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Bahrain’s Circuit Racing Club (CRC), concluded another memorable year for the Bahrain National Racing Championship at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) last weekend.
The regular domestic categories of the Bapco Caterham Championship and Formula BMW Championship were joined for the last event before the sport’s summer recess by the final round of the Lumina CSV Championship Middle East, the region’s first professional international category.
The Race for Bahrain is the kingdom’s own talent contest for 16-26 year-old drivers held each summer under Bapco’s patronage.
This year saw real talent emerge in the form of Salman Sulaibeekh and Faisal Raffii and it was entirely fitting that the two drivers who earned their seasons of racing through the Bapco talent competition were setting the pace at the end of the year.
Salman Sulaibeekh claimed a narrow victory over established BIC specialist Salah Salahuddin in the first of the weekend’s two Caterham races, with Faisal Raffii completing the podium.
The second race was won by Sulaibeekh’s mentor, 2005 Bapco Race for Bahrain winner Osama Al Buflasa, with Raffii coming home second ahead of Salahuddin – whose consistent points-scoring form throughout this season’s Bapco Caterham Championship saw him take a well-deserved series victory.
In the Formula BMW races, Hassan Al Wazzan maintained his strong season with victory in the final round, chased home by Prince Abdulaziz Al Faisal and Mohammed Al Owais in the high-tech single-seater racing category’s senior group. In Group 2 visiting driver Christophe Hissette took the chequered flag ahead of Ahmed Al Kamda and Bandar Alesayi.
Finally the rolling thunder of the BIC’s fleet of Chevrolet Lumina V8 touring cars heralded the end of a fantastic first season of racing for the Lumina CSV Championship Middle East. Having starred on the bill of the region’s biggest races in Qatar, Dubai and Bahrain – including this year’s Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix – the Lumina drivers were keen to put on a memorable show.
The championship fell to Tarek El Gammal at the previous race, but race one saw this year’s title runner-up Abdulaaziz Al Yaeesh take victory by just under a second from Christophe Hisette. It was Hisette who took the honours in the final Lumina CSV race, Race 2, with Al Yaeesh following him home – with Mohammed Al Owais coming third in both races.
Speaking for the BIC, Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, director of PR and governmental affairs, said: “The Circuit Racing Club has done tremendous work all year to encourage the talent from the Middle East to take up the challenge of motor racing. Now it is time to celebrate the achievements of all concerned – particularly the drivers.”
