circuit Friday after a thrilling battle with Saudi Arabia's Prince Abdulaziz Al-Faisal, who extended his lead in the championship for the second day running. Starting from pole position as he had done 24 hours earlier, Schmid immediately lost the lead at the first corner and spent the next 10 laps desperately trying to find a way past Prince Abdulaziz. He finally made it with four of the 14 laps remaining and held on for a slender win. The second spot for the Saudi driver, however, still saw him stretch his advantage in the title race to eight points over Bandar Alesayi, who finished third. Another Saudi, Saeed Al-Mouri, took fourth place ahead of Belgian driver Stephane Lemeret who fought his way up from the back of the field after spinning off on the first corner. Swiss driver Armin Schmid just managed to hold off Saddon Al-Kuwari to complete the top six, although the Qatari driver finished the race as the comfortable leader in the new Michelin Silver Trophy standings for the intermediate class. Oman's Ahmad Al-Harthy went out of the race when he slid into a barrier on lap six in an incident which also saw Al-Mouri spin out and lose third place to Alesayi. Abdulaziz had a day earlier recorded a comprehensive victory in Round 5 to increase his lead. Chasing his second GT3 Cup title in three years, Prince Abdulaziz had a winning margin of just over eight seconds from fellow-Saudi Bandar Alesayi. Belgian driver Stephane Lemeret had grabbed the third spot, while Clemens Schmid plunged from contention when he suffered a drive through penalty after starting the race in pole position, eventually finishing sixth.
