Circuit Length 5.41-kilometres
Race Direction Clockwise
Top Speed 275km/h
Average Speed TBA
Interesting Fact The Bahrain International Circuit cost a total of US$150 million to construct Parking and was first used for a Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2004. V8 Supercars made their inaugural appearance in Bahrain in 2006. The circuit is hard on tyres with a low grip surface and features a range of corners that generate severe loads on the tyres, as well as a big braking zone into turn one that encourages passing moves. This year the V8 Supercars will use the full 5.41-kilometre Grand Prix circuit for the first time having previously used a shorter 3.6-kilometre ‘Paddock’ circuit.
10 FAST FACTS
1. TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup is the defending winner of the Bahrain event having taken pole position and all three race wins the last time the V8 Supercar Championship Series visited the circuit in November 2008. In the last year of ‘round’ results, Whincup led home team-mate Craig Lowndes to record the team’s first-ever 1-2 round result since debuting in the V8SCS in September 2003 at Sandown.
2. Ford hold the upper hand over Holden in Bahrain with seven race wins from nine starts over the previous three events at the circuit. Falcons have won the last six races straight and also taken two of the three pole positions over that time. While Fords have been strong in qualifying, no one driver has been dominant in the past with three different pole sitters from three V8 Supercar events in Bahrain.
3. This year’s races at the Bahrain International Circuit will be the longest ever held by V8 Supercars at the circuit. Each race will be over 37 laps around the 5.41-kilometre layout, a race distance of 200.17-kilometres for each of the days. This eclipses the previous longest distance of 125.8-kilometres from 2006 (Races 2 and 3 over 37 laps each of the 3.4-km ‘Paddock’ layout).
4. Supercheap Auto Racing’s Russell Ingall has proven to be a smooth operator in Bahrain in previous years. Ingall finished third overall the last time the V8SCS visited Bahrain in 2008 and has a streak of seven consecutive top 10 race results at the circuit. In 2008 he qualified seventh and finished fourth, second and fifth in the three races. This year he is driving a Triple Eight Commodore constructed by his Paul Morris Motorsport team. As is the case with all of PMM’s race cars, each have been given a nickname in alphabetical order. Ingall’s 2010 car is named ‘Mick’ in honour of five-time world motorcycle champion Mick Doohan.
5. SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen is heading to Bahrain having scored his first-ever V8 Supercar Championship Series podium finish in Race 2 at Abu Dhabi last weekend. The New Zealander – who remains the youngest driver in the V8SCS at the age of 20 – finished third behind Jamie Whincup and Mark Winterbottom to give Stone Brothers Racing its first podium result since Alex Davison finished second at Hidden Valley last year in Race 10 of 2009.
Van Gisbergen becomes the 111th driver to score a podium result in the Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar Championship Series since it started in 1960.
6. Garth Tander from the Toll Holden Racing Team is the best performed driver in qualifying at the three events held in Bahrain so far. The pole sitter at the inaugural event in 2006, Tander is the only man to qualify in the top five in all three years at BIC. After scoring pole in 2006, he qualified fourth in 2007 for the Toll HSVDT and fifth in 2008 for Toll HRT.
7. Castrol EDGE Racing’s Greg Murphy makes his first appearance in the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series in Bahrain after missing the season-opening event in Abu Dhabi.
The Melbourne-based Kiwi hopes his move to the Paul Morris-run team will help yield strong results given the four-time Bathurst winner’s recent run of outs.
Murphy has not won a V8SCS race since Race 1 on the Gold Coast in 2005 (where he also scored his last pole position) and last finished on the podium at Bathurst in 2008 alongside Jason Richards.
He is driving the same Commodore used last season by Russell Ingall and will debut a new Triple Eight Commodore at the next event, the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.
8. Bundaberg Red Racing’s Andrew Thompson is making his return to full-time driving in the V8 Supercar Championship Series this year after spending last season on the sidelines.
The Melbourne-based Gold Coaster drove full-time for PWR Racing in 2008 and finished 28th overall in Bahrain that season after finishing 18th in Race 1 and failing to finish the last two races.
Last year he drove alongside Tony D’Alberto in the Bottle-O Commodore in the endurance races, the duo finishing 10th at Bathurst.
This year the 22-year-old is driving WR008, the same Commodore used last year by David Reynolds for the same team which was used by Rick Kelly in 2008.
He makes up one-third of drivers in the current V8SCS field who have graduated into the ‘main game’ from competing in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series.
9. Tony Ricciardello was announced on the eve of last weekend’s event in Abu Dhabi as the final confirmed driver in the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series.
The Western Australian is a six-time Australian Sports Sedan Champion and will drive the #16 Kelly Racing Commodore with sponsorship from Super-Max for the Middle Eastern races.
This is Ricciardello’s first-ever full-time V8SCS drive after previously competing part time in 2006 with Britek Motorsport and in the endurance races for a range of different teams since his debut in 1999.
Last year he drove the Hi-Tec Oils car for Kelly Racing with Mark McNally in the endurance races, finishing 17th at Bathurst.
10. Seven drivers – virtually a quarter of the field - are making their first V8 Supercar start at the Bahrain International Circuit in 2010. Alex Davison (IRWIN Racing), Dean Fiore (Triple F Racing), Tony Ricciardello (Kelly Racing), Jonathon Webb (Dick Johnson Racing, Karl Reindler (Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing), Daniel Gaunt (Gulf Western Racing) and Tim Slade (Wilson Security Racing) have all never raced at the venue before.
Qualifying Lap Record: Yet to be established on GP-length circuit.
Race Lap Record: Yet to be established on GP-length circuit.
Statistics
Year Driver on Pole Car Round Winner Car
2006 Garth Tander Holden VZ Jason Bright Ford BA
2007 Mark Winterbottom Ford BF Mark Winterbottom Ford BF
2008 Jamie Whincup Ford BF Jamie Whincup Ford BF
2009 No Event Held