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Manama, November 3 (BNA) The Bahrain International Circuit is preparing to drop the curtain on the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season this weekend with the highly anticipated Bapco 8 Hours in Bahrain in Sakhir. .
This year’s highly exciting campaign is set for an exciting climax as the “Home of Motorsports in the Middle East” hosts the world’s elite endurance racing for its sixth and final round.
This will be the second week in a row that the Le Mans spirit has been revived at the BIC. This comes after the successful hosting of Bapco 6 hours in Bahrain just days ago.
The road to the Kingdom’s first double-header WEC featured a stop earlier this year across Europe at Spa, Belgium; Portimao, Portugal; Monza, Italy; Le Mans, France. Bahrain remains the only World Energy Council destination in the region, and this year is the only event in all of Asia.
Weekend business starts on Thursday (Editor’s note: November 4) behind closed doors. The WEC Competitor Field will hold one free 90-minute training session between 5.30pm and 7pm. Also Thursday, the Porsche Sprint Middle East Boost Challenge will conduct two training sessions of 45 minutes each, one starting at 4pm and the other at 7.15pm.
Friday and Saturday (Editor’s note: November 5 and 6) will be open to the public. Friday’s on-track events will include WEC’s second and third free practice along with qualifying, while the Porsche Sprint Challenge will have a qualifying session to set the grid for the first race in the late afternoon.
Saturday will see the second race of the Porsche Sprint Challenge before the weekend’s main event takes center stage, the Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain, set to kick off at 2pm.
All are invited to attend the weekend’s events, which will also include a colorful off-track entertainment program featuring a lively mix of international dance performances, musical performances, and touring performers, as well as a delightful kids’ area.
Tickets for Friday and Saturday can be purchased online or at the gate. It costs only 5 BD for adults and 2.5 BD for children from 3 to 12 years old. Children under three are free, while there are also other discounts available for students, disabled people, and seniors.
Tickets are priced as one of the most affordable ways to see a World Motorsports Championship event. Full details are available on bahrainp.com.
The spectator entry policy for the race weekend is in line with the prevailing COVID-19 traffic light system in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Under the current green conditions, entry is permitted for all.
The newest WEC champions are crowned as the desert dust settles
The newest WEC champions in the Hypercar, Le Mans Prototype (LMP) 2, Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) Pro and Am will be crowned when the desert dust settles on Saturday night.
Toyota Gazoo Racing has already claimed its first Hypercar World Endurance Championship after winning an impressive one-to-two star win last weekend, but all the other titles are still close at hand.
The World Endurance Drivers Championship will be decided at the Bahrain International Center this weekend, the FIA GT World Drivers’ Championship, the FIA GT Endurance Championship, the FIA LMP2 Drivers Endurance Cup, the FIA LMP2 Pro/Am Drivers Endurance Cup, the FIA LMP2 Teams Endurance Cup, the FIA Endurance Cup for LMP2 Teams The FIA Endurance Cup for LMP2 Pro/Am Teams, the FIA Endurance Cup for GTE Am Drivers and the FIA Endurance Cup for GTE Am Teams.
The inaugural Porsche Sprint Challenge kicks off
While the FIA WEC Field will wrap up its season this weekend, the contenders in the Porsche Sprint Challenge will open their season.
A field of 23 drivers in two categories of competition will be suitable for the meeting. They will be behind the wheel of the all-new Porsche 911 GT3 Series (Type 922). It is powered by a six-cylinder boxer engine that generates 510 hp, with a maximum torque of 470 Nm at 6150 rpm.
The GT3 class will see Maurice Schoring, Dan van Kuijk, Lukas Grunfeld, Jan Dupre, Terry Vermelwen and Stephen van Rey from the Netherlands; Ghislain Cordeel from Belgium; Soeren Spreng and Richard Wagner from Germany; Fahad Algosaibi, Fawaz Algosaibi and Bandar Alesayi from Saudi Arabia. Andrey Mokovaz from Russia; James Dorling from United Kingdom; Alexander Malikhin from Belarus; Nicholas Meslin of Monaco; And Sheikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, representing the Bahrain team.
Meanwhile, the GT4 class drivers are Leo Willert and Charlie Wurz of Austria; Famous for Al-Hujaila, Khaled Al-Ahmadi and Saud Al Saud from Saudi Arabia. And Sheikh Jaber bin Ali Al Khalifa, representing the Bahrain team.
The 2021/2022 season will include the Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East, five rounds in total. Round two will take place next month at Jeddah Street Circuit in support of the opening of the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia, while the next two events will be in the UAE with Dubai Autodrome hosting Round Three in January and then Yas Marina Circuit in Round Four in February.
The end of the season is scheduled to return to Bahrain next March, to be held in support of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.
For more information on the full WEC season eligibility criteria for those interested in purchasing tickets to enjoy the weekend, visit the official BIC website bahraingp.com or call the BIC hotline at +973-17-450000.
NS