FIA: Bahrain race to take place as scheduled

Shanghai, April 13 (IANS) The 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix will be held as scheduled next week, the governing body of Formula One racing FIA announced Friday.

"FIA (International Automobile Federation) is the governing body of motor sport and therefore of Formula One. FIA ensures that any event forming part of an FIA World Championship is organised in compliance with the FIA statutes and the relevant Sporting and Technical Regulations and that the safety of the public, officials, drivers and teams is secured at all times during an event," said an announcement on FIA's website.

"Based on the current information the FIA has at this stage, it is satisfied that all the proper security measures are in place for the running of a Formula One World Championship event in Bahrain. Therefore, the FIA confirms that the 2012 Gulf Air F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain will go ahead as scheduled."

The Bahrain Grand Prix was ruled out of the calendar last year due to political unrest within the gulf country. This season the race has been threatened again for safety concerns as the anti-government protesters escalated their activities by holding illegal gatherings, some of them even turned to be violent during the past few weeks. Xinhua reported.

After weeks of increasing speculations and doubts by the international community, the Bahrain government Tuesday set the contingency plans to host the Bahrain Grand Prix amid domestic violent protests.

The race will be held April 20-22 at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), one week after the Chinese Grand Prix here in Shanghai this weekend. It will be the fourth round of this year's FIA F1 World Championship.