Bahrain Launches ‘Our Race’
Bahrain International Circuit, Wednesday 13th February, 2008:
The Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) launched the biggest sporting and social
occasion in the Gulf this year, the 2008 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on April
4-5-6, in Sakhir at the Bahrain International Circuit today. This year’s Grand
Prix marks the fifth time that the FIA Formula One World Championship has
visited the Middle East since the Bahrain International Circuit was built in
2004, and the landmark occasion promises to be the biggest and best Grand Prix
yet under its headline ‘our race’.
Martin Whitaker, Chief Executive Officer at the BIC, said: “People have come to
expect an unforgettable experience at the Grand Prix and really come away from
the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix feeling that it is ‘their race’. There is so
much more on offer for the fans each year in terms of entertainment, both on the
racetrack and in the public areas, compared to many of the world’s other major
sporting events, and this year we believe that we are going to see another
unforgettable event.”
The countdown to the 2008 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix is already well underway
following six days of testing at the BIC, where both the Ferrari and Toyota
teams put their all-new challengers through their paces. Ferrari in particular
grabbed headlines around the world with the pace of its new car, the F2008, in
the hands of reigning champion, 28-year-old Finn Kimi Räikkönen.
Testing also marks the start of the Ithmaar Group Yalla Bahrain! calendar of
free to attend cultural and community events leading right up to the week of the
Bahrain Grand Prix. Already more than 2,000 people greeted Ferrari’s Brazilian
hero Felipe Massa, winner of the 2007 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in a special
Yalla Bahrain! autograph session at the Seef Mall and a total of 30 teams
battled it out in a Yalla Bahrain! five-a-side football competition at the BIC
during public day at Formula One testing.
Still to come are the results of Yalla Bahrain! F1 Paint Bahrain, where 70
statues created by the Kingdom’s illustrious artist Abbas Al Mosawi will be
decorated by schools, universities, businesses and social clubs across the
country for a special exhibition in the Seef Mall from February 22. A Drive-In
Movie Night will be hosted by the BIC on March 7, the race-off in the Yalla
Bahrain! Car Building Challenge in Manama on March 14 and the Yalla Bahrain! F1
Xtreme weekend in Manama featuring drifting, stunt bikes, BMX displays and urban
music on March 28-29.
“The weeks building up to the Grand Prix are full of excitement and anticipation
across the Kingdom,” said BIC Chief Operating Officer Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al
Khalifa. “The Yalla Bahrain! events are a taster of the festival of family
entertainment on offer at the BIC throughout the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix
weekend, and allow everyone living in or visiting Bahrain to join in the fun for
free and celebrate together.”
Last year’s Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix was the first ever sell-out event,
drawing 90,000 people across the three days. As a result an entirely new
grandstand is being built for this year’s race directly opposite the pit lane
exit, increasing capacity for another blockbuster event. The event drew
thousands of race fans from across the Middle East, and ensuring that more fans
have a comfortable seat and an ideal vantage point has been key to the planning
for 2008.
As part of the build-up to the event the BIC has announced a range of
cost-effective accommodation packages for overseas visitors and race fans.
Shaikh Salman said, “Last year we put together our first set of travel and
accommodation packages which were extremely well-received and in 2008 we have
come together with Kanoo Holidays to create the best possible range of packages
to welcome everyone to Bahrain.”
Prices for the 2008 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix all-inclusive packages start
from BD186 per person for the four nights, inclusive of accommodation and a
three-day ticket for the Turn 1 grandstand, with the option to change this for a
different vantage point for a supplementary charge. Additionally flights and
transfers to and from the circuit can be included at extra cost.
Another new measure for the 2008 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix is the introduction
of a Friday only ticket. Formula One race weekends run from Friday to Sunday,
which spills over into the working week in the Middle East. Many race fans,
particularly in Saudi Arabia where the weekend is Thursday-Friday, have had to
miss out on coming to experience the Bahrain Grand Prix until this year. The new
Friday-only tickets will enable more fans to come and enjoy all the atmosphere
and events and to see Formula One action at the BIC.
