BIC wraps up another incredible National Race Day season
TDT | Manama
Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com
Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’, hosted a thrilling seventh and final round of National Race Day (NRD) over the weekend, wrapping up an incredible 2025/2026 season of local racing.
The event featured an action-packed double-header under lights, with the Bahrain Touring Car Challenge (BTCC) and the Bahrain Motorcycle Championship (BMC) hitting the tarmac.
Ali Almansoori starred once again in the BTCC, winning both the meeting’s races to complete an unprecedented sweep of all 14 sprints held this past campaign. He closed his perfect run on a high – topping every session in the finale along BIC’s 2.55-kilometre Inner Track.
Meanwhile, in the BMC, Saeed Al Sulaiti triumphed in the series’ 1,000cc class, while Yousif Al Darwish was victorious amongst the 600cc riders.
NRD was organised and run by BIC in cooperation with the Bahrain Motor Federation, the Circuit Racing Commission, and the Bahrain Motorcycle Commission. Almansoori kicked off the curtain-closing weekend by topping the BTCC’s practice timesheet with a fastest lap of 1min 18.273secs. He went on to secure pole position for the meeting’s first race with a best time of 1:15.815 in qualifying.
Almansoori then powered his Honda Civic challenger to a dominant victory after 15 laps in race one. He secured the top podium step in a total winning time of 19:59.614. Almansoori built a comfortable 14.174s gap from runner-up Moaaz Elzahrawi, while Ahmed Bajnaid came third nearly two minutes adrift. Both Elzahrawi and Bajnaid were also behind the wheel of a Honda Civic.
Almansoori then started race two from the back of the grid with James Taylor on pole in his Volkswagen Scirocco.
That mattered little, however, as Almansoori charged to the front early on and stayed in charge until the end, creating another commanding lead from the rest of the field. He claimed his season-ending triumph in a time of 23:32.997 – 19.351s ahead of Bajnaid. Taylor joined them on the podium in third after finishing 21.913s from Almansoori.
In the BMC, Al Sulaiti and Al Darwish set the practice pace in their respective categories, with Al Sulaiti clocking a lap of 1:06.522 on his BMW S 1000 RR and Al Darwish posting a mark of 1:10.003 riding his Kawasaki 600.
Al Sulaiti rode his momentum into qualifying, where he bagged overall pole position with a lap of 1:05.591. Mohamad Alzaidan on his Kawasaki ZX6 claimed the leading grid spot amongst the 600cc entrants with a fastest time of 1:09.631.
In the round’s sole 14-lap race, Al Sulaiti clinched the overall victory in 15:45.993. Fahad Al Gharabally followed 21.721s behind on his Suzuki GSXR also as a 1,000cc competitor, while Al Darwish completed the overall podium and took the 600cc spoils 29.593s back.
Finishing third amongst the 1,000cc bikers was Fahad Algosaibi on his BMW 1000RR, while climbing onto the BMC’s 600cc podium alongside Al Darwish were Alzaidan and Abdulrahman Ahmed riding his Honda CBR600RR.
Following each of the round’s races, the winners were awarded their respective trophies in podium ceremonies.
This season’s national champions in the BTCC and BMC, as well as in the Kingdom’s other racing series, will be presented their respective accolades in the End-of-Season Ceremony, scheduled for 15 May at BIC.
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