GO Bahrain takes fantastic victory in gruelling 24-hour challenge at BIKC

GO Bahrain won the 24-hour fourth and final round of the 2019/2020 Bahrain Karting Enduro Championship (BKEC), held over the weekend at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir.

The GO Bahrain quartet of Abdulla Buhindi, Khalid Al Rayes, Khalid Alsaei and Lewis Skalski shared the duties in their kart to not only take first place in the overall classification, but also in the race’s Pro class.

They had completed 1,121 laps as the chequered flag was waved by BIC Chief Executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa to mark the end of the day-long race.

The victors posted two laps more than their closest rivals, Racing Junior BH, who were also the winners of the race’s Nations class. Bapco Motorsport triumphed in the event’s final category, the Corporate class.

All the action took place along BIKC’s 1.414-kilometre Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK) Track. The action flagged off on Friday afternoon and concluded at the same time the very next day.

Teams were competing in identical 390cc Honda-powered Sodikart RT8s.

In the overall classification, GO Bahrain and Racing Junior BH were joined on the podium by Bahrain Airport Services (BAS) A.

Racing Junior BH featured Mohammed Mattar, Ali Baslar, Khalid Alwazzan and Mohammed Ameen; while BAS A were comprised of Gavin Halls, Ahmed Abduljaleel, Lewis Smith and Khalifa Al Yaqoobi. They completed 1,118 laps in the race, just three behind the winners.

Bapco’s three teams followed from fourth through sixth place overall. Bapco Sadeem (Nasser Al Alawi, Khalifa Al Zayani, Ali Abdulla and Khalid Bubshait) took fourth, while Bapco Motorsport (Essa Mahmoud, Aziz Bufalah, Abdulrahman Alawadhi and Saud Al Shiridi) were fifth and Bapco Engineering (Faisal Alshafei, Abdulla Al Thawadi, Osama Al Buflasa and Yousif Khamiri) sixth.

In the Pro class, GO Bahrain were followed by BAS A while Bapco Sadeem were ranked third with 1,117 laps.

Racing Junior BH triumphed in the Nations category, where they were ahead of Bapco Engineering, who completed 1,115 laps for second in class. BAS B (Mohammed Faqihi, Ahmed Al Kooheji, Mahmood Al Saati, Mohammed Maki and Ziyad Khalifa) were third in class with 1,108 laps.

In the Corporate class, Bapco Motorsport were joined in their top three by BAS C and the all-ladies team of BAS F. BAS C (Don Vinura, Mohammed Al Ansari, Ammar Al Ghawas, Yousif Alaskari, Mohammed Fadhel, Mohammed Rabea, Benjamin John and Hussain Habib) registered 1,079 laps, while BAS F (Marwa Mandeel, Jeiel Macaraan, Fatima Mohammed, Sujusha Bakaal, Alya Adel and Christina Anieliesa) completed 1,048 laps.

Their classifications made it four podiums all in all for the four teams representing BAS.

Meanwhile, to add to their success in the round, Racing Junior BH posted the fastest lap of the race at 1:11.803.

Following all the action, the winners were awarded their respective trophies in the podium ceremony.

The 2019/2020 BKEC featured four rounds in all, starting off with a three-hour opener, followed by a six and 12-hour race, culminating with the 24-hour challenge.