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SPORTS Ahmad celebrates year’s first podium finish at Rockingham Delivering superb pace, Ahmad Al Harthy actually ended his stint with the fastest lap time of all up to that point — one minute and 26.955 seconds — and shadowed the leading BMW of reigning champion Marco Attard for almost the entire duration of the run up to the driver change pit-stops
MUSCAT: Ahmad Al Harthy and teammate Daniel Lloyd celebrated a richly deserved first podium finish of the 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Rockingham on Sunday, after racing strongly to an excellent second place in round three of the season. Having qualified a highly competitive third fastest for the twohour contest, Ahmad took the opening stint of the race and after moving into second place on lap 12 with a great move in the No. 2 Oman Racing Team Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 he remained in contention for the lead throughout. Delivering superb pace, the 33-year-old Omani actually ended his stint with the fastest lap time of all up to that point — one minute and 26.955 seconds — and shadowed the leading BMW of reigning champion Marco Attard for almost the entire duration of the run up to the mandatory driver change pit-stops. Attard and Ahmad pitted at the same when the pit window opened after the 50-minute mark and when Lloyd ventured back out onto track behind the wheel of the Oman Air, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Ooredoo, National Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group-backed Aston, he held the lead of the race from Attard’s teammate Alexander Sims. Fending off the attentions of the BMW factory driver with some excellent driving, Lloyd’s sterling work was undone on lap 52, with
SUPERB RACING: Oman’s Ahmad Al Harthy leads the pack at the Rockingham. – Supplied photo
FIRST PODIUM: Oman’s Ahmad Al Harthy, right, and teammate Daniel Lloyd display their trophies after winning the second place at Rockingham. – Supplied photo
40 minutes of racing remaining, when he ran too deep into Deene Hairpin after being forced onto the dirty part of the track as he lapped slower GT4 Class traffic. Managing to recover in second position, Lloyd remained there to the chequered flag — staying unflustered through a mid-stint Safety Car period which bunched the pack up — to not only record the partnership’s first podium fin-
ish, but also victory in the Silver Cup classification. “It was really important we got a good start and could hold position, and also keep pushing as at that time we had great pace in the car,” explained Ahmad. “I let the race come to me, as soon as we had an opportunity to pass Andrew [Howard] for second I took it cleanly and then it was a matter of just keeping everything in control passing the backmarkers and looking after
the car. “I knew we would pass the BMW in the pits, so it wasn’t worth risking anything in the race. “The team did a great job in the pit-stop and Dan had the lead after that which was great, but we always knew it would be tough to hold onto that with the extra 70kg we have to carry on the car. He did a great job, though, and to bring the car home for our first podium this year is fantastic.”
Importantly, with 150 percent points up for grabs this weekend due to the longer duration of the race, Ahmad and Lloyd have rocketed up from 11th position in the championship into the top five and have also substantially increased their lead in the Silver Cup division. In the team standings, the Oman Racing Team holds a 33 point advantage at the top of the table. “I have to thank all of the supporters back home in Oman, my wonderful sponsors and my family who have all stood by us through the winter,” added Ahmad. “Now we’re back on the podium it’s something very special for them too and this gives us a lot of confidence and extra motivation for the next round.” Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit will host the 180-minute duration fourth round of the British GT season on May 31. One week earlier, Ahmad and the Oman Racing Team will be in action at the Northamptonshire track for the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series. Provisional 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship GT3 Driver Standings: 5. Ahmad Al Harthy/Daniel Lloyd 28 pts. Provisional 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship GT3 Silver Cup Standings: 1. Ahmad Al Harthy/Daniel Lloyd 40.25 pts. Provisional 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship GT3 Team Standings: 1. Oman Racing Team 99.5 pts.
