SAKHIR, Bahrain, 24 November 2006 — The popular V8 Supercar Australia series made its debut in the Middle East yesterday with practice rounds for the Desert 400 race, the penultimate leg in the 13-race Championship Series, at the Bahrain International Circuit here.
A prelude to the three races today and tomorrow to determine the 12th round winner, the practice had all eyes on archrivals Rick Kelly and Craig Lowndes.
A mere 73 points separate Championship Series leader Kelly (2,861 points) of Holden Racing Team and Lowndes (2,788) of Team Betta Electrical, promising a battle royal between them over the next two days in the competition to mark the first year of a five-year contract the BIC signed with Avesco, the Supercars Series governing body, to bring the fastest and hardest touring car series in the world to the home of motorsport in the region.
Kelly hit the ground running with another small blow over Lowndes as the former pounced late in first practice as he and Toll HSV team-mate Garth Tander finished behind Ford Performance Racing’s Jason Bright on the new circuit. Lowndes was sixth in practice.
Kelly came in fourth in practice.
The morning qualifying begins the action today with the real test to come later in the day with the 27-lap first race. Two more races, both over 37 laps, are set for tomorrow by which time the drivers will have covered 400 kilometers hence the name Desert 400.
Bright’s teammate Mark Winterbottom, third in the Championship, was third yesterday with Dick Johnson Racing’s Will Davison in fifth position. All teams found the BIC a challenge on day one with Bright leaping at the very end of the session to get underneath Tander who had led for most of the second half of practice.
Lowndes was on the pace from the start leading the practice virtually from the first lap until Tander assumed the lead in the first practice session.
Tander and Holden Racing Team’s Todd Kelly have raced at the circuit before in an exhibition race before the Formula One Grand Prix earlier this year although gained no real advantage from racing in modified road cars.
In a bid to attract more fans to the event the championship organizers have also four races such as Thunder Arabia Lumina CS V Middle East featuring drivers from the region including three Saudis and one of them is 18-year old teenage girl, Amal Abdullah, who is entered in the Lumina division. The others are Abdul Aziz Al-Yashie and Fahd Al-Harby who both are seeing action in the Thunder Arabia Middle East category.
Al-Yashie hopes to improve on his third-place finish last year that saw countryman Al-Harby place fifth.
Although highly motivated the Saudi duo are not too optimistic about their chances owing to the stiff competition expected from Bahraini, Dutch and French competitors.
The Thunder Arabia Racing Series is expected to add a new dimension to the local and regional motorsport scene. Not only does the series look set to provide excellent on-track action, but it incorporates important opportunities for up-and-coming Middle Eastern drivers to further their racing careers.
The race is expected to attract more than 30 million viewers the world over because of the popularity of V8 Supercars second only to Formula 1.
