Harry King sets pace in Porsche practices

TDT | Manama                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Harry King from Great Britain topped the timesheets in both Free Practices of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East yesterday at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).

The region’s leading one-make series is holding the first round of its 2022/2023 season in the Kingdom, in support of the Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain. King was the overall and Pro class leader in the day’s second practice session held under the afternoon sun with a fastest lap time of two minutes 03.012 seconds in his Porsche 992 GT3 Cup car.

He was 0.446 seconds quicker than Australian Harri Jones, while Ariel Levi from Israel was classified third overall 0.558s back. Bahrain’s Shaikh Salman bin Rashid Al Khalifa, making a sensational comeback to racing this weekend after more than eight years out of competition, was second-fastest in the session amongst GCC drivers with a fastest lap of 2:04.837—just 1.825s off King’s pace.

Bandar Alesayi from Saudi Arabia led the GCC category with a best time of 2:04.450. Topping the ProAm class was Georgi Donchev from Bulgaria with a 2:03.775 lap, while in the Am category, Cedric Chassang from France set a 2:06.276 time for first place.

Earlier yesterday, King got the weekend’s racing action underway by setting a best lap of 2:04.013 in the first practice session held in the morning. King was followed by Levi who was 0.132s off the pace, while Jones came third 0.197s behind.

Shaikh Salman was third amongst GCC drivers with a fastest time of 2:05.363, with Alesayi topping the times at 2:04.776. Bashar Mardini from Canada was the leader amongst the ProAm class competitors with a 2:04.531 lap, while Chassang set the pace amongst the Am drivers with a 2:07.161 best time.

The Porsche Sprint Challenge field returns to the track today for Qualifying at 10am, setting the grid for Race One at 5.50pm later in the evening. Race Two will take place tomorrow.