National Race Day wraps up

Manama : National Race Day came to a spectacular conclusion this evening at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

 Following two days of intense action, six winners emerged from 10 races and five highly competitive championships.

 Four of the victors – Ryan Cullen, Josh Files, Mishal Alneaimi and Ali Alshammari – each enjoyed fantastic doubles in their respective race series. Raed Himmo and Mohammed Faqihi were the other two drivers to triumph.

All the racing was held along BIC’s 2.55-kilometre Inner Track.

Cullen wins again 

Ryan Cullen made it two for two in the fifth and penultimate round of the 2016/2017 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East.

The Irishman stormed to another pole-to-flag win in race two today following a similar victory in race one on Friday.

Cullen completed the 20-lap sprint in 22 minutes 19.546 seconds, doing well to fend off the hard challenge of chief rival Tom Oliphant of Great Britain, who was a mere 0.555 seconds behind at the chequered flag.

Dylan Pereira from Luxembourg was third 4.833s off the winning pace. All three were also the top finishers in the Gold class.

In the Silver category, Omani Al Faisal Al Zubair was the winner. He was joined on their podium by Saudi racer Bandar Alesayi and German Wolfgang Triller.

 Philipp Sager from Austria was the winner in the Bronze class. He was followed by Swedes Magnus Ohman and Christoffer Bergstrom.

 To add to his win in the Silver category, Al Zubair also claimed first place in the GCC Rookies division. He was joined by young Bahraini aces His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Abdulla Al Khalifa and Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

 Frijns Structural Steel ME won the Teams category.

 The Porsche GT3 Cup now heads into the sixth and final round of the season, to be held next month in support of the 2017 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.

Files makes it two-for-two 

Josh Files flew to a convincing double to cap the third and final round of the 2017 TCR Middle East Series.

 He completed the first 24-lap sprint in 28:32.992, driving his Honda CIVIC TCR.

Brandon Gdovic was classified second 16.941s back, while Luca Engstler came third 16.169s adrift. Both Gdovic and Engstler were behind the wheel of a VW Golf GTI TCR.

 In race two, Files made it a perfect weekend with a win in 29:26.253. Gdovic followed 12.365s behind as the runner-up, while Giacomo Altoe, also in a VW Golf GTI, was third 17.169s from the winner.

Himmo and Faqihi share the spoils

Raed Himmo and Mohamed Faqihi shared the honours in round five of the 2016/2017 BIC 2,000cc
Challenge.

 Himmo, driving a Honda CIVIC, won the first race of the weekend following a tough battle with Tim Birkin in a Honda Integra. The pair finished just 1.639 seconds apart in the front.

 Mansour Al Hajri in a Toyota GT86 claimed the final podium place in third, 2.529s behind the winner.

 In race two, Faqihi claimed his impressive win despite having to start all the way from behind in row five.

 Driving his own Honda CIVIC, Faqihi stormed to first place and won in 16:04.533. He managed to stave off a hard-charging Birkin, who was the runner-up 4.344s behind.

 Al Hajri came third to gain his second podium of the weekend 20.371s back.

Alneaimi continues dominance 

Mishal Alneaimi showed why he is the clear favourite to defend his coveted title after another fantastic double in the fifth round of the Bahrain Superbike Championship.

Starting from pole, Alneaimi won race one in a total time of 12:35.135. Mike “Spike” Edwards was the runner-up 5.213s behind and Ahmed Almuyini third 8.856s adrift.

 Alneaimi then claimed race two in 12:39.143. He finished 4.270s in front of runner-up Almuyini. Mike “Spike” Edwards was classified third 4.924s adrift.

The results earned Alneaimi his fourth double of the season, while bringing his win tally to a near-perfect nine out of 10 races.

Alshammari maintains winning ways

Ali Alshammari followed Alneaimi’s lead and claimed his own fine double in the Bahrain Motorcycle Racing (BMR) 600.

 Competing in the Super Stock class, Alshammari won race one in 13:03.099. He was 6.361s ahead of Mohammad Adhan Al Zaidan while Ali Ahmed Adiby took the final podium step 17.396s behind.

 In the Hornet class, Pawel Rosciszewski was first, Mark Buisseret came second and David Wynne was third.

 Alshammari sealed his double with a fine win in race two, which he finished in 13:07.493. He led the same trio onto the Super Stock podium, with Al Zaidan this time finishing 4.848s behind and Adiby 20.044s back.

The same trio of Rosciszewski-Buisseret-Wynne made up the Hornet race two podium.