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The 2010 Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix support races enthralled enthusiasts with intense action at the Bahrain International Circuit.
The kingdom's Raed Raffi raced to victory in round six of the Bahrain-based Chevrolet Supercars Middle East Championship on Saturday after a tough battle with defending champion Fahad Al Musalam.
Starting from pole, Raffii secured his position well against a charging Al Musalam heading into turn one and won in 20 minutes 49.824 seconds.
Raffi finished 8.360 seconds ahead of Mohammed Al Owais, of the UAE, who took second place, while compatriot Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa rounded out the podium places only 9.859s behind.
The three leading names in the championship standings did not finish the race. Current leader Al Musalam dropped out in the sixth of the seven laps, while Tarek Elgammal of Australia and Saudi Arabia's Abdulaziz Al Yaeesh were both out of contention after an incident in the third lap.
However, Elgammal's luck seemed to change on Sunday when he clinched the Chevrolet Supercars Middle East Championship title winning the second race in the season's penultimate round. Elgammal finished the 10-lap event 2.540 seconds ahead of second-placed Al Yaeesh who also had a rough first race, while Al Musalam placed third 3.459s behind.
Egyptian Raed Charawi was fourth, 7.820s behind, and Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa fifth, 12.770s adrift.
Emirati Mohammed Al Falasi rounded the top six, 24.960s behind Elgammal. All six competed in the championship's SC09 category.
On Sunday in the SC06 class, Bahraini Faisal Raffii continued his winning ways by storming to first place, 9.473s ahead of his closest challenger and compatriot Ezra Idafar.
The pair finished well in front of Saudi's Al Qassaim Hamidaddin who was 19.391s behind Idafar.
Saudi Arabia's Husam Al Saleh, Tony Whitaker from the UK and French Christophe Mariot completed the SC06's top six.
The championship now heads to its final round at Reem International Circit, just outside Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on March 31 and April 1.
In the GP2 Asia Series 29-lap feature race on Saturday, Italian Luca Filippi clinched his maiden victory for the heavily-supported MalaysiaQi-Meritus.Mahara team, taking the checkered flag in one hour, six minutes and 15.383 seconds.
He was 2.058s in front of runner-up Italian Davide Valsecchi of iSport International, while Charles Pic of Arden was third only 3.990s behind.
Filippi said: "I am so happy to win this race. I was pushing at every lap but I was also careful to nurse my tyres and saved some rubber for the last laps in case I came under pressure. I want to thank everyone in the team for helping me."
On Sunday, Italian Giacomo Ricci of DPR won the 2009-10 season's final GP2 Asia series race. He clinched the 20-lap sprint 5.369s ahead of Briton Sam Bird of ART Grand Prix.
Portuguese Alvaro Parente of Scuderia Coloni took the last podium place, 9.585s behind the victor.
Recently crowned champion Valsecchi was fourth, 15.695s behind Ricci, while American Alexander Rossi of MalaysiaQi-Meritus.Mahara was fifth, 15.695s behind. Javier Villa of Arden rounded out the top six.
In Saturday's Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race, German Rene Rast of Al Faisal Lechner Racing won the season's opener in 25 minutes 52.419 seconds, narrowly beating Slovakian Stefan Rosina of Lechner Racing by 0.331s.
German Jan Seyffarth of Veltins MRS Racing completed the podium finishers 2.536s behind.
Guest driver, Bahraini Shaikh Salman bin Rashid Al Khalifa, was 13th, 30.422s from Rast.
Rast also won the 10-lap race on Sunday to claim an impressive double for the opening round of the new season.
He was 2.171s ahead of Jeroen Bleekemolen of the Netherlands to lead a one-two for Al Faisal Lechner Racing team. Briton Nick Tandy of Konrad Motorsport was third, 4.494s behind, while Rosina of Lechner Racing came fourth, 7.029s adrift.
Austrian Norbert Siedler and Matt Halliday from New Zealand were fifth and sixth, respectively. The next Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race will take place at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain on May 9.
l THREE GulfWeekly readers - David Shaw, Ron Clark and Jasmine - each won a pair of tickets to the F1 weekend by correctly naming Jenson Button as last year's champion.
