V8 Supercars – Bahrain

his weekend sees the V8’s head off to Bahrain for their first ever race at the new track. They will be racing on a shortened version of the almost 6 kilometre GP track.

This round is make or break round for Ford ace Craig Lowndes. After the disappointing finishes in the last two rounds he really needs to win this one to set him self up for a chance at the championship.

No one has officially raced at this track, so no team should have a technical advantage over another, however the Toll HSV team, with Rick Kelly and Garth Tander should be strong. In fact Tander has driven the track before in a celebrity race earlier this year.

It will be tough for Craig to win this round, but if any Ford driver has the natural ability it is him. He and the 888 racing team have been in Bahrain since last week acclimatising themselves to the track and the conditions, hoping that this will give them the required edge over the other teams.

If any Ford team can win this round it will mean the manufacturers championship will be won by Ford, but we could forgive 888 from giving that goal a lower priority.

Drivers to watch out for this weekend:

Mark Winterbottom
The Kelly brothers
Garth Tander
Jason Bright

As a smokey, I would still like to see Steven Johnson have a top three finish. He has done well this year, with regular finishes in the top ten.

Look out for my qualifying and Top Ten Shoot Out results.

Late news update: As I write this the first practice session has been complete with Jason Bright being the fastest. Unfortunately for Craig Lowndes he is two places behing Rick Kelly in this practice session. Rick 4th fastest and Craig 6th fastest.

Cheers

Dave