BIC welcomes participants ahead of this weekend’s Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East”, has begun to welcome to the Kingdom the star drivers, officials and team members of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), who will be participating in this weekend’s highly anticipated Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain.

The Spirit of Le Mans is set to make its presence felt in Sakhir at the fast-approaching WEC season-finale, taking place Friday and Saturday.

The visiting WEC contingent were received upon their arrival at Bahrain International Airport by members of BIC’s Meet and Greet Team.

Large containers of the WEC teams’ cars, parts and equipment have also already arrived at the circuit.

The race to get ready for the start of on-track action on Thursday has thus begun, with team members unpacking their crates and setting up their respective garages along the BIC Pit Lane.

Thursday’s sessions will feature a pair of 90-minute practices for the WEC’s contenders, to be held behind closed doors.

Fans will be able to watch the WEC’s protagonists in action in their iconic and technologically superior Hypercars and sports cars on Friday and Saturday.

Gates are scheduled to be open from 11am to 6.30pm on Friday and from 10.30am to 10.30pm on Saturday.

Tickets to the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain remain available and those looking to attend are urged to purchase theirs today for this unmissable occasion at BIC.

Tickets cost just BD5.500 for adults and BD2.750 for kids for the two-day weekend programme.

They can be bought online at BIC’s official website bahraingp.com or by calling the BIC Hotline on +973-17450000.

Tickets are priced as one of the most affordable ways to witness a world championship motorsport event.

Hospitality packages are also available for the BIC Spirit of Le Mans Club Experience, where guests can experience exclusive cuisine and incredible views in BIC’s Paddock hospitality.

Packages are also available to purchase online or via the BIC Hotline.

This year’s Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain will yet again be a brilliant spectacle for all those attending and watching from across the globe.

The race on Saturday will flag off under the afternoon sun and then wrap up beneath the stars while shining brightly under BIC’s state-ofthe-art floodlights.

A record number of 12 Hypercars flying the flags of eight teams and six manufacturers will be lining up on the grid, making for the largest-ever entry in the WEC’s top-tier category to hit the tarmac at BIC.

Aside from the WEC action, there will also be top-class racing from the region’s leading one-make series, the Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East.

Off the track, there will also be loads of family entertainment, plus a WEC-exclusive Open Paddock experience—a unique feature which allows fans to enjoy behind-the-scenes access, getting right next to the teams’ garages and possibly see some of the sport’s star drivers in person.

Furthermore, following the tremendous success of the ground-breaking Green Ticket initiative introduced for last year’s WEC race, BIC and Bapco Energies, in cooperation with the Government of Bahrain, are bringing it back for the 2023 event.

For every WEC ticket sold, a proportion of the revenue, matched by Bapco Energies, will be donated to a fund which will directly support the planting of new mangroves in Bahrain.

This programme supports the national target of quadrupling mangrove coverage across the Kingdom by 2035. All this and so much more await race-goers at this coming weekend’s Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain.

For more information on the WEC’s 2023 season-finale or other events and experiences at BIC, visit bahraingp.com or call the BIC Hotline.