Qatar drivers ready to share limelight in Bahrain

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)

Doha: Qatar-based father and son duo of Rob and Charlie Frijns will compete in the opening round of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East Season 7 and share the limelight during a special weekend of celebration for Porsche as Bahrain International Circuit plays host to FIA World Endurance Championship’s finale (WEC) starting today.

The young Frijns will be looking to make a strong start to what is sure to be a competitive season and has already given diehard fans at Sakhir a taste of his pace posting the fastest time in early practice.

The early times suggest Season 7 could be one of the most closely fought instalments of the GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East series ever and have already set an early tone for a thrilling weekend of Porsche motorsport action.

The Frijns drivers of team ‘Frijns Steel Structures Middle East’ based in Doha will join elite Porsche works drivers such as Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber who have descended upon the desert kingdom’s track at Sakhir on mass with much to celebrate.

The leading sports car manufacturer recently reinforced its credentials with further success on the race track at the highest level by clinching its first manufacturers’ world championship since 1986.

After securing the 2015 WEC constructors’ title in the LMP1 class following the penultimate round in Shanghai Porsche now have sights on adding the drivers’ championship and a potential four titles in total across the WEC season. It is a fitting finale and the ultimate showpiece for endurance racers.

But as one series comes to an end with Porsche to the forefront another is just about to start with the most talented drivers from the region setting their sights on the most prized title in Middle East racing.

For Qatar’s Frijns double-act and racing rivals Schmidt Ashkanani AlFaisal and this weekend signals the start of a new challenge and the seventh season of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East Season. It’s another reason to celebrate and the perfect example of Porsche’s commitment to motorsport in the region. Speaking on the eve of the opening race Qatar based driver Charlie Frijns said: “I couldn’t think of a better way to start my own season than to be amongst the action and excitement of the climax to the World Endurance Championship.”

Over the past seven seasons Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East has developed into proven pathway for regional drivers to accelerate their careers on to the biggest stages of racing through intense competition with global motorsport professionals. Much of its success as a standalone series and incubator of regions talent is founded in the efforts of motorsport legend and manager of the Middle East championship Walter Lechner of Lechner Racing.

Drivers from Bahrain UAE Kuwait KSA and Europe are all set to participate with as many as seven nationalities expected to line up for Race 1.

Regarded as the purest form of racing with all drivers competing in identical fifth generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cups the unique one-make series will consist of 12 races between November 2015 and March 2016.

Round 2 of the series will travel to Al Reem International Circuit in Saudi Arabia for the first time in two years in early December.

Round 1 of Season 7 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East takes place at Bahrain International Circuit from today.

The second race of the opening round is scheduled for 12:00 tomorrow.

THE PENINSULA