The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, an exciting new one-make motor racing series attracting some of the region's most promising young drivers, will be launched in Bahrain this weekend. The 12-round series makes its debut at Bahrain International Circuit this Friday and Saturday (Dec. 11-12) in the first of six big race weekends, with action to follow over the next four months at Abu Dhabi's spectacular new Yas Marina Circuit and the Reem International Circuit in Riyadh. Designed to identify top Arab and local-based talent in the Middle East and become a platform for entry into the world of international GT and sports car racing, the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East is a new regional version of the GT3 Cup one-make series already running with huge success in Brazil, New Zealand and the US. Sponsored by Michelin and Mobil 1, the new race series is organized and managed by Austrian-based Lechner Racing on behalf of Porsche Middle East & Africa. The 13-strong line-up for the first two rounds in Bahrain at the weekend includes Saudi Arabia's Prince Abdulaziz Al-Faisal, his cousin Prince Khalid Al-Faisal and Bahrain's Shaikh Salman Bin Rashid Al-Khalifa, all very experienced campaigners. Prince Abdulaziz has contested seven rounds of this year's Porsche Supercup and scored a top ten finish in Hungary, while Prince Khalid was a race winner in the Supercars Middle East Championship event supporting last month's Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix. Shaikh Salman had earned a place in the record books in the same series 24 hours earlier as the first ever race winner at the Yas Marina Circuit. The launch of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East sees 16-year-old Saudi Fahad Al-Gosaibi making his own piece of racing history by becoming the youngest driver to compete in a Porsche worldwide. He has just completed a season in Asia Formula racing where he secured an impressive top five finish. Leading the challenge for the Saudi-based Reem Racing Team will be Bandar Alireza and Raed Abuzenadah, while teammate Faisal Binladen will be fighting for B race honours along with rookie B driver Prince Kahled Al-Alwaleed who is tackling his first ever FIA sanctioned race weekend. Also hoping for a flying start to the series will be another Jeddah-based driver, Bandar Alesayi, Abu Dhabi's Khaled Al-Qubaisi and Bahrain-based Dutchman, Jaap Vandrager, while Bahrain's Sheikh Salman Al-Khalifa, who has solid Porsche GT experience, makes a guest appearance. They will all drive identical Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. The brand new 2010 model vehicles, belonging to a special series built by Porsche AG, arrived in Bahrain last week after being shipped from Europe ready for testing Tuesday and Thursday ahead of the opening two rounds of the series. The following two rounds of the series take place at Reem International Circuit on Jan. 6-7, with Abu Dhabi then hosting a double race weekend at Yas Marina Circuit on Feb. 5-6 and 19-20. The series returns to Riyadh for rounds 9 and 10 on March 17-18, with the final two rounds also taking place at Reem International Circuit on March 31- April-1. “We are extremely excited to be launching the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East at a time when motorsport in the region is enjoying enormous popularity,” said Deesch Papke, Managing Director, Porsche Middle East & Africa. “We look forward to utilizing this region's fantastic track facilities and to making the series a major success. This adds another chapter to Porsche's long history of involvement in international motorsport, and again underlines the brand's unmatched expertise in building successful sports cars for the road and the race track.” The new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars will be officially handed over to the drivers at the circuit Tuesday, when the first test session takes place. A second session of testing will take place 48 hours later before the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East roars to life as part of ‘Speed Weekend Bahrain' Friday and Saturday with the official rounds 1 and 2. __
