Chevrolet Supercars Gearing up

The Bahrain International Circuit announced today, Monday 1st February, that the Bahrain based Chevrolet Supercars Middle East Championship is continuing its preparations for the fourth round of the 2009/2010 season, scheduled to take place at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit on the 5th and 6th of February, 2010 as a support race for GP2 Asia.
The Chevrolet Supercars and the series’ technical team have already arrived at the UAE capital and have begun setting up for the arrival of the drivers. The round is set to be an exciting battle between the title hopefuls in both the SC09 and SC06 categories.
Bahraini driver Fahad Al Musalam, the defending champion, is currently in first place of the SC09 division with 41 points. Raed Raffii follows him in second place with 35 points, while Abdul Aziz Al Yaeesh of Saudi Arabia is not far behind in third with 30 points. Former champion Tarek Elgammal of Australia is fourth on 28, tied with Mohammed Al Owais of the UAE. Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa is in sixth with 24 points.
In the SC06 category, Bahraini Faisal Raffii is dominating the season and is in first place with 40 points following five successive victories. Alqassim Hamidaddin is second with 28, and Husam Al Saleh is a distant third with 21. Bandar Al Silmy, is fourth with 19 points, while promising Bahraini teenager Ezra Idafar is fifth on 10 points.
The championship – based at Bahrain International Circuit, ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’ – will be returning to Yas Marina Circuit for the first time since the opening round of the season was held at the all-new racing facility in October of last year.

The inaugural raced made for an impressive display of racing action and made sure fans will be tuning in for the rest of the season. There was certainly plenty of heated action in the previous round held at Reem International Circuit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last month. Raed Raffii was the winner of race one ahead of Al Yaeesh and Elgammal, before Al Yaeesh and Elgammal took the top two podium places for race two ahead of Al Owais, who was third.
Following those results, Al Musalam’s lead atop the championship table were cut significantly, and the title race was blown wide open with up to six drivers in contention. Al Musalam, who appeared on the podium in every race until Reem, commented that it will be crucial for him to continue scoring as much points as he can in Abu Dhabi, as the other drivers have now begun making a strong push in the championship.
Raed Raffii is also confident of continuing his recent good run, which includes two victories and another podium finish in the last four races. He added that the pressure is now on Al Musalam to keep his lead in the title fight, after he and several other drivers closed the gap on the leader.
The round is set to get underway with the first sessions on track on Friday, with a race apiece on each day. Keep up to date with the round’s progress on Bahrain International Circuit’s official website, www.bahraingp.com.