Porsche and 2,000cc title battles set to heat up in Speed Weekend at BIC

There will be no room for error as the title battles head down to the wire in the penultimate rounds of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East and the BIC 2,000cc Challenge.

Both are set to hit the tarmac as part of Speed Weekend on Friday and Saturday (February 21 and 22) at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir, and each series is set to feature their own thrilling fights for wins, podium places and all-important championship points.

Racing will be held along BIC’s 5.412-kilometre Grand Prix track, which will be hosting motorsport’s biggest stars less than a month from now in the Kingdom’s highly anticipated Formula 1 weekend from March 19 to 22.

Speed Weekend will be held from 8am to 5pm on Friday and then from 11am to 6pm on Saturday. All are welcome to attend. Tickets are available at the gate.

Heading into the fifth of six rounds in its 2019/2020 season, Leon Koehler of Germany tops the overall championship standings in the Porsche Sprint Challenge.

He has 213 points and enjoys a comfortable lead over countryman and current second-placer Julian Hanses, who is on 170 points. A further two points behind is JB Simmenauer of France, while Saul Hack of South Africa is fourth with 163 points and Richard Wagner from Austria is fifth with 147 points. Jesse Van Kuijk from the Netherlands rounds out the overall top six with 129 points.

All of the leading group, aside from Hanses and Hack, are on the 14-car provisional entry list for this round.

Koehler, Simmenauer and Wagner are all competing in the series’ Pro category, where they will be joined on the grid at BIC by David Beckmann of Germany and Dylan Pereira of Luxembourg; while Van Kuijk is competing in the ProAm along with fellow-Dutch drivers Daan Van Kuijk and Lucas Groenveld, Christoffer Bergstroem of Sweden and Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa of Bahrain.

The remainder of the entry list is made up of competitors in the Am class, including Jean Marc Cordier of France, Michael Doppelmayr of Austria, Michael Knutzon of Sweden and Shaikh Jaber bin Ali Al Khalifa.

Meanwhile, the BIC 2,000cc Challenge is set to feature a 17-car grid for its sixth and penultimate meeting of the season.

Following the first five rounds, there is a close two-horse race in the front with Shaikh Salman bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa leading in his Honda Civic with 175 points, just four ahead of Ahmed bin Khanen who drives a Honda Civic EG4.

Then, not far behind are Mohammed Faqihi, also in a Civic, with 152 points and Raed Raffii in a Honda S2000 with 148 points. Tareq Al Tajer is fifth with 135 points in his Ford Focus, and Nasser Al Alawi is sixth in a Honda S2000 with 115 points. Each of the top six are competing in the 2,000cc’s Pro class.

Leading the Novice category is Andreas Buelow with 61 points, a mere two points from Husain Al Ghanem. Both are driving Civics.

All are set to suit up this Speed Weekend. The rest of the grid includes Majed Himmo (Civic), Raed Himmo (Civic), Mohammed Janahi (Honda DC5) and Shaikh Hamad bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (Civic) in the Pro class; and Bassim Al Alawi (Honda CRX), Ali Al Bahrani (Civic), Wiebke Buelow (Civic), Ali Toblani (Mini Cooper) and Shaikh Abdulla Al Khalifa (BMW Z3) in the Novice category.

Speed Weekend is also set to feature action in the Bahrain Motorcycle Racing (BMR) 600.