Formula 1 news

Packed crowd awaits Middle East's first F1 race in Bahrain

A full house is almost guaranteed for the Bahrain Grand Prix on April 4, the first Formula One race in the Middle East, the organisers said Sunday after already selling 30,000 tickets. "More than 75 percent of the tickets have already been sold," to enthusiasts from 40 different countries, said Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammad Al-Khalifa, chairman of the board of the Bahrain race track and head of the country's sports authority.

The 150-million-dollar desert circuit at Sakhir, 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of the capital, has a crowd capacity of some 40,000, and the sheikh told the official Bahrain News Agency that some 7,500 seats had been reserved for the Gulf state's university students.

Fawaz also said another 150 million dollars had been pumped into improving infrastructure around the track. Sports authority spokesman Abassi al-Ali predicted that the race would increase Barhain's annual income by four percent and have an impact across society.

Bahrain, which has a population of 650,000, has only 15,000 hotel rooms and several thousand more rooms have been booked for race-goers in nearby Dubai and Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Bahrain joins China as one of the two new venues in this season's 18-round
series.

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