BIC set to welcome Kingdom’s heroes for F1 Gulf Air Bahrain GP 2020 as Hamilton powers to pole

• Mercedes lock up front row for 57-lap night racing spectacle in Sakhir
• BIC commemorates FIA Volunteers Weekend
• Drugovich takes F2 Feature Race victory
• Evans wins first Porsche Sprint Challenge race from pole

Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) is all set to welcome on Sunday (November 29) the Kingdom’s highly appreciated frontline health workers, first responders and their families for the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2020, which will see seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton start from pole following a highly competitive F1 qualifying this evening in Sakhir.

Following the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, frontline health workers, first responders and their immediate family members have been invited to enjoy the 57-lap race.  A further group of frontline health workers and first responders have been invited to attend the F1 Rolex Sakhir Grand Prix, set to take place next Sunday (December 6) to wrap up Bahrain’s F1 double-header.

These invitations are in appreciation of the tremendous efforts and sacrifices they have made as part of Bahrain’s national response to COVID-19.

The initiative is being held under the theme “#ThankYou_OurHeroes”

In this evening’s F1 qualifying, Hamilton clinched his 10th pole of the season and third in his career at BIC, as he will be gunning for race win number 11 in 2020, including his fifth in a row, in what has been a dream campaign.

Hamilton registered a best lap of one minute 27.264 seconds to top the timesheet in Q3. Hamilton finished marginally ahead of Bottas, who had a best lap of 1:27.553 late in the floodlit session.

The Red Bull Racing pair of Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon will start on row two, while behind them will be Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Esteban Ocon in the other Renault qualified seventh, followed by AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniil Kvyat in the other AlphaTauri.

Starting from 11th to 15th, respectively, after being eliminated in Q2 today will be Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, Racing Point’s Lance Strong, Williams’ George Russell, and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, who registered no time after his car stopped on the track early on in Q2.

Set to place 16th to 20th on the grid are Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, all of whom didn’t make it out of Q1.

Earlier today, Verstappen set the fastest lap of the weekend’s third F1 practice. He registered a time of 1:28.355 while completing 11 laps over in the 60-minute session. By topping the timesheet, Verstappen prevented Hamilton from registering a clean sweep of the meeting’s three F1 practices.

Hamilton was still second-quickest however with a best lap 0.263s off Verstappen’s mark. Bottas in completed the top three 0.366s behind.

The F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2020 is scheduled for a 5.10pm start Sunday. It is the 15th of 17 rounds in the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, and it also commemorates the landmark 70th anniversaries of both F1 and national carrier Gulf Air.

BIC celebrates FIA Volunteers Weekend

BIC is joining the global motorsport community in observing the FIA Volunteers Weekend, which coincides with this year’s Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.

BIC Chief Executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa commented: “We at Bahrain International Circuit join the FIA, the Bahrain Motor Federation, and the global motorsport community in celebrating the fourth annual FIA Volunteers Weekend.

“Motorsport volunteers and officials are among the biggest contributors to motor racing events around the world. This is especially true here in Bahrain, and we could not be more grateful for such a capable and dedicated team that we have here.

“Alongside the BMF and all our affiliates, we look forward to further developing our already formidable partnership with the Kingdom’s motorsport volunteers as we continue to deliver top-class events that showcase everything Bahrain has to offer to the world.”

Drugovich takes F2 Feature Race victory

Felipe Drugovich of MP Motorsport raced to an impressive victory today in the Feature Race of the FIA Formula 2 Championship, being held in support of this weekend’s Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.

Drugovich had a strong start from second on the grid and gained the lead early in the first lap. He did well to extend his advantage towards the end and took the cheqerued flag after 32 laps with a total winning time of 58 minutes 24.004 seconds.

It was his third victory of the F2 season and first of his career in a Feature Race.

Drugovich finished comfortably in front of runner-up and pole-sitter Callum Ilott of Uni-Virtuosi, who was 14.833 seconds behind.

Jehan Daruvala of Carlin claimed the final podium step. He was engaged in a tight battle with F2 championship leader Mick Schumacher of Prema Racing over the last three laps, but did brilliantly to defend his position. Daruvala crossed the finish line 19.376s behind Drugovich, while Schumacher followed in fourth with just a 0.894s gap.

Nikita Mazepin of Hitech Grand Prix was fifth and Yuki Tsunoda in the other Carlin car came sixth with an impressive drive. Tsunoda had started from the very end of the 22-car grid, having not been classified in Friday’s qualifying.

Completing the race’s points scorers in the top 10 were Marcus Armstrong of ART Grand Prix, Robert Shwartzman of Prema, Dan Ticktum of Dams and Jack Aitken of Campos Racing.

The F2 Sprint Race, which will have today’s top eight start in reverse order, is Sunday at 1pm. It will be held over 23 laps.

Evans wins first Porsche race from pole

Jaxon Evans powered to an impressive pole-to-flag victory today to claim the 2020/2021 season’s first race in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East, being held in support of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.

Evans captured the chequered flag after completing the 12-lap event in a winning time of 25mins 09.884secs.

Julian Hanses was the runner-up 3.791secs behind, while Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer came away with the last podium place 6.672secs from Evans in third. Each of the top three were competing in the series’ GT3 class Pro category.

Taking the win amongst the Pro-Am runners was Lucas Groeneveld ahead of Daan Van Kuijk, who were also fourth and fifth overall, respectively.

Finishing first in the Am category was Eddy Waldhier, who was followed by Bahrain’s Shaikh Jaber bin Ali Al Khalifa and Robert Sulma.

The weekend’s second race is scheduled for Sunday at 2.20pm, also to be held over 12 laps, with Hanses on pole.

Earlier today, Evans and Hanses had each claimed pole during qualifying. Evans clocked a fastest lap of 2:04.140 in the session to clinch the leading grid position for the weekend’s first race, while Hanses took pole for race two with a lap of 2:04.770, which was top amongst the 17-car field’s second-fastest laps.