National Race Day sizzles @ BIC

Manama : There was plenty of electricity in the air yesterday at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir as National Race Day got off to a scintillating start with five championships taking to the tarmac around the BIC’s 2.55-kilometre Inner Track. Cullen wins in Porsche GT3 Cup Ryan Cullen headlined proceedings with a pole-to-flag victory in the first race of round five in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East. Cullen (1 minute 05.928) clinched pole position for the weekend’s first race of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East with the best lap time and then turned that into a fine victory in race one. The Irishman enjoyed a flawless drive and grabbed a well-deserved chequered flag after completing the 20-lap sprint in 22 minutes 22.434 seconds. In second place was Tom Oliphant (+1.906 seconds) behind and Cullen won 1.906 seconds ahead of Britain’s Tom Oliphant, while Charlie Frijns (+5.966) of Qatar claimed third and Luxembourg’s Dylan Pereira in fourth to complete the classification amongst all Gold class drivers. In fifth and winning the Silver category was Bandar Alesayi. Wolfgang Triller followed in second and Shaikh Isa bin Abdulla Al Khalifa was third. The Bronze class winner was Magnus Othman, with Christoffer Bergstrom the runner-up. Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa third to join the podium. Amongst the GCC Rookie participants, Shaikh Isa bin Abdulla was ranked first with Shaikh Isa bin Salman in second place and Al Faisal Al Zubair third. Today’s second race is scheduled for 3pm with qualifying two at 11.15am to set the starting grid. Files claims pole in TCR Josh Files (1:09.326) claimed pole position for today’s first race in the third and final round of this year’s TCR Middle East Series. Second place went to Davit Kajaia (+0.068) with Luca Engstler starting third followed by Brandon Gdovic and Giacomo Altoe follow. Race one is at 12.02pm and race two at 3.45pm. Shaikh Salman on top Shaikh Salman bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (1:17.202) qualified in pole position for race one in the BIC 2,000cc Challenge, driving his white Honda CIVIC hatchback and registering his time early in the session, going for his best lap on his very first chance. Raed Himmo (+1.279) qualified in second position, while Tim Birkin in a Honda Integra and Mansour Al Hajri in a Toyota GT86 occupied the second row positions. Completing qualifying classification were Mohammed Faqihi, Lee Stones, Michael Priester, Salah Ashkanani, Mohammed Janahi, Martyna Al Qassab, Hamed Kuzbar, Abdullah Alqaoud and Ramzi Al Qassab. Race one is at 12.46pm start and race two at 4.26pm. Alneaimi sets the pace Defending champion Mishal Alneaimi (1:07.765) lived up to expectations and topped the practice timesheet in the Bahrain Superbike Championship. The defending champion 0.407 seconds quicker than Ahmed Almuyini with Mike “Spike” Edwards was third-fastest for the practice. Races are scheduled for 10.50am and 2.20pm. Ali Alshammari shines Ali Alshammari (1:10.013) captured pole position in the Bahrain Motorcycle Racing (BMR) 600 during qualifying for the first race set to start at 10.25am, narrowly ahead of Mohammed Adhan Al Zaidan (+0.080), with Ali Ahmed Adiby third fastest and all three were competing in the Super Stock category. In the Hornet class, Mark Buisseret was the leader followed by Pawel Rosciszewski and David Wynne. The second race is set for 1.55pm. National Race Day continues today with the final day of action at BIC from 9am to 5pm and tickets are available at the gate.