Bahrain announces schedule

The enthusiastically anticipated schedule of events for the forthcoming Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix was announced today Saturday, March 13th. The all action programme provides something for everybody and is bound to create a buzz for all those attending the race. Topping the bill at the third round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the practice and qualifying prior to Sunday's inaugural Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. World Champion Michael Schumacher, who walked away with the opening race of the season in Melbourne, Australia last week, is the favourite to take the spoils of victory but he will be chased hard by 19 fellow competitors all eager to ensure that their name is the first one to be engraved on the winner's trophy.

The other races on the programme include the first round of the 2004 FIA Thoroughbred Grand Prix World Championship and a race for the all-new BMW junior cars in the Formula BMW Asia series. The FIA Historic Racing Championship for Thoroughbred Grand Prix cars represents a unique era of Formula One racing. The cars represent the age between 1966 and 1985. Spectators who are Formula One aficionados as well as fans will be delighted to see the mouth-watering display of classic racing cars from yesteryear.

Sunday's FIA TGP race will feature 25 cars. Among them are some real classics from an era where the cars racing carried such legendary names as Gilles Villeneuve, Ronnie Peterson, Rene Arnoux, Carlos Reutemann and Alan Jones. Many of the cars are powered by the ubiquitous Ford Cosworth DFV 3-ltre engine that powered so many of the Grand Prix winners of the age. Cosworth is still the engine manufacturer with the most Grand Prix victories - 176 and the British company is a sponsor of the FIA TGP Championship.

The Formula BMW Asia race is a taster of things to come in the Gulf region where the German manufacturer has signed a number of deals to support the growth of the junior formula. The Asian series is the first time that the cars will have been seen in Bahrain and they are certain to create excitement in the hearts of many of the young enthusiasts and would-be race drivers who would like to have the chance to compete at this level in the future.

Other on-track activities are planned including demonstration laps by the magnificent Mercedes 196 Streamliner which will be driven by former Grand Prix winner, Frenchman Jean Alesi. The car represents the golden era of Grand Prix motor racing in the 1950s, campaigned by among others the late, great, five-times World Champion Jean Manuel Fangio, the car epitomises the Mercedes Benz domination of the sport in this era.

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