Scintillating action at Bahrain Motorsport Festival

Manama, Nov. 17 (BNA): It was an action-packed day of racing Thursday at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) as the first-ever Bahrain Motorsport Festival got underway in style. Highlighting the early proceedings were the Porsche trio of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb. They sent out a stern warning to those looking to derail their drivers’ title ambitions in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) after setting the pace in the first practice session held ahead of the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain. The current championship leaders steered their no. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid to the top of the timesheet with a fastest lap of one minute 42.107 seconds around the 5.412-kilometre track at "The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East". They were classified ahead of the two R18 Hybrids of Audi Sport Team Joest, who are looking to go out on a high note in their very last race weekend in the FIA WEC. The team of Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis powered their Audi no. 8 R18 to just 0.343 seconds from matching the best time of the pace-setters. Teammates Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer in their no. 7 R18 were third 0.408s from the top. Toyota Gazoo Racing’s no. 6 TS050 driven by Stephan Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi were ranked outside of the top three. They are the chief title rivals of the leading Porsche trio, who enjoyed a gap of 0.758s ahead of them. In fifth were the no. 1 Porsche car of Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley; while classified sixth were Toyota’s no. 5 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima. Each of the top six were in the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) category. Leading the LMP2 class was the Alpine A460-Nissan of Signatech Alpine trio Gustavo Menezes, Nicolas Lapierre and Stephane Richelmi. The Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Pro (LMGTE Pro) class was led by Aston Martin Racing’s Jonny Adam and Darren Turner in an Aston Martin Vantage V8; while the LMGTE Am category had AF Corse teammates Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Rui Aguas in a Ferrari F458 Italia leading the way. Practice two will be held later Thursday evening under floodlights in Sakhir. Meanwhile, there was also plenty of action in the festival’s supporting championships, namely the Porsche GT3 Cup Middle East and the MRF Challenge. Both series are holding the first rounds of their 2016/2017 season as part of the Bahrain Motorsport Festival. Frijns sets the pace in Porsche practice sessions Charlie Frijns kicked off the 2016/2017 season in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East by setting the pace in the practices. Earlier in the day, Dylan Pereira of Luxembourg was the fastest man in the first session. He clocked a fastest lap of two minutes 05.048 seconds in seven laps of work. Ryan Cullen from Ireland was classified second 0.426 seconds back, while Tom Oliphant from the UK was third 0.939s off the pace. The top three were all part of the gold category. Al Faisal Al Zubair of Oman was quickest in the silver category ahead of Shaikh Isa bin Abdulla Al Khalifa of Team Bahrain. Fifth in the group was another Bahraini in Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa. Magnus Ohman of Sweden set the pace in the bronze class ahead of Team Bahrain’s Shaikh Hamad bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa. In the second practice, Frijns managed to clock the best time of the day. The Dutchman’s registered a quickest lap of 2:04.670, while Cullen followed a mere 0.088s slower. Dennis Olsen of Norway was third 0.160s behind. Shaikh Isa set the pace amongst participants in the silver category with Shaikh Salman bin Isa in fifth, while Shaikh Hamad led the Bronze class. The Porsche field will hold its qualifying sessions on Friday. Mick Schumacher topped the opening day of practice for the MRF Challenge 2016/2017 season-opener by setting the fastest time in practice two. The German, who is the son of Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher, clocked a best lap of two minutes 00.467 seconds to go one-tenth faster than Australian Joey Mawson. Earlier in the day, Estonian driver Ralf Aron clocked the fastest time in practice one, finishing ahead of Schumacher and Briton Harrison Newey, who is the son of Formula 1 design guru Adrian Newey. In the opening session, it was Newey who first went fastest as the other drivers spent time familiarising themselves with the circuit. Halfway through the session, Newey led with a 2:02.449 ahead of Mawson and Schumacher. The next 10 minutes saw Newey and Schumacher exchange fastest laps with the latter setting a time of 2:01.370. Newey went one tenth faster with a 2:01.263 as the session was coming to an end only to be pipped by Italian F4 champion Ralf Aron on the last timed lap, who did a 2:01.144. Juri Vips and Kimi Schramm completed the top five. Free practice two saw Mawson wasting no time in getting up to speed and went fastest with a 2:01.783. Behind him, Newey and Aron also went fast but were a couple-of-tenths off the pace. Schumacher then posted a 2:00.783, before going even faster to set his pole-clinching time. Mawson went seconds with a 2:00.566 with Aron was third with a 2:00.889. Rinus van Kalmthout and Manuel Maldonado completed the top five. Schumacher commented: "It is my first time driving here so I spent the first few laps familiarising myself with the circuit, which I really enjoyed driving at. "The car is a step forward from last year’s car and I felt comfortable straight away. I was happy with how today went but now it is time to focus on qualifying and the race for tomorrow." All drivers were driving the updated MRF 2000 cars, which feature a new updated Mountune Engine amongst aerodynamic changes. The time set by Schumacher was a full three seconds faster than the time set by Alessio Picariello in qualifying for the event last year. The drivers were happy with the updated car and feel there is lot for potential yet to be unlocked by India’s fastest single-seater race car. Newey, who is only one of the three drivers to have driven last season, was very happy with the updated new car. He commented, "The updated car is definitely a step forward. You can feel the engine and braking is much better. The car is also lighter so finding a right balance is easier. I am happy with practice today and look forward to getting up there in qualifying tomorrow." Qualifying will take place Friday along with the first two of four races this weekend. American pop star Dev set for highly anticipated live performance The second night of concerts on Friday will feature American pop star Dev. Dev follows the live performance of Moroccan singer Hatim Ammor held Thursday night. Dev is a popular singer, songwriter, rapper and radio host. She is well known for her hit songs "Bass Down Low", "Booty Bounce" and "In the Dark", to name a few. She has collaborated with many other well-known artists such as Enrique Iglesias, Far East Movement, Fabolous and Sage The Gemini, among others. Algerian icon Khaled, formerly known as Cheb Khaled, will then follow Dev with a memorable show of his own on Saturday as the curtain closes on the festival. Race-goers will be able to enjoy the family entertainment off the race track at the Bahrain Motorsport Festival. The Action-Ha entertainment programme includes an international stunt show and all sorts of exciting attractions throughout the day. The stunts show will be performed by Moto Stunts International (MSI) – a team of eight to 10 motorcycle riders who include Britain’s top female motorcycle stunt rider and skilled trick and freestyle display jumpers. Action-Ha also includes graffiti air brushing, roller skate freestyle, bicycle freestyle, football freestyle, breakdance shows, race simulators, a gaming zone, a magic show on stage and kick-boxing. There is also a wide array of kids’ shows will be on hand, including a Broadway Spectacular Show, which is a variety show that includes singing and dancing and lots of audience participation. There is also a Ministry of Science show, which aims to inspire and educate through the medium of live theatre.