The Desert 400 was a

V8 Supercar The Supercars Championship, also known as the Repco Supercars Championship under sponsorship and historically as V8 Supercars, is a touring car racing category in Australia and New Zealand, running as an International Series under Fédération I ...

motor racing event held at the

Bahrain International Circuit The Bahrain International Circuit () is a motorsport venue opened in 2004 and used for drag racing, GP2 Series (now FIA Formula 2 Championship, FIA Formula 2), and the annual Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix. The 2004 Formula One season, 2004 Gr ...

Manama Manama ( ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and List of cities in Bahrain, largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 297,502 as of 2012. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is ...

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. It was held from 2006 to 2008 and in 2010.

History

First held in 2006, the Desert 400 was only the second V8 Supercar championship event to be held outside

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, following a single event at the

Shanghai International Circuit The Shanghai International Circuit (), also called the SAIC Shanghai International Circuit () for sponsorship purposes, is a motorsport race track, situated in the Jiading District, Shanghai, China. The circuit is best known as the venue for the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in 2005. The Bahrain event was originally held in November as one of the final rounds in the season's calendar. In 2008, local Bahrain driver Fahad Al Musalam made a guest appearance in the event for Team Kiwi Racing. The 2009 event did not take place, as the scheduled event in November 2009 was postponed to February 2010 in order to link up with the new Yas V8 400 event, held in nearby

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

. The racing itself was dominated by Ford Performance Racing and

Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering, branded as Red Bull Ampol Racing in Supercars, is an Australian motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team has been the only Brisbane-based V8 Supercar team since its formation, originall ...

, each winning two events at the track.

Jamie Whincup Jamie David Whincup (born 6 February 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship. He currently is team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He has driven the No. 88 Holden Commodore (ZB), Ho ...

was the only driver to win multiple events at the circuit, winning in 2008 and 2010 in a Triple Eight prepared Ford and

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...

respectively.

Demise

In late 2010, V8 Supercars announced the event was to be discontinued for 2011, citing the congested nature of the circuit's early season schedule. V8 Supercar would maintain a presence in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

until 2012, at Abu Dhabi, however the championship no longer features an event in the region.

Circuit

The series used the Bahrain International Circuit's shorter Paddock layout for the series' first three visits. For the final Desert 400 in 2010, the addition of GP2 Asia to the V8 Supercar weekend led to the event using the full Grand Prix layout for the first time, a layout normally used in the

Bahrain Grand Prix The Bahrain Grand Prix (), officially known as the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix for sponsorship reasons, is a Formula One motor racing event in Bahrain. The first race took place at the Bahrain International Circuit on 4 April 2004. It made hist ...

Winners

Multiple winners

By driver

By team

By manufacturer

Event sponsors

* 2008:

Gulf Air Gulf Air () is the flag carrier of Bahrain, which was founded in 1950. Headquartered in Muharraq, the airline operates scheduled flights to 51 destinations in 30 countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe. The airline's main hub is at Bahrain I ...

References

External links

Official event website
Supercars Championship races Auto races in Bahrain Motorsport competitions in Bahrain Recurring sporting events established in 2006 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2010 2006 establishments in Bahrain 2010 disestablishments in Bahrain {{Autoracing-stub