Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) begins its final 20-day countdown today for the first-ever Bahrain Motorsport Festival, taking place from November 17 to 19 in Sakhir.
The mega event is set to be one of the biggest weekends of international motorsport ever to take place in the region. It will be headlined by a pair of globally renowned racing events, namely the FIA World Endurance Championship’s (WEC) Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain and the CIK-FIA Karting World and World Junior Championship.
Tickets to the three-day event cost just BD20 each and those aged under 12 can get in free. Each ticket covers the entire event and holders will have full access to the entire racing programme and Action-Ha.
Tickets for the festival can be purchased online at BIC’s official website www.bahraingp.com by calling the BIC Hotline on +973-17450000. They will also be available at the special BIC stand in Bahrain City Centre from November 1.
All of the festival’s action at BIC will take place along the 5.412-kilometre Grand Prix track, while the karting will be held at Bahrain International Karting Circuit.
Bapco is the title sponsor of the FIA WEC 6 Hours of Bahrain for the second year running.
This year’s event is its fifth edition, and there will once again be a large grid of more than 30 cars. The race’s start time has been changed for this year; it has been moved one hour later to 4pm, with the chequered flag scheduled to come down at 10pm.
Meanwhile, the CIK-FIA Karting World Junior World Championship will be taking place at BIC’s world-class karting facility, BIKC. Racing will be in the OK and OK-Junior classes, and it will be one of the final meetings of the CIK-FIA’s international season.
This event marks the third time that BIKC will be hosting a CIK-sanctioned world championship level race. A huge field of nearly 150 karters from all over the world are expected to compete.
As a part of the first-ever festival, the regionally popular one-make series the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East and the India-based single-seater championship the MRF Challenge will be supporting the 6 Hours of Bahrain at BIC.
The Porsche GT3 Cup will be holding the first round of its 2016/2017 season. Top names from across the Gulf and wider Middle East will be racing in identical Porsche GT3 Cup cars.