National Race Day offers thrice the action tomorrow

Manama: Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) is all set to host an action-packed day of circuit racing tomorrow with a trio of local championships including the BIC 2,000cc Challenge, the Bahrain Super Bike Championship (BSBK) and the BMR 600.

All of tomorrow’s events are set to be held as part of BIC’s National Race Day and will be held along BIC’s 2.55-kilometre Inner Track.

The 2,000cc Challenge will be its fifth round of its 2015/2016 season, the BSBK its second meeting of its current debut season, while the BMR 600 will be opening its 2016 campaign in style. Racing gets underway at 3.45pm with BSBK practice, followed at 4.20pm by 2,000cc practice. 

At 5.40pm, BSBK qualifying will be held, after which BMR qualifying will take place 6.05pm and then the 2,000cc qualifying at 6.30pm.

At 7.20pm, BSBK race one begins, followed at 7.50pm by BMR race one. 2,000cc race one is scheduled for 8.20pm. BSBK race two begins at 9.05pm, followed by BMR race two at 9.35pm. 2,000cc race two flags off at 10.05pm followed by a podium ceremony where all the day’s winners will be honoured.

The 2,000cc Challenge is a professionally run, low-cost championship with top drivers from Bahrain and other Gulf countries competing in two-litre cars and are allowed only minimal modifications to ensure a level playing field.

This weekend’s races will begin the second half of the ongoing championship over eight rounds in total.

Former champion Shaikh Salman bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (Honda CIVIC) leads the standings (154 points), followed by Alex Longden (BMW 3 Series) (106) and Hussain Karimi (Honda CRX) and Tim Birkin (Honda Integra) (91 apiece).