JEDDAH, 14 April 2006 — Thousands of motor sport fans accompanied by their families and children watched the Mobily Saudi Star Autocross round on the first day at Durrat Al-Arus on Wednesday night. As many as 33 amateur drivers took part in the event, which is aimed to assess and develop driving talents and skills. “The two-day event is also aimed to discover new generation of future rally drivers,” ace rally driver Abdullah Bakhashab, whose company is organizing the event, said.

All drivers were divided into seven groups and each group members competed among themselves.

Drivers, with their cars, were categorized into seven classes depending on the capacity and power of the car engine, size and year of manufacture.

The classes were Super Stock (SS) for ultra high performance sport cars, A Stock (AS) for high performance sport cars, PA for sport cars and GTs, C Stock (CS) for small-size compact cars, D Stock (DS) for intermediate size sedans, F Stock (FS) for sedans and coupes and BS for medium size coupes.

Each driver was allowed two trial runs.

The best time (the lowest time taken including pylon penalties, if any) was taken for ranking in each class.

In Class PA, Saudi rally driver Majed Al-Gamdi on Subaru Impreza STI performed an amazing show. In the second trial he scored a record time of 01:46:132 min. Other outstanding drivers were Class AS — Samer Al Said (Renault Megane - 01:53:880 min), Class BS — Abdulrahman Al Heraki (Renault Clio sport- 01:56:010), Class SS-Eyas Hamadeh (Audi RS 4- 01:57:857), Class DS — Wesam Hasaneen (Volkswagen Passat- 01:59:463), Class CS — Autocross 2005 winner Mansour Al-Qahtani (Subaru Impreza- 02:00:387), Class ES — Tarik Harsani (Chevrolet Camaro - 02:10:324 ). A judge and 12 marshals around the track kept watch on the drivers. Whenever any driver hits the barrier, the marshals flag him and the driver loses one point.

Stressing the importance of organizing autocross championship in Saudi Arabia, Bakhashab mentioned that autocross is popular in the Arab world and that several Arab countries organize the championship all through the year. “We have prepared several studies concerning motor sport development and found that a high percentage of youngsters wish to see sports event and activities organized locally in the Kingdom “ Bakhashab said .

“Our aim is to help Saudi youth attest their driving talents and skills in the right places and specialized areas away from endangering people and their own lives by racing cars in the city streets and highways,” he added.

A group of special engineers designed the track with a slew of curves and hairpin turns. The circuit length exceeded 1,300 meters and was punctuated with turnings and obstacles. A special digital timing system was used. Hundreds of spectators saw the drivers competing in two laps in their own cars.

On Thursday night, they were to compete in two more laps, again in their own vehicles before competing in the final two laps driving Toyota Camry. The event is sponsored by Mobily for the first time by any telecommunication company with a view to supporting motor sport across the Kingdom. Supporting the event are other sponsors including Toyota, Mobil 1 and Al Bilad newspaper.

The Jeddah round will be followed by the Alkhobar