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Bangladesh look to build on ‘turning point’ draw DHAKA: Bangladesh’s superb rearguard action that led to an unlikely draw in the first Test against Pakistan last week could well be the “turning point” their coach believes will inspire the side to build on a brilliant run of form. Considered one of the minnows among the 10 Test playing nations, Bangladesh’s realistic goal at previous World Cups had always been to beat teams ranked lower than themselves while trying to cause an upset against one of the major sides. However, they performed admirably at the recent tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, ousting England in the group phase and reaching the quarter-finals for the first time. Despite bowing out to powerhouse India, if that showing was not enough to convince all about their rising stock in world cricket, Bangladesh silenced many of the remaining doubters with their recent results against Pakistan at home. After beating Pakistan in a one-day international for the first time in 16 years, the hosts went on to blank the tourists 3-0 in the series and followed that up with a maiden Twenty20 victory against the opponents. Although Pakistan had been weakened by the retirements of senior players and the unavailability of some frontline batsmen and bowlers due to injuries, the margins of victory underlined Bangladesh’s utter dominance. The hosts then came into the two-Test series having lost all their previous eight matches against Pakistan and that record looked set to continue before they overhauled a huge first innings deficit to force an incredible draw at Khulna. “I think it is a very big turning point in Bangladesh cricket,” coach Chandika Hathurusingha said after the match. “We recently made some history but it is mostly beating our own records. The significance here is the biggest opening partnership in the second innings.” Test captain Mushfiqur Rahim hoped the result would spur them on to achieve even better results in the future, starting with the second Test in Dhaka on Wednesday. “We dominated this draw and it was nothing less than a win, against such a team and with 296 runs behind,” Rahim said. “Such a performance gives you belief as a group that we can overcome future goals. “There is no end to improvement.” - Reuters
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Boycott warns against new England role for Strauss LONDON: England great Geoffrey Boycott said he feared “everything will stay the same” were Andrew Strauss put in charge of reviving the country’s cricket fortunes, as speculation continued about a role in the national set-up for former Australia paceman Jason Gillespie. Former captain Strauss appears to be the front-runner to fill the new position of England director of cricket, a post created by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) last month following Paul Downton’s sacking as managing director. Strauss’s fellow former England skippers Michael Vaughan and Alec Stewart have also ex-
pressed an interest in the role. But Vaughan appeared to rule himself out after being severely critical of the current set-up in a column for Monday’s Daily Telegraph following England’s defeat by the West Indies in the third Test in Barbados on Sunday. Boycott, briefly England captain but best-known as an obdurate opening batsman, said the 38-year-old Strauss — who for several years was current skipper Alastair Cook’s partner at the top of the order — was too close to the present regime to make the major changes needed. “We have a cautious captain (Alastair Cook) and a cautious
coach (Peter Moores). If it is Strauss, he’s the same,” Boycott told BBC Radio’s Test Match Special. “He likes Cook, so he’s going to go with Cook and everything stays the same,” added Boycott. “Nothing changes, they’ll just go on with the same people. Andrew Strauss will come in, Cook’s his mate and everything will go on just the same. Sad.” Incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves takes up his post having previously held a similar position at Yorkshire, where he installed Gillespie as coach. Last season Yorkshire, under Gillespie, won English cricket’s first-class County Championship and talk that the one-time scourge
of many an England top-order might replace Moores intensified when he turned down an approach from South Australia to become their coach. Prior to the Test series in the Caribbean, Graves labelled the West Indies a “mediocre” side and warned their would be a review if England failed to win the threematch series. But West Indies, ranked eighth out of the world’s 10 Test nations by the International Cricket Council, ended all square at 1-1 after a fivewicket win in Barbados, achieved with more than two days to spare, following England’s slump to 123 all out in their second innings.
The England management came under fire for recalling Jonathan Trott, whose return to Test cricket from the “situational anxiety” that led to an early exit from the 2013/14 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia yielded three ducks, and for not playing leg-spinner Adil Rashid in any of the three Tests in the Caribbean. England’s failure to win the series left many observers wondering how they would fare in the upcoming English season against the seemingly sterner challenges set to be posed by both New Zealand and Australia. Among the doubters was Vaughan, who wrote in his Tel-
egraph column: “England denied their problems and weaknesses for so long in one-day cricket and said it will come good on the night at the World Cup. It did not, so let’s get real about the Test team.” Vaughan also queried Cook’s captaincy, saying: “I have been concerned hearing Alastair Cook point to past successes. “What worked in 2009-2012 is irrelevant now, but if you keep playing attritional cricket you produce attritional characters who can’t think any other way. “I actually don’t blame the selectors. They do not have a massive say on the final XI. You have to look at the captain and coach.” - AFP