ZAIN REEM INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, SAUDI ARABIA
SAUDI RACING FESTIVAL 5, March 31-April 1 – 2010
ZAIN REEM INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT SET TO HOST FINAL ROUNDS OF
CHEVROLET SUPERCARS AND PORSCHE GT3 CUP CHALLENGE SERIES’ THIS WEEKEND
Saudi’s Bandar Alesayi and Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman duel for second in Porsche series
Bahrain’s Fahad Al-Musalam aims to seal Chevrolet success at Zain Reem circuit
RIYADH (Saudi Arabia), Monday, March 29: Saudi Arabia’s Prince Abdulaziz Al-Faisal has already clinched the inaugural Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, but he will be hoping to end the season on a winning note when the Zain Reem International Circuit, near Riyadh, hosts the last two rounds of the Porsche one-make racing series and the final round of the Chevrolet Supercars Middle East Championship on Wednesday and Thursday.
While the pressure will be off Prince Abdulaziz to perform for the second successive weekend at his home circuit, the outcome of second position in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East is far from certain. Saudi’s Bandar Alesayi currently has a single-point lead over Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman Bin Rashid Al-Khalifa and the runner-up position will be settled over the 11th and 12th rounds of the series on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, with both drivers facing a winner-takes-all approach.
Prince Khalid Al-Faisal of the Faisal Racing Team holds fourth in the series and also has a chance of climbing to second overall. Faisal Bin Laden leads the Mobil 1 category and holds sixth in the general points’ standings and he would dearly like to close out the Porsche one-make campaign by pipping Bandar Ali Reza of the Bison Reem Team to fifth in the championship. Sixteen-year-old Saudi Arabian rookie Fahad Al-Gosaibi will also be hoping to claim yet another win to follow the sensational success he earned last Thursday at the Zain Reem circuit.
There will be two classes in the Chevrolet Supercar race series, with drivers either lining up in the SC09 or SC06 categories. Bahrain’s Fahad Al-Musalam leads the larger class with 80 points, but he is still not ensured of the end-of-season glory, as Saudi Arabia’s Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh and Egyptian-born Australia’s Tarel El-Gammal follow hot in his tyre tracks. Al-Yaeesh has 70 points to the Australian’s 67. Dropped scores may also complicate the final points’ classification, but Al-Musalam remains the favourite to snatch the title.
Bahrain’s Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa holds fourth position in the SC09 category and still has an outside chance of taking the title at the Zain Reem circuit. Bahrain’s Raed Raffi and the UAE’s Mohammed Al-Owais complete the top six heading into the Saudi finale.
Bahrain’s Faisal Raffii has already secured the SC06 category after taking 10 wins from 12 starts. Saudi Arabia’s Alqassim Hamidaddin and Husam Al-Saleh are likely to be his closest challengers and are separated by a mere eight points in the overall championship classification. Bahrain’s Ezra Idafar. Saudi’s Bandar Al-Silmy and Frenchman Christophe Mariot trail the leading trio.
“We are delighted to be hosting the final rounds of the popular new Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East and the Chevrolet Supercars Middle East Championship,” said HRH Prince Sultan bin Bandar Al-Faisal, CEO of the Zain Reem international circuit.
The Saudi Speed Festival has received valuable sponsorship from Zain, Saudi Oger, Toyota, Castrol, Bison energy drink, the Saudi Bin Laden Group of Companies, Al-Ghassan Motors and Saudi Radical.
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For further media information:
Zain Reem International Circuit, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bilal Kurjieh, E-mail: bilal@race.com.sa and Abdullah Al-Azem, E-mail: abdullah.alazem@race.com.sa
Saudi Arabian Motor Federation, PO Box 87881, Riyadh 11652, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Tel: + 9661 477 1035, Fax: + 9661 477 1050, www.samf.gov.sa
Arabic: Firas Nimri, Mobile: + 9662 777 282000, E-mail: nimrifiras@yahoo.com.
English: Neil Perkins, NDP Publicity Services, Mobiles: + 44 7831 123153 or + 971 50 3616881, E-mail: ndppublicity@googlemail.com.