BIC, Sakhir Thurs, 28th 2013 – The eyes of the world’s motorsport fraternity were fixed firmly on the Kingdom of Bahrain yesterday, as the World Endurance Championship (WEC) Six Hours of Bahrain kicked off at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) Sakhir.
The two-day weekend – is the grand finale of this season’s WEC and is being held at BIC, “the Home of Motorsport in the Middle East,” for the second consecutive year.
A string of motorsport activities formed part of yesterday’s programme including free practices and qualifying sessions for the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East and the MRF Challenge – both support races at the Six Hours of Bahrain. The second round of the BIC 2,000cc Challenge, is another of the support races that are being staged on the sidelines of the championship, and a packed schedule of motorsport and off-the-track events and activities will keep fans excited and entertained today and tomorrow.
Fans got their first taste of the WEC’s trademark high-octane endurance racing when the first WEC free practice sessions took place yesterday afternoon. Teams and drivers used the sessions to gauge racing conditions out on the track and put their LMP1, LMP2, LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am vehicles to the test at BIC’s 5.412km Grand Prix Circuit.
Toyota Racing’s trio of Kazuki Nakajima, Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre made a fine start to their Six Hours of Bahrain by topping the timesheet in the first free practice session of the weekend. The tandem, driving their Toyota TS030 Hybrid, put forward a best lap time of 1 minute, 43.192 seconds which was enough to put Audi’s Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer, and Marcel Fassler in second place, with Tom Kristensen, Loic Duval and Allan McNish of Audi, following in third. Toyota’s second team of Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Stephane Sarrazin were fourth in class, ahead of Andrea Belicchi, Mathias Beche and Nicolas Prost of Rebellion Racing.
Oak Racing’s Olivier Pla, David Hansson and Alex Brundle led the way in the LMP2 class, clocking a best lap time of 1 minute and 52.389seconds. They were ahead of Roman Rusinov, John Martin and Mike Conway of G-Drive Racing and fellow Oak Racing teammates Bertrand Baguette, Ricardo Gonzalez, and Martin Plowman.
The LMGTE Pro class saw Aston Martin Racing’s Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke record a best lap time of 1 minute, 59.565seconds, which was enough to place them ahead of AF Corse’s Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander, and Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz of Porsche.
Aston Martin Racing’s Christoffer Nygaard, Kristian Poulsen and Nicki Thiim got the best lap time in the LMGTE Am class, clocking 2 minutes and .851 seconds. They were ahead of Proton Competition’s Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti, while IMSA Performance Matmut’s Raymond Narac, Jean-Karl Vernay and Markus Palttala rounded out the top three.
Meanwhile, Clemens Schmid made a fine start to his Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East championship defence by topping the timesheet in the challenge’s first Qualifying session. The Al Nabooda Racing driver put forward a best lap time of 2 minutes and 4.156 seconds, to keep Zaid Ashkanani of Team Buzaid GT in second place, and Prince Abdulaziz Al Faisal of Saudi Falcons in third place. Hasher Al Maktoum, Al Azhari, Al Mehairi, Bin Laden, Christina Nielsen, Hubert Haupt and Team Bahrain’s Mohammed Mattar rounded out the top ten.
Schmid had a best lap time of 2 minutes and 4.586 seconds in the first free practice session, ahead of Ashkanani and Prince Abdulaziz. In the second free practice session, Ashkanani topped the timesheet with a time of 2 minutes and 4.945 seconds, placing ahead of Haupt and Nielsen.
In the MRF Challenge’s only Qualifying Session yesterday, Cypriot Tio Ellinas set the pace, notching a total of 13 laps, with a best lap time of 2 minutes and 2.960 seconds. His effort placed him ahead of Frenchman Arthur Pic, and Briton Rupert Svendsen-Cook. Shinya Michimi, Harry Tincknell, Sam Brabham, Sam Dejonghe, Yudai Jinkawa, Ryan Cullen and Renan Guerra rounded out the top ten.
At the day’s first free practice session, Dejonghe had clocked a best lap time of 2 minutes and 3.390 seconds to top the sheet, with Svendsen-Cook managing second place, ahead of Guerra. The second practice session saw Pic record a best lap time 2 minutes and 3.491 seconds, followed by Michimi and Svendsen-Cook.
More WEC action continued today, starting with free Practice Sessions from 10.25am, followed by an LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am Qualifying session at 3.45pm, and the LMP1 and LMP2 Qualifying session at 4.20pm.The support race programme is equally busy, with free practice sessions for the BIC 2,000cc Challenge starting at 9am, followed by Qualifying at 12.30pm and the first of the Challenge’s races at 2pm. The second Qualifying session for the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge takes place at 9.40am, followed by Race 1 at 11.40am. The first race of the MRF Challenge will flag off at 2.50pm, with Race 2 set for a 5pm start.
Tomorrow is the final day of the spectacular Six Hours of Bahrain weekend, and fans can look forward to an enthralling experience both on and off the track. Amongst the day’s highlights is a Pit Lane Walk at 12.45pm, followed by an Autograph Session from 12.50pm to 1.20pm that gives fans the chance to interact with their favourite WEC drivers. Another of tomorrow’s major highlights is the live performance by Indian pop legend Sonu Nigam, who takes to the stage from 7pm to present a selection of exciting songs that have made him an icon of Indian pop music.
Meanwhile, the winner of BIC’s WEC Six Hours of Bahrain promo draw will be announced at 2pm tomorrow, ahead of the green flag, which will make the weekend a most memorable occasion for the lucky winner of the draw’s grand prize – a brand new Ford Mustang.
