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EXCITEMENT is growing amongst race fans asthe Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) gets set to host one of the biggest sporting weekends of international track action since the Formula One show arrived on the scene.
Taking place between November 17 and 19 in Sakhir, the Bahrain Motorsport Festival will be headlined by the FIA WorldEndurance Championship’s (WEC) Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain and the CIK-FIA Karting World and World Junior Championship.
BIC chief executive Shaikh Salman bin IsaAl Khalifa said: “Our first ever Bahrain Motorsport Festival is set to be a hugely-impressive weekend for fans, with masses on offer with both the maincircuit and karting track in action.
“We look forward to welcoming the WEC family back for the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain, and as the season-finale, there will be plenty to fight for across all the teams.
“We will also be able to watch some of the most prolific young talent from across the globe at the karting world championships. Just around three years ago, we had Max Verstappen racing at BIKC at a similar CIK-FIA world championship event - now he is mixing it up with the stars of Formula 1. It is tremendously exciting to know that one of the stars of tomorrow will be amongst us racing.”
It will be the first time the worlds of LeMans endurance racing and top-class karting have come together for an epic weekend on track. In addition, off-track entertainment entitled Action-Ha,organised in cooperation broadcaster MBC, will be held as part of the festival’s programme.
Shaikh Salman told GulfWeekly that‘contracts have already been signed’ to bring a big-name US entertainer to the venue as well as a top Arabic act with details released shortly.
Headlining the weekend’s events on BIC’s5.412km track will be the FIA WEC Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain, which will be theninth and final round of its 2016 WEC season.
BIC partner Bapco is the title sponsor of the event for the second year running.
Bahrain is the WEC’s exclusive destinationin the Middle East. Many of the world’s most competitive marques in motoring will be represented, including Porsche, Audi, Toyota, Ferrari, Aston Martin,Nissan, while many former-Formula 1 stars will also be behind the wheelscompeting.
There will once again be a large grid of more than 30 cars, with some shared between up to three drivers. The race’sstart time has been changed for this year; it has been moved one hour later to4pm, with the chequered flag scheduled to come down at 10pm.
Meanwhile, the CIK-FIA Karting World JuniorWorld Championship will be taking place at BIC’s karting facility, BIKC. Racing will be in the OK and OK-Junior classes, and it will be one of the final meetings of the CIK-FIA’s international season. A field of nearly 150 kartersfrom all over the world are expected to compete.
A pair of supporting championships will also be held as part of the festival - the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East and the MRF Challenge.
The Porsche GT3 Cup is the most popularone-make championship to come out of the region. The MRF Challenge, on the other hand, is an India-based single-seater series boasting plenty of young talent from around the world. The series races across Asia.
Off the race track, Action-Ha will includea wide variety of shows, including a car exhibition, a series of live concerts,stand-up comedy acts, freestyle football performances, hip-hop dance competitions, a drifting show, and so much more.
Tickets to the three-day event cost BD20 each and those aged under 12 can get in free. Each ticket covers the entire event and holders will have full access to the entire racing programme and Action-Ha.
