BIC gets set for race day as Bottas to start from pole in F1 Rolex Sakhir GP

• Mercedes lock out front row after intense F1 qualifying
• Tsunoda battles to impressive win in F2 Feature Race
• Guven wins first Porsche sprint from pole position

Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) will be hosting on Sunday (Editor’s note: December 6) Bahrain’s heroes in the stands and motorsport’s superstars on the track for the Formula 1 Rolex Sakhir Grand Prix 2020, which will see Valtteri Bottas start from pole.

While the biggest icons in all of motor racing battle it out over 87 laps around BIC’s 3.543-kilometre Outer Track, “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East” will be welcoming a second group of the Kingdom’s frontline health workers, first responders and their immediate families to enjoy the action.

This is in line with the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister. The initiative is in appreciation of the health workers’ tireless efforts and sacrifices in Bahrain’s national response to COVID-19, and it is being held under the theme “#ThankYou_OurHeroes”.

They will be able to enjoy the race from an exclusive vantage point from BIC’s Main Grandstand, and watch as Bottas and world champions Mercedes head the field at the start grid.

The F1 Rolex Sakhir Grand Prix is scheduled for an 8.10pm start.

In one of the most intriguing and unpredictable F1 qualifying sessions of the season last night, Bottas captured pole with a blistering lap of 53.377 seconds in Q3, beating out teammate George Russell—driving in place of Lewis Hamilton this weekend—by just 0.026 seconds to lock out the front row for Mercedes for the second successive weekend.

Qualifying behind them were Max Verstappen (+0.056s) of Red Bull Racing and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (+0.236s), while Sergio Perez (+0.413s) of Racing Point and Daniil Kvyat (+0.529s) of AlphaTauri secured the grid positions on row three.

Completing the front 10 will be Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo (+0.580s), McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (+0.633s), Pierre Gasly (+0.777s) in the second AlphaTauri, and Lance Stroll (+0.823s) in the other Racing Point car.

Verstappen had earlier led the field after Q2 while Bottas was the top man at the end of Q1, both already with sub-54 second times.

Q2 saw some disappointing exits for some after starting off the weekend with promising performances. Renault’s Esteban Ocon, Red Bull’s Alexander Albon, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and McLaren’s Lando Norris all had their qualifying campaigns end there and will begin Sunday’s race from 11th to 15th, respectively.

Eliminated from further contention in Q1 were Kevin Magnussen of Haas, Nicholas Latifi and Jack Aitken of Williams, Kimi Raikkonen in the other Alfa Romeo, and Pietro Fittipaldi in the second Haas car. They complete Sunday’s start grid from 16th to 20th.

Aitken is driving in place of Russell this weekend while Fittipaldi is subbing for Romain Grosjean as he continues to recover from his crash at last weekend’s F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.

Earlier yesterday evening, Verstappen stormed to the top of the timesheet in the third F1 practice, clocking a fastest lap of 54.064secs—the best time of the meeting at that time. Verstappen completed 23 laps in the 60-minute session and finished 0.206s quicker than Bottas. Gasly was third fastest 0.363s off Verstappen’s pace, while Ocon placed fourth 0.389s behind.

The rest of the top 10 included Norris, Albon, Russell, Perez, Stroll and Sainz, while rom 11th to 20th were Giovinazzi, Kvyat, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Vettel, Raikkonen, Magnussen, Latifi, Fittipaldi and Aitken.

Tsunoda battles to impressive win in F2 Feature Race

Yuki Tsunoda battled back from a rough start to take an impressive victory yesterday in the Formula 2 Feature Race, held as part of this weekend’s F1 Rolex Sakhir Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, the drivers’ title fight has been extended to the final event of the 2020 season as current leader Mick Schumacher maintained his lead on the standings at 14 points from chief rival Callum Ilott.

Prema Racing, on the other hand, which features Schumacher and Robert Shwartzman as their drivers, clinched the teams’ championship.

Tsunoda started the 48-lap Feature in pole position but immediately lost two places at the start. He headed into the first turn of lap one behind Nikita Mazepin of Hitech Grand Prix and Shwartzman.

But the Carlin ace was able to make a late charge for the victory and regained first place on lap 44 amidst a hotly contested battle amongst the leaders. He held on until the end and took the chequered flag in 52:59.396 for his third win of 2020.

Guanyu Zhou (+5.613s) of Uni-Virtuosi claimed second place despite a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, while Mazepin (+6.280s) had to settle for third. He finished ahead of Felipe Drugovich, Shwartzman and Ilott.

Schumacher had a brilliant race to take seventh on the final classification after starting all the way from the back of the grid in 18th. He also set the race’s fastest lap of 1:04.087, earning him an extra two points on the championship standings.

The drivers’ title battle now goes down to the wire and will be decided Sunday in the weekend’s Sprint Race, which will be the final event of the season.

Prema won their teams’ title today after improving to 382 points, going beyond the reach of Uni-Virtuosi with 342.5.

Jehan Daruvala will start from pole position in the Sprint Race, following the reverse grid rule of F2. The curtain-closer will be held over 34 laps and it is scheduled for a 3.20pm start.

Guven wins first Porsche sprint from pole

Ayhancan Guven continued his near-perfect run this weekend in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East with a win this evening in the meeting’s first race, held around BIC’s 3.543-kilometre Outer Track.

After topping the timesheets in two of the three sessions held so far, which included qualifying where he secured a double pole, Guven made his mark yet again and put in a fine drive to take the chequered flag in a dominant 17 laps.

Guven secured his pole-to-flag triumph in a total race time of 21:22.754.

Daan Van Kuijk finished as the runner-up 6.595secs behind, while Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer completed the podium placers in third, 6.759s from Guven.

Guven was also the winner in the championship’s GT3 class Pro category, while Van Kuijk was first in the Pro-Am category. Eddy Waldhier was the top man amongst the Am runners.

Bahrainis Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa (Pro-Am) and Shaikh Jaber bin Ali Al Khalifa (Am) were classified eighth and ninth, respectively, overall in the race.

The second Porsche sprint will take place Sunday, scheduled for a 4.30pm start. Guven will once again be on pole.

Earlier today, Guven clinched pole position for race one after setting the fastest lap time in Qualifying of 1:14.209. He then also had the best second-fastest lap from all runners of 1:14.220s, which earned him pole for the second sprint.