Manama: Hussain Karimi and Shaikh Salman bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa shared the honours yesterday in an eventful second round of the 2015-2016 BIC 2,000cc Challenge, held at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
Karimi steered his black and yellow Honda CRX to a dominant win in the day’s first race while Shaikh Salman overcame some early problems with his white Honda Civici to clinch victory in race two.
Both drivers were also on the podium when they did not triumph, with each swapping runner-up positions.
“The races today were really enjoyable,” Karimi said. “I think everyone had a good time; there was a good amount of overtaking and a good number of cars on the grid.”
“It started off to be a bad weekend for me; I had difficulties in practice and qualifying but my team and I managed to sort out the problems on time. The car is back, it’s good, and I really enjoyed the racing. I managed to get first place in race two so overall a very good weekend.”
Karimi started things off flying, topping the timesheet in practice and capturing pole position for race one. Shaikh Salman, on the other hand, struggled and was forced to begin the first 12-lap sprint from the back of the grid.
Karimi did well to hold on to the lead to complete the race in a total time of 16 minutes 09.545 seconds. He put in a flawless drive and finished with a comfortable 7.227 seconds ahead of Shaikh Salman.
Alex Longden in a BMW 3 Series was third 17.407secs from the winner. Raed Himmo (+20.095secs) in a Honda CRX was fourth, Tim Birkin (+36.442secs) in a Honda Integra finished fifth, and Stephen Kellogg (+1:03.380) in a Honda Civic rounded out the finishers in sixth.
Karimi clocked the race’s fastest lap of one minute 19.802 seconds. He later credited his fine showing to his car’s new brake set-up.
“It performed wonderfully,” he explained. “I now just need to master where the new braking points are, but I am very happy with the car, it is very quick, and I need to focus on trying to get some podiums.”
In race two, Karimi was joined by Shaikh Salman at the back for the start due to the reverse grid rule, but both were quickly fighting for the lead.
This time, it was Shaikh Salman who had the upper hand, winning the second 12-lap sprint in 16:07.654. Karimi was 5.267secs behind, while Himmo took the final podium place in third, 20.666secs off the pace.
Completing the final classification from fourth through seventh, respectively, were Longden (+21.166secs), Birkin (+1:09.274), Kellogg (+1:15.870) and Michael Priester (+11 laps) in a Honda CRX.
Shaikh Salman registered race two’s fastest lap of 1:19.502. He was pleased to continue his run of three straight podiums to start the new season, but admitted that there is still plenty of racing to go.
“It’s still early days,” the former champion explained. “Yes, I’ve had three podiums now but it’s a tough season with many strong competitors.
“I believe that we are still going to see a lot of good racing and very close competition until the very end.”
Following both races, the winners were presented their respective trophies by officials from BIC, Circuit Racing Club and Bahrain Motor Federation.
The 2015-2016 BIC 2,000cc Challenge gets back to racing with round three on December 4. It will be the final meeting of the year for the BIC-bred series.
The new calendar year will usher in the fourth round on January 8, to be followed by the fifth on February 12. March 4 will mark round six, while the final two meetings will be held on April 22 and May 6.