Bahrain International Circuit selects Beirut to start its Pan Arab Promotional Formula One Road Show for the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2005
29/01/2005: The Bahrain International Circuit, which recently won the prestigious award for the best organized Grand Prix of the 2004 season, started its Pan Arab Formula One Road Show for the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2005 from Beirut. The campaign began on the 21st of January and lasted until the 26th. The Road Show, which was led by an 11-member BIC team, aimed to promote the Formula One in Bahrain (3rd round of the FIA Formula One World Championship 2005) which will take place on 1, 2, and 3 of April of 2005. During the Road Show, the audiences were introduced to Formula One racing, the process of buying race tickets, and how to arrange for travel and transport packages. They also lived a virtual Formula One driving experience through an F1 driving simulator, which brought to life most aspects of Formula One driving with all of its thrill and excitement .
Beirut was the first stop of the Formula One Road Show 2005 which will travel in its latter stages to Kuwait, Dubai, and then the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The reason for kick starting the campaign in Lebanon, was due to the regional importance of Lebanon in the field of motorsport, in addition to the leading role the Lebanese Motoring and Tourism Club ATCL plays in nurturing young talent in motorsports.
On January 19th, 2005, a press conference was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Beirut which hosted more than 80 media representatives 10 of which were TV stations. The speakers at that conference included Mr. Martin Whitaker, General Manager of the Bahrain International Circuit, the Lebanese rally champion, Abdo Feghali, who stressed the importance of what the BIC is represents with respect to Motor sport in the Middle East region, and Mr. Hisham Abu Alfateh, Manager Public Relations Gulf Air, who expressed his satisfaction over the strong relationship between Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, and stressed out the benefits resulting from such a fruitful relationship. He also pointed out Gulf Air?¢â‚¬â„¢s prepared packages for the Lebanese Market, and discussed the global operations of Gulf Air as an International Carrier.
The Road Show was a great success! The BIC stand was located at the newly built ABC Ashrafiyeh Mall which attracted a large number of motor sport
enthusiasts and Formula One Fans. In addition to the stand, the BIC drivers and promoters hit the streets of down town Solidere where they distributed flyers, and created excitement and interest amongst the crowds. BIC also had the opportunity to drive the Road Show into the famous and prestigious BuddaBar establishment where through music and raffle draws were able to further deliver the message of the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2005.
After the Gulf Air Bahrain GP 2004, BIC embarked on an ambitious and highly intensified work program to realize its slogan as ?¢â‚¬?“Home of Motorsport in the Middle East?¢â‚¬A?. Just a few months ago, the Circuit hosted two international races, which are the F3 SuperPrix race and the Bahrain GT Festival. That is in addition to a wide variety of races like drag racing, MECAR, and Mini Cooper challenge. Also, the BMW Williams F1 team recently launched its team livery in the BIC a few weeks ago.
In addition, BMW recently opened a Performance Center in BIC, which is the first in the Middle East and the second in the world. The center is one of the most modern facilities of its kind in the world and for the very first time, the center unites the programs of Formula BMW Racing center and BMW Driver Training under one roof. Also, the BIC will witness the opening of an off-road school on its premises, which is one of the best in the world, and contains 20 Land Rover cars.
