Austrian Clemens Schmid scored a commanding victory in the penultimate round of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East at Bahrain International Circuit today. The race became a dress rehearsal for next month's Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix, and Schmid survived an early slip to win by just under ten seconds from Saudi Arabia's Bandar Alesayi to climb to third place in the 12-round championship. The UAE's Karim Al-Azhari secured his second podium finish for Al-Nabooda Racing since entering the Porsche GT3 Cup series at the half way point. Swiss driver Armin Schmid, Saudi's Saeed Al-Mouri and Turkey's Cengiz Oguzhan completed the top six. The race was run over 12 laps on the Bahrain Grand Prix Circuit, and after recording his eighth pole position of the season, Schmid briefly lost the lead to Al-Azhari early on but recovered quickly and cruised to his fifth win of the campaign. Alesayi later climbed above Al Azhari to underline his grip on second place overall in the series, while newly-crowned champion Abdulaziz Al-Faisal, who was only fourth fastest in qualifying, dropped to seventh after a late spin. __
