Last Friday, the Bahrain International Circuit roared with some exceptional drift shows for the Red Bull Car Park Drift local qualifier. Following a fearsome battle of outstanding driving skills, Salman Abdallah snatched the winning title in Bahrain, applauded by loud cheering crowd of motorsports lovers to become the “King of Drift” and represent his country in the upcoming finals in Beirut.
This thrill-packed event – sponsored by Chevrolet and in collaboration with Amwaj TV, Virgin Megastore and Arabia Motors magazine – featured heated drift performances by a large number of Bahraini drivers, who attempted to manoeuvre their modified cars and take on the different turns of the track. Using handbrakes and steering techniques was the winning secret formula. Drivers have clearly stepped up their acts as they raged during the final rounds before crowning Salman Abdallah the “King of Drift” as elected by the judging panel. Salman was thrilled to have won the local qualifier as it means he will have the pride to represent his country in Lebanon next July.
The judging panel evaluated the drivers’ performance based on specific technical criteria as explained by Red Bull’s Abdo Feghali, Middle East rally champion. “The final score is based on four factors; 70 percent allocated to the art of drift while the remaining score is equally divided between the engine’s roar and tires’ smoke, crowd’s reaction and the appearance of the car”, said Feghali. “This season, we are also stressing on a number of factors that might give penalty points to the drivers, such as hitting the obstacle on the track, or having the car turnaround itself”, he added.
In addition to Bahrain, the Red Bull Car Park Drift 2012 qualifiers include tours in Kuwait, the UAE, KSA, Jordan, Egypt, Oman and Lebanon, before reaching the final round for the battle of the regional title hosted in Beirut on July 6th 2012.
It is worth mentioning that Saudi contestant Saeed al Mouri won the regional championship title last year in Beirut, following exceptional performances and a frenzied fight between some of the best drivers in the region amidst the cheers of thousands of people gathered for this event. Lebanese Firas Khadaj and Garo Haroutiounian clinched second and third place respectively.