Muscat – Al Manar Racing’s Al Faisal al Zubair joins forces with Dubai-based Dragon Racing for the first time this weekend to take part in the 15th edition of the Gulf 12 Hours at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.
The Omani star teams up with the experienced British racing duo of Chris Froggatt and Ben Tuck to drive an Al Manar by Dragon Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 for the first time in one of the Middle East’s most iconic endurance races that kickstarts his challenging 2025-2026 racing programme.
Al Zubair said: “I am very excited to be racing in the Gulf 12 again after a missed period last year. It’s a race that I really enjoy. It’s a long and difficult race with all the competition that has signed up. It will be difficult because it will be my first time in the Ferrari 296 GT3, which I am very excited to drive for the first time this weekend.
“It will, for sure, be a learning curve for myself but I am looking forward to carrying the strong momentum from this year into next season, starting this weekend. We have an extremely strong package this weekend with Chris Froggatt, Ben Tuck, Dragon Racing and our engineer and the rest of the team. We are prepared. From my side, it will be about learning this weekend. But I have no doubt we will be on the pace and looking for the overall victory.”
Al Zubair teamed up with Al Manar Racing by Team WRT, Jens Klingmann and Ben Tuck in 2025 to seal Gold Cup victory in the combined GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Teams’ Sprint and Endurance Teams’ title.
Al Manar by Dragon face fierce GT3 competition in Abu Dhabi from the likes of four-time winners AF Corse, Garage 59, GetSpeed, Greystone GT, Herberth Motorsport, Inception Racing, last year’s runners-up Optimum Motorsport, TFT Racing and Winward Racing in an unofficial star-studded line-up of 24 teams. Victory in 2024 fell to the Saintéloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3.
Organised by Driving Force Events, two one-hour open practice sessions get the weekend underway on Friday.
The 12-hour race on the full 5.281km Grand Prix circuit that hosted the crowning of Lando Norris as the new FIA Formula One World Champion last Sunday, will be split into two parts.
The first part runs for eight hours and gets the green light at 09.00hrs on Sunday before the second four-hour section fires into life at 19.00hrs and finishes at 23.00hrs.
