*** ----> Ready, set, race!  | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Ready, set, race! 

The wait is over as one of the most highly anticipated motor racing events of the year is here. The 2015 edition of FIA WEC Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain gets underway today at the Bahrain International Circuit here. 

The top event of the weekend is the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), which marks the eighth and final round of its 2015 season in the desert. Aside from the WEC, four highly popular series will be held in support. These are the GP2 Series, the GP3 Series, the BIC-bred Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East and the India-based MRF Challenge.

Today’s racing will be held behind closed doors but fans will be able to enjoy all the high-octane action on Friday and Saturday.

Things get underway with a pair of free practices in the WEC as well as in each of the supporting championships.

Tickets are BD10 for both days while all those aged 15 years old and below can attend free of charge.

Drivers, team members and officials involved in the weekend’s racing continued to arrive in Bahrain yesterday ahead of the start as the competing cars were taken for scrutinizing and sporting checks, as the teams stepped things up in gearing up for the upcoming battles.

A number of WEC titles are set to be settled in the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain – the most coveted of all being the FIA World Endurance Drivers’ Championship.

Heading into the Kingdom’s event, the Porsche trio of Brendon Hartley, Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard lead in first place with 155 points, followed in second place by Audi Team Sport Joest drivers Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler (143).

Webber, who has raced in Sakhir many times in the past, commented: “We’ve done a lot of work in Bahrain as it’s a test track so we know it pretty well. The weather is stable and sunny, which off the back of the wet races in Fuji and Shanghai is a bonus. However, the wind conditions play a major role in Bahrain in terms of your top speed and also your cornering performance.”

Toyota Racing’s Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson captured last year’s Drivers’ title. They are already out of the title fight, but are still hoping to end their campaign on a positive note.

“Bahrain is a track that I know well and I really like,” Buemi, former resident of Bahrain,” said. 

 

 

Photo Caption: Teams get ready for WEC action at BIC 

 

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