- Published: February 05 2009
Having seen great competition during the inaugural season of the 2.0-litre series, the excitement has more than doubled as the second season began. Over 14 drivers were seen going head-to-head in the opening round, as the Challenge supported the Desert 400 round of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series, last November.
As the season has progressed the intensity has built up with new joiners including Shaikh Jaber bin Ali Al Khalifa piling tons of pressure on current lead Mustafa Al Khan and adding even more excitement.
The fifth round, this Friday, will see the competition step up a notch as Shaikh Salman rejoins the Challenge for the remainder of the season in a Bahrain-built Honda Integra. 15 drivers will be heading to the inner circuit starting grid and will include Ali Al Kubaisi, Rashia AL Jowder, Mohammed Saleh, Abdulrahman Ghuloom, The Kuzbars and Hisham Al Othman; all of them have been working very hard on modifying and improving their vehicles.
On the news that Shaikh Salman would be joining the series, Shaikh Jaber said: “It is very exciting to have Shaikh Salman join the series and I am looking forward to this weekend as we will definitely see heightened levels of competition take over the Batelco 2000CC Challenge.”
He added that it was also thrilling to see highly skilled and competitive drivers continue to join the Challenge as the season progresses and looked forward to seeing more drivers on the grid.
Sh. Salman bin Isa on the other hand said: “I am very happy to be back to the challenge, the series is developing very quickly and the grid is more competitive”
“We have to thank Batelco for their great support and commitment to the series and hope more companies will follow”
Sh. Salman also added that his team will aim for using this round to test their new car and figure out the best set up before they can start competing in the coming rounds.
This round will see Mike Spahn, Osama Al-Buflasa and Gavin Halls step off the track due to unforeseen circumstances.
Motorsport fans in Bahrain are welcomed to witness the action on Friday; tickets are available at the welcome center (Adults BD 2, Children BD 1)