Himmo claims double, scores crucial points for title bid in BIC 2,000cc season’s penultimate round

Himmo claims double, scores crucial points for title bid in BIC 2,000cc season’s penultimate round

Raed Himmo claimed a hard-earned double in the sixth and penultimate round of the 2021/2022 BIC 2,000cc Challenge, held over the weekend at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

As one of this campaign’s chief title contenders, Himmo won both the meeting’s races to gain all-important points on the championship standings heading into the season’s final round.

Racing took place along BIC’s 2.55-kilometre Inner Circuit and drivers battled it out under lights in their respective two-litre cars in the series’ Pro and Novice classes.

Ali Al Mansoori kicked the round off by topping the practice timesheet with a best lap time of one minute 16.528 seconds in his Honda CIVIC. Al Mansoori was competing in the Novice category, and he even outpaced his Pro rivals.

Al Mansoori maintained his fine form in qualifying and he won pole position with a fastest lap of 1:16.158. Al Mansoori was able to narrowly pip Himmo for the leading grid spot by just 0.085 seconds.

In race one, however, Al Mansoori retired early on and Himmo was able to gain the lead on the third of 12 laps. He went on to take the chequered flag in a total winning time of 18:15.196.

Behind the wheel of his Honda CIVIC, he finished narrowly ahead of runner-up Raed Raffii in a Honda S2000, who was 1.082s behind, while former 2,000cc champion Shaikh Salman bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa was classified third a lap behind, also driving a Honda CIVIC.

All three were competing in the Pro class.

Four cars were not classified at the end of the race, including Shaikh Hamad bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (Honda CIVIC), Nasser Al Alawi (Honda S2000), Al Mansoori and Andrew Ray (Honda Integra DC 2).