Season 6 of Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East will begin and conclude at Bahrain International Circuit; (inset) series manager Walter Lechner.

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East is gearing up for an exciting return to action with a full schedule of race weekends confirmed yesterday by race organisers.

The announcement is a huge boost for local motorsport as the only professional championship of its kind celebrates its sixth straight season, offering local and international racing talent the ultimate proving ground to showcase their skills.

Regarded as the purest form of racing with all drivers competing in identical fifth generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, the unique one-make series will consist of 12 races between November 2014 and April 2015. Six intensely competitive race round weekends will be staged at the region’s leading circuits with two rounds in Bahrain, two in the United Arab Emirates and two in Qatar over a six-month period.

Following a gripping season 5 which was won by a solitary point by Zaid Ashkanani, the youngest ever champion, drivers and fans will be hoping the new season can provide the same level of sporting drama and there is every chance it will. A world-class grid featuring a number of past champions, veterans and home-grown future stars is expected to line-up for the sixth season.

The new season will open in spectacular fashion with a night race on November 14, 2014, at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) as part of an illustrious World Endurance Championship (WEC) weekend. It will be the first time the championship will open under floodlight conditions adding to the challenge and tension of the first race of the new season.

The championship will also finish in style returning to Sakhir for the final round of the series. As a fitting finale to the season whilst providing local drivers with a chance of a lifetime the sixth season is expected to form part of the official race weekend schedule to support the 2015 Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix in April 2015.

Speaking ahead of the forthcoming season, Porsche Middle East and Africa FZE managing director Christer Ekberg said: “Motorsport is the DNA of Porsche. It is our lifeblood, our heritage and our legacy, so this series is naturally of great importance to us. On the eve of an unprecedented sixth season in the Middle East we are extremely proud of establishing the region’s premier motorsport series. Over the past six years Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East has truly come of age and stands entirely in a league of its own.

“Porsche is the only manufacturer to give serious drivers the opportunity they need and deserve to race in technically advanced pure-bred sports cars. We have created a breeding ground for champions, where man and machine come together to push the limits of their abilities and the outcome is exhilarating as last season proved. Only by putting one of the most iconic and successful race cars in the world in the hands of the region’s leading drivers can you have a series like this and we look forward to more thrilling action in the new season ahead.”

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East manager Walter Lechner added: “Last season we saw exactly how compelling and competitive this series has become right throughout the grid and I expect it will get even stronger as a result. Looking ahead to the start and finish the new season as support to the World Endurance Championship and Formula One is the perfect example of the calibre, prestige and reputation this series has deservedly gained over the years. There is literally nothing like it and the drivers know it is getting even more competitive. But that is why drivers race. They thrive on the challenge and opportunity that is created when you combine Porsche motorsport intelligence with the 911 GT3 Cup, the region’s emerging race talent and world-class circuits of the Middle East.”

 

Race schedule

Round 1: Bahrain International Circuit

Race 1: November 14, 2014

Race 2: November 15, 2014

Round 2: Dubai Autodrome, UAE

Race 3: December 5, 2014

Race 4: December 6, 2014

Round 3: Losail International Circuit, Qatar

Race 5: January 23, 2015

Race 6: January 24, 2015

Round 4: Losail International Circuit, Qatar

Race 7: February 13, 2015

Race 8: February 14, 2015

Round 5: Dubai Autodrome, UAE

Race 9: February 27, 2015

Race10: February 28, 2015

Round 6: Bahrain International Circuit

Race 11: April 4, 2015

Race 12: April 5, 2015

 

 

 

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