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Sports15 November 20153 min read

Porsche GT3 Cup set for season-opener

The 2015/2016 season of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East flags off in style this coming weekend on Friday and Saturday in support of the FIA WEC Six Hours of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC). The GT3 Cup is one of the most popular circuit racing championshi

Editorial Team Legacy

Published 15 November 2015, 8:00 · Updated 21:30

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Porsche GT3 Cup set for season-opener

The 2015/2016 season of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East flags off in style this coming weekend on Friday and Saturday in support of the FIA WEC Six Hours of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).

The GT3 Cup is one of the most popular circuit racing championships to come from the region. It is run by Lechner Racing, headed by legendary Austrian driver Walter Lechner and calls BIC its home and is a truly Middle Eastern series, with races only being held at some of the leading tracks across the Gulf.

Now in its seventh season,

the challenge attracts drivers from all over the world, spearheaded by some of the region’s most talented racers and they all drive identical Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars.

Two-time champion Clemens Schmid won last season’s title and is expected to be back to defend his crown.

Other top drivers set to compete are former champions Zaid Ashkanani of Kuwait and Prince Abdulaziz Al Faisal of Saudi Arabia, alongside Charlie Frijns of the Netherlands, Shaikh Hasher Al Maktoum of the UAE, Prince Saud Al Faisal of Saudi Arabia and Raed Raffii of Bahrain.

The field will be divided into three classes, gold, silver and bronze and the opening round’s provisional entry list includes 14 drivers.

In the gold class are Ashkanani, Jeffrey Schmidt, Prince Abdulaziz, Shaikh Hasher, Saeed Al Mehairi, and Frijns, in the silver category, Raffii, Prince Saud, Bandar Alesayi, Ryan Cullen and Wolfgang Triller are in the fray and the bronze class features Rob Frijns, Magnus Ohman and Fawaz Algosaibi.

Apart from holding the first of six rounds this season at BIC in Sakhir, the GT3 Cup will return for the season-finale in April of next year.

Round two will take place at Reem International Circuit in Saudi Arabia on December 4 and 5, with round three at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on January 22. Back-to-back meetings will then take place at Dubai Autodrome on the weekend of January 29 and 30 and then followed by the next on February 19. The GT3 Cup will be joined in next weekend’s support programme by the GP2 Series, GP3 Series and the India-based MRF Challenge.

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