Manama, April 11 (BNA): Raed Al-Rafei was crowned consecutive champion in the 2000cc challenge at the Bahrain International Circuit over the weekend.
Al-Rafei won his second title in a row after winning both races in the seventh and final round of the 2021/2022 season, which was held within the framework of the National Race Day at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Rafei’s double in the championship final earned him his fifth and sixth victory in a 14-race season. He also finished on the podium in every other enemy without any DNFs – which made for a great campaign.
This past weekend’s events took place along the 2.55 kilometer BIC inner track. All of the action took place under the bright floodlights of BIC, and there was plenty of Hot Wheels racing from the start.
Rafei’s main contender for the title, Raed Hammou, started the tour by topping the training schedule. His best lap was 1 minute 19.341 seconds in his Honda Civic.
Himmo continued his impressive qualifying run, finishing first in the first race of the meeting after setting a lap best time of 1:17.901. He narrowly beat Ravi for first place by just 1.048 seconds.
In the lights to start the first race, Raffii had the best getaway and headed into the first corner as he advanced in his Honda S2000. The sitter on the Hemo pole was struggling and quickly got out of the top positions.
Rookie contenders Andreas Poelho and Wiebek Poelho secured positions behind Ravi halfway through the race, and the trio held out all the way up to the checkered flag. Raffii took the overall win while also placing first among the Pro class competitors with a total race time of 18:19.852 over 12 laps.
Andreas Boelho was overall runner-up and winner in the Novice class 3.242 seconds behind Raffy, while Weepke Boelho was third with 5.699 seconds. Both drivers were behind the wheel of their Honda Civic.
Majed Hamo came fourth overall driving a Honda Civic, while Raed Hamo had to settle for fifth. They also took two more places on the Pro class podium. Andrew Ray driving the Honda Integra DC2 was the only other participant in the race, and he was not rated.
In the second race, Raed Hammo and Majed Hammo were in the front row, with Rafie in the third row alongside Ray and behind the Boelho duo.
Raed Hammou got away well but late in the first lap, with Rafie behind him, he ran into some problems in the car and had to park on the side of the track to retire.
Ravi inherited the lead and finished with a time of 15:58.222 to seal the end of the season victory. Andreas Poelho and Webeck Poelho once again rejoined Ravi on the overall podium, finishing 7.738 and 52,680secs respectively, after 12 laps.
Ray was the last driver ranked fourth, two minutes from the winner.
To take his two wins, Ravi also set the fastest lap in each of the Tour’s sprints. For Race One, Raffii’s fastest time was 1:18.938, while in Race Two it was 1:17.098.
Rafei finished the season with 301 points in first place in the overall standings of the championship. The season finale duo and unlucky Hammou eventually gave Ravi a comfortable lead by 65 points on the table.
Andreas Boelho came third in the overall standings and was also the junior class champion with 129 points. He was able to emerge victorious from the end in a tight fight for the lower tier crown against Ali Al Mansouri, who finished narrowly with 122 points.
The contestant Nasser Al-Alawi came in fifth place with 122 points, while Webki Boilo came in sixth place with 113 points, Majed Hammo was in seventh place with 105 points, and Ray was in eighth place with 88 points.
FKN