One of Bahrain’s most experienced motor racing drivers will be making a fantastic return to circuit racing this weekend at the Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).
Shaikh Salman bin Rashid Al Khalifa, a legend in Bahraini motorsport, is set to be among the line-up of competitors in the first round of the 2022-23 Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East, being held as part of the support race programme to the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) weekend.
Shaikh Salman is a former champion in the one-make Porsche series, taking the title in its 2010-11 season when it was known as the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East.
He is now set to get back into the cockpit after being away from circuit racing for over eight years. He was last part of a competitive championship last year in karting.
Throughout his career, Shaikh Salman had competed in some of the highest-level series for any Bahraini driver, including the British Formula Three Championship and the Formula BMW Asia Championship.
Shaikh Salman will be racing in the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup car, which is also driven in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. He will be flying the kingdom’s flag on his home track amongst a high-quality field of 19 drivers from all over the world - making for a truly international series.
Set to join him on the grid are fellow-GCC drivers Saud Al Saud, Bandar Alesayi, Khaled Alahmadi, Khaled Alzayed from Saudi Arabia and Ahmad Al Shehab from Kuwait.