Bahrain will host the third round of this year’s Formula One world championship,
which starts in Australia on March 16 and runs through 18 events in 17 countries
before the end of the season in Brazil on November 2. As the world’s biggest
annual sporting series, Formula One attracts a global audience of more than 550
million viewers and takes place on every continent except Africa and Antarctica.
This year two new venues will join the Formula One calendar: Valencia in Spain
will host the European Grand Prix ahile Singapore will become the host of the
first ever floodlit night race for Formula One.
As in 2007 there will be 11 teams taking part in this year’s Formula One season.
The reigning champions Ferrari go into 2008 as pre-season favourites after a
dominant display throughout pre-season testing. The team has set the pace both
in Bahrain and Spain, where the majority of teams carry out their pre-season
programmes, ahead of its main rivals McLaren-Mercedes and a pitched battle
between Williams, Renault, BMW, Honda, Toyota and Red Bull to get on terms with
the top two.
A new name in the sport this year is Force India, which bought the Spyker team
at the end of last season. Backed by Indian industrial magnate Vijay Mallya and
with experienced race winner Giancarlo Fisichella in the number one driver
position, there are high hopes for the colourful new team to show well in the
coming season.
Supporting the Formula One action on the track will be a full schedule of
supporting races, led by the new GP2 Asia series. GP2 is the ‘feeder’ category
to Formula One introduced in 2005, from which all three champions have leapt
straight into the top flight of Formula One. Inaugural champion Nico Rosberg
scored points on his Formula One debut in Bahrain with Williams in 2006, while
his successor Lewis Hamilton came within one point of winning the world
championship at his first attempt with McLaren-Mercedes last season. This year
sees Timo Glock step out of his championship-winning GP2 season into the Toyota
Formula One team.
GP2 Asia is a sister championship to the European-based GP2 series. The series
is focused on creating a showcase for racing talent from the Middle East and
Asia, and its events also feature another of the supporting events at the Gulf
Air Bahrain Grand Prix, the Speedcar Series. Speedcars are closely related to
the NASCAR racers in America, but feature a host of stars from the world of
international motor sport at the wheel led by former Formula One drivers Jean
Alesi, Johnny Herbert, Stefan Johansson and Gianni Morbidelli.
There will also be plenty of excitement for fans of regional racing talent with
the final two races in this year’s Lumina CSV Championship Middle East, the
biggest circuit racing series in the Gulf. Organised and promoted by the BIC,
the Lumina calendar stretches over 12 races in Dubai and Bahrain and for the
overall winner there is the prize of a lifetime in store: a test drive in the
world’s biggest and fastest touring car series, the V8 Supercars Australia
Championship.
Currently the battle for the championship is focused on Bahrain’s Fahad Al
Musalam and Saudi Arabia racer Abdulaziz Al Yaeesh. Dubai-based Tarek Elgammal
has all but conceded his crown but still gunning for victory in the remaining
races, while Bahrain’s teenage sensation Raeed Raffii, Egyptian ace Ahmed Hamada
and Bahrain’s Shaikh Hamad Al Khalifa have also been regular visitors to the
podium.
The final international category on the bill is the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup,
going into its 11th season as the official support category to the Formula One
world championship. The field of more than 30 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars makes a
spectacular and colourful sight and provides real door-to-door racing at every
corner among the evenly-matched supercars. With a celebrity guest driver joining
the well-known regulars of the series at most rounds the Porsches deliver real
entertainment in Bahrain every year.
Away from the track there will be still more to see and do than ever in the
Vending Area, where refreshments, coffee and shisha chill-out areas and
merchandise outlets mix with live family-focused entertainment. Live music, DJs,
performance artists and dancers crowd the Main Stage, childrens entertainers and
stiltwalkers mingle among the crowds while daring and exciting displays such as
the high dive act sit alongside interactive racing simulators and experiences.
“The Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix has really put this region on the world’s
sporting
map,” added Martin Whitaker. “Other than the Olympic Games and football World
Cup
there is no event bigger – and it comes every year, not just once in a lifetime.
In 2008 we believe we have created more entertainment than ever and increased
capacity to allow more people than ever to come and enjoy the spectacle of ‘Our
Race’ in Bahrain.”
