SAKHIR, Bahrain – Bahrain International Circuit hosted over the weekend the long awaited first race of the 4th season of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East 2012-13. Team Saudi Falcons with its strong lineup - Faisal Bin Laden and Abdulaziz Turki Al-Faisal - had a misfortune in the very beginning of Day One qualifications when Abdulaziz lost his acceleration due to a mechanical fault. The team's mechanics did a tremendous job by fixing the car, enabling Al-Faisal to join the session and find his pace to place his car on the first row. At the start of Race 1, Al-Faisal managed to overtake his contenders and lead the race. Clemens Schmit, the Austrian champion, was following him bumper to bumper putting pressure on the leader, who failed to preserve his tires due to excessive blocking which eventually enabled Schmit to overtake Al-Faisal on lap 11 and maintained their positions till the finish. On the other hand, Faisal Bin Laden finished 7th overall and 3rd in the silver category after starting from P9. Saudi Falcons sits second in the teams classification. In the second race Al-Faisal managed to finish third after losing his second place to Salman Bin Rashed from Bahrain leaving Clemens in the first spot to lead the pack. The three finished in the same position. The action though was in the Silver Category between Faisal Bin Laden and Zaid Ashkanani from Kuwait. The duel started from the first lap and continued till the end. “It was a very exciting race, I started to get in shape after a long time without racing, I knew it was about time to get the feeling and the performance will come. Thank God, we secured third place on Day One and won the silver category on Day Two,” Faisal Bin Laden said after the race. — SG
