Bandar Al-Salamy claimed his first victory in drifting competition on the first day of action in the final round of Chevrolet Speed Star Autocross Championship here, Wednesday. Al-Salamy took the honors in a time of 00:53:026 in the competition being held at Durat Al Arous. Nail Badir, the famous rally driver, driving a modified six-cylinder Nissan ZX came in second in 00:53:040. Abdul Aziz Al-Yaish, driving a standard six-cylinder Nissan Infiniti managed the third spot in 00:53:117. Al Salamy charged through the grueling qualification process and winning the tandem drifts battle. During the process, spectators enjoyed the thunder of his modified V6 BMW Z3. Al-Salamy thanked Chevrolet Motorsport Team and Abdullah Bakhashab, Motorsport developer in the Kingdom, for making the sport challenging. Thousands of spectators cheered the participants on the first day of the two-day event. The participants drove their own vehicles on the day. Organizers divided vehicles into four categories according to the number of cylinders in their engines: Standard 6-cylinder vehicles, modified 6-cylinder vehicles, standard 8-cylinder, and modified 8-cylinder cars. Drifting is a high skill motorsport that calls for drivers to control a car while it slides at high speeds through a marked course. It is similar to rally racing, but is done on a closed paved course. It is judged on execution and style rather than just who finishes the course first. David Venticich, marketing director, General Motors Middle East, said: “Drifting has come in for a lot of criticism in Saudi Arabia - and rightly so. Exciting as it may be, this is not the kind of driving we encourage on public roads, hence our involvement in transforming it into an organized motor sport discipline. Saudi drivers, who are undoubtedly skilled in drifting technique, can now find an outlet for their talents on the racetrack, and not the highway. “Our role is to ensure that safety reigns supreme, and under the auspices of Chevrolet Motorsport, we are confident that the Chevrolet Speed Star Championship will be every bit as exciting as drifting has always been, but with the added advantage of being as safe as it can possibly be,” he added. Cash awards await drivers at the end of the second day of action. The top driver will walk away with SR10,000, second-placed driver will bag SR6,000 and the third-placed driver will get SR3,000. __
