PLANS are motoring on to make this year's Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix an even bigger community event as "our race" becomes the official theme of the kingdom's major international extravaganza.
Bahrain International Circuit officials were overwhelmed by last season's sell-out crowd - and the enthusiasm created across the island and in neighbouring Gulf States - and they are determined to build on its success.
Martin Whitaker, pictured above right, the BIC's chief executive officer, said: "2007 was a great year for BIC - a sell-out Grand Prix, the opening of the new Kart Zone, the announcement of the automotive Business Park, increasingly busy corporate and retail activities throughout the year and awards from both the FIA (Centre of Excellence) and the Australian V8 teams and organisers for the 'Best Event of the Year' - and the circuit's awareness on a global scale has never been better.
"We look forward to building on this success in 2008 with so much more sport, business and community events as well as many more corporate and retail activities.
"It seems incredible but on April 6 we will be celebrating the fifth running of the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.
"It is extraordinary how far the circuit has come in this period and it is now seen as a benchmark for all other circuits around the world as well as a catalyst for business and residential developments here in the kingdom.
"With the region's biggest event only a little over three months away there is a great deal of work to be done."