FIA World Endurance Championship Bapco 8 in December

Manama, Oct. 22 (BNA): Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) will welcome back the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in December, and for the first time ever it will be held together with the BIC National Day Festival. This four-day extravaganza is scheduled to take place on December 13-16 at “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East” in Sakhir. It will be the biggest event held at BIC outside of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. Details of the occasion were announced at a press conference this evening at the BIC premises in Sakhir. Speaking at the media gathering were BIC Chief Executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, FIA WEC CEO Gerard Neveu and FIA WEC former World Champion and current AF Corse talent James Calado. The WEC returns with an extended eight-hour event, sponsored by long-term BIC partner Bapco. Both WEC and National Day will be open to the public from December 13, with WEC running for two days and National Day celebrations offering four days of entertainment, concluding on December 16. The BIC also announced a major event package for the four-day festival, with regional superstar singer Balqees announced as first major concert act, together with a vast array of stunt shows, entertainers, bands and performers. Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, Chief Executive of the BIC, said: “We are very proud to be welcoming back the World Endurance Championship this December. The Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain, together with the BIC National Day Festival, makes for a unique celebration. We expect to attract some of our biggest ever crowds to enjoy the very best of endurance racing and the huge amount of entertainment on offer for National Day, including regional superstars for our supporting concert programme. It will be a truly festival atmosphere at the Home of Motorsport in the Middle East.” Gerard Neveu, CEO of the FIA World Endurance Championship, added: “We are very happy to be returning to Bahrain International Circuit, which is the WEC’s natural home in the Middle East and a favourite with our teams for its facilities, climate, organisation and guaranteed warm welcome. “The Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain, which will form the central part of the circuit’s National Day festival of motorsport, will mark the mid-point of Season 8 for us, and we are looking forward to providing visitors with exciting and unpredictable racing entertainment on track, as well as holding our traditional ‘Rookie’ test the day after our race for champions of the future. We thank Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa and all his team for making us all feel so welcome; we can’t wait to be back in the Kingdom of Bahrain.” The Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain marks the fourth round of the 2019/2020 FIA WEC season. The gruelling eight-hour event makes it the second-longest race on the WEC calendar, behind only the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. Just as in previous seasons, there will be competition in four categories, comprising the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1), LMP2, Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) Pro and the LMGTE Amateur classes. Among the leading sports prototype car brands to look forward to in the LMP classes are Toyota, Ginetta, Rebellion, Alpine, Oreca and Dallara. The GT cars that are set to take to the track in the LMGTE classes include the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, the Porsche 911 RSR-19 and the Aston Martin Vintage AMR. Motor racing fans attending the FIA WEC Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain will be able to enjoy an Open Paddock experience, offering a behind the scenes spectacle of the race experience. All racing will be open to the public on 13 and 14 December, with the race set to get underway at 3pm on Saturday. The day right after the FIA WEC Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain, an in-season “Rookie” test will also be held at BIC, which fans will be able to watch from the Main Grandstand. Aside from the WEC, there will also be racing in racing in two support series: the MRF Challenge single-seater championship from India and the BIC-based Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East. The MRF, which has featured the likes of Mick Schumacher, Harrison Newey and Tatiana Calderon, will be holding four races over the weekend. The Porsche GT3 Cup, which is the leading one-make circuit racing series in the entire region, will run two races. The BIC National Day Festival is being held with the support of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister.