BAHRAIN, 17 December 2006 — The round 2 of the Formula BMW Racing Center Race Series ended over the weekend with a success rewarding Prince Abdul Aziz Al-Faisal with the Championship lead by 8 points. Salah Salahuddin and Hamad Al-Khalifa, both of Bahrain, were in second and third places respectively in a hard-fought race. The race in difficult conditions. The Bahrain International Circuit experienced an overnight rain to leave an extremely damp track for free practice, with Prince Abdul Aziz finding himself second fastest just 0.08 second behind fastest man Bahraini Hassan Al-Wazzan.
By the time qualifying began, the track dried out but had a greasy surface with all drivers experiencing a challenging time in the cockpit. Al-Wazzan again found himself on top of the time sheets, claiming a very respectable Pole Position time of 1.11:191. Second place went to Saad Ali from Pakistan with a time of 1.11:428 and Prince Abdul Aziz found a 0.2 second improvement from his free practice time to claim third position on the grid with 1.11:603.
The race looked to be a close one, as all top four drivers had qualified with only 0.8 second between them.
Race day on the following day started with beautiful sunshine and dry track, the cool air would help the engines perform to the highest level and an exciting 12-lap race was given by all drivers.
At the lights, Al-Wazzan broke clean away from the field being helped by a very slow start from second place man Saad Ali, of which Al-Khalifa did very well to avoid. Prince Abdul Aziz saw his chance to grab second place and pursue first-place Al-Wazzan.
The action in the midfield was extremely close and hard fought with a pack of four drivers exchanging places lap after lap, the man to dominate the group was Saudi Arabia’s Mishaal Al-Sudairy who exhibited excellent control of his fellow competitors. He was to finish an exciting fourth just missing a podium position and giving himself sixth place in the championship standings.
Meanwhile, Al-Wazzan in first place had succumbed to the pressure from Prince Abdul Aziz by spinning out and finishing sixth overall. This left the track clear for Prince Abdul Aziz to disappear into the distance setting the fastest lap of the race in the process with a time of 1.11:294. He completed his race domination to 1st place leaving a gap behind him of 17 seconds to second-placer Salahuddin who fought his way through the field from his sixth place qualifying position. Next man across the finish line was Al-Khalifa for a well-deserved third place. The third round of the Formula BMW Racing Race Series will take place at the Bahrain International Circuit for two days from Dec. 22-23. It consists of eight rounds.
