The seventh and penultimate round of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship moves to the sunshine, palm trees and warm hospitality of the Middle East for the 6 Hours of Bahrain.
The wonderful Sakhir International Circuit will host the 27 cars due to take the start on Saturday 15th November, and a TV distribution package has been arranged which will give viewers worldwide the opportunity experience the sights, sounds, thrills and occasional spills of international sports car racing. With Toyota Racing poised to win its first World Endurance Championship title, and the battle in GTE even closer between Ferrari and Porsche, the racing will be intense as it goes through the setting sun and into the night in Bahrain. The green flag for the start will be waved at 15h00 local (+3 hours GMT).
Host broadcaster BeIn Sports will be broadcasting the 6-hour race live to the region’s 2.5 million viewers, with a 52 minute highlights package also available at a later date. The GTE classes features drivers from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and part of the focus will undoubtedly be on their progress through the race.
The extended TV coverage of the most recent round in Shanghai and new FIA WEC Sino Weibo account opened up the spirit of Le Mans to a massive audience in China and the Far East, and Eurosport Asia/Pacific channel will follow this up by airing part of the Bahraini race LIVE to its 7.8 million potential viewers in its 13 territories, plus delayed highlights on 18th November.
Fox Sports Australia will show the race live plus a 3-hour repeat show the following day, covering the exploits of Mark Webber among others. J Sports in Japan will run a number of highlights shows in the two weeks following the 6 Hours of Bahrain for its 7.8 million viewers, while TV3 in New Zealand, Channel Max Shanghai in China, Sony Six in the Indian sub-continent (45 million potential audience) and the Grand Prix Channel in Thailand will all broadcast the WEC’s 52’ highlights package.
In Europe, two hours of the 6 Hours of Bahrain will be available live to over 132 million potential viewers on Eurosport Inter and Motors TV and highlights will also be shown the following day as well as on Eurosport Inter and Eurosport 2 in the days following the race. Player Eurosport will broadcast the race live plus show delayed highlights.
Austria, Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Spain and Italy will all be broadcasting a 52-minutes highlights programme, not forgetting Denmark, Hungary and the Serbo-Croatian countries. With many of the teams and drivers from the WEC calling these nations ‘home’, exposure throughout Europe opens up the Spirit of Le Mans to a new fan base.
Fox Sports 1 and Fox LATAM will air the highlights show to a combined potential viewership of over 101 million, while Sport TV or TV Globo in Brazil, the venue for the final round of the 2014 Championship, will show the first and last hours of the race live.
In addition to the TV coverage, the race can be followed live and direct, together with full live timing via the FIA WEC’s ‘App’ which is available to download from the iTunes store or Google Play Store - search for ‘FIA World Endurance Championship’ or ‘FIA WEC’.
Internationally renowned endurance racing radioweb service, Radio Le Mans (www.radiolemans.com), will once again be available for its huge number of listeners all around the world. News access will also be available on EBU/Eurovision, SNTV, Reuters and Omnisports worldwide.
The whole broadcast schedule can be found HERE.
Fiona Miller
