Bahrain International Circuit chief executive Martin Whitaker plans to revamp last year’s track layout for round 12 of this year’s V8 Supercars series on November 1-3.

At Eastern Creek to promote Desert 400 travel packages, Whitaker said the proposed circuit map – which V8X believes will be the diagram above – would be 500 metres longer than last year’s configuration, extending it to almost 4.1km in length and hopefully making for more exciting racing.

Last year’s inaugural Bahrain polesitter, Garth Tander, has sampled the possible new section and says it should be a definite improvement that will lead to better racing. The track still runs in a clockwise direction, giving fans a more extensive view of the action from the grandstands.

"Last year we felt that our circuit wasn’t the most interesting," acknowledged Whittaker. "We’ve come up with a really good track that mixes much of the elements of the fast esses and some downhills into fast right and left turns. Hopefully it will be an extremely exciting track, not only for the spectators but, perhaps more importantly, for the drivers and the TV audience as well."

Although still subject to approval, the BIC is hoping the changes will help build on last year’s three-day crowd of 28,250 as the awareness of motorsport in the region grows, particularly after a sell-out Formula One Grand Prix this year.

One of few to welcome the changes – having driven on the full GP circuit and this proposed new section – is Toll HSV Dealer Team’s Garth Tander, who raced a V8 SS Lumina in a Bahrain GP support race last year.

"It’s the best part of the circuit really," said Tander. "The fast third or fourth-gear sweepers coming downhill into a hard braking area are a really good flow of corners at high speeds. It’ll create at least two more passing opportunities.

"It’s fun to drive and rewarding when you get it right. (But) it’ll be a difficult part of the circuit because there’s not a lot of camber, it’s very flat so the cars will be very taily but it’ll probably make the circuit not as tight as it was in the first couple of corners so it should open it up."

While the local Bahraini community is enthusiastic about the return of the V8 Supercars, Whitaker also hinted that introducing a talented young driver from Bahrain to our series would help strengthen ties between the two foreign markets.

"If we can get some of them involved, wouldn’t it be great to see a Bahraini in one of the cars down here in the not-too-distant future. I’m sure they’re capable of it, and I think that exposes the whole market to a lot of that Middle East sponsorship that frankly has to be very attractive to a number of the teams."