Manama, Sept. 22. (BNA) — Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), “the Home of Motorsport in the Middle East,” congratulated Batelco Racing Team on its impressive victory at Round 2 of the 24h Karting Endurance Championship.

“Batelco’s well-deserved victory in France has helped bring the Kingdom of Bahrain under the global spotlight, highlighting the importance of motorsport to the Kingdom and the GCC region. We recognise the outstanding efforts that the talented drivers and the entire team put forward and congratulate them on a well-deserved victory. We also wish them continued success in the championship’s final round and all their future prospects,” said BIC Chief Executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa.

The karting team took home top honours at the international endurance race that was held at the Racing Karting De Cormeilles (RKC) just outside Paris, France. The karters were accompanied in France by Batelco Racing Team officials Ali Abbas, Osama Al Saad and others. Racers Mohammed Mattar, Alban Varutti, Ramez Azzam, Floriane Garcia and Damiano Marchesan shared driving duties for Batelco, and paved the way for success by first securing pole position during qualifying.

The team then registered an impressive total of 1,091 laps at the main event, edging out second-placers Racing for Belgium, and third placed Team Swiss who were respectively 1.092 seconds and 1 lap behind lead. Wet conditions that prevailed for the first 12 hours of the race were not enough to deter Batelco who triumphed over a grid of more than 40 international teams including squads from France, Belgium, Switzerland, UK, Germany and the UAE.

The 24h Karting Endurance Championship began last April with an opening round at France’s Sens Espaces Karting track. Batelco and Team Swiss now have a win apiece, as they head into the championship’s final round that takes place in Portugal on October 19.

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BNA 1245 GMT 2013/09/22