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

Speed Weekend got off to a roaring start on Friday at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir, with three different winners in the five races held.

Dylan Pereira was in scintillating form as he took the meeting’s first race in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East, while Raed Raffii and Ahmed Almuyini both had doubles, with Raffii winning both sprints in the BIC 2,000cc Challenge and Almuyini enjoying two wins in the Bahrain Motorcycle Racing (BMR) 600.

All three series were holding the penultimate rounds of their 2019/2020 seasons as part of Speed Weekend’s events. Both Porsche and 2,000cc raced along BIC’s 5.412-kilometre Grand Prix track while BMR competed on the 2.55km Inner circuit.

Porsche action continues Saturday (Editor’s note: February 22) with another two races on schedule. All the action will be held from 11am to 6pm and all are welcome to attend. Tickets are available at the gate.

In Friday’s Porsche programme, Pereira topped the Practice timesheet with a best lap of two minutes 02.273 seconds before securing pole for Race One with a 2:02.088 lap in Qualifying.

Pereira then made the most of his place in the front of the grid, leading in each of the 12 laps en route to powering to an impressive victory in 28:13.180. He was 3.844s ahead of JB Simmenauer, while Leon Koehler came third 7.684s behind. Each of the overall top three were also the best finishers in the Pro class.

The ProAm category was claimed by Christoffer Bergstroem ahead of Lucas Groeneveld and Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa. Michael Knutzon won the Am class ahead of Jean-Marc Cordier and Shaikh Jaber bin Ali Al Khalifa.

In the BIC 2,000cc Challenge, Tareq Al Tajer in a Ford Focus was nearly two seconds ahead of the pack in Practice, where he had a best lap of 2:27.651. He maintained his strong pace and won pole with a 2:27.754 fastest Qualifying lap.

In the opening eight-lap sprint, Raffii driving a Honda S2000 managed to claim the victory in 19:48.153. Al Tajer had to settle for the runner-up spot 3.446s back, while Shaikh Hamad bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in a Honda Civic was third 9.877 behind Raffii. All three were also on the Pro class podium.

In Race Two, Raffii had another superb win, coming from the middle of the pack at the start. He won over eight laps in 19:29.142. In second place was Ahmed Bin Khanen in a Honda Civic EG4 3.006s behind, while Al Tajer claimed his second podium 5.878s back.

Wiebke Buelow was the Novice class winner in both races.

In the BMR 600, Almuyini was the man to beat from the start. He first set the Practice pace with a 1:09.545 lap and then secured pole with a quicker 1:09.467 time in Qualifying.

He absolutely dominated the first 11-lap race, winning in a total time of 12:59.736. He was classified 12.595s ahead of Ali Adiby, while completing the podium winners was Ibrahem Al Sharida 30.830s behind Almuyini.

The ace rider completed his double with a Race Two win in 13:10.441. The same two competitors joined him on the podium, with Adiby finishing with a narrow 0.992s gap and Al Sharida 6.131s adrift.

The winners of the round were presented their respective trophies in a podium ceremony at the end of the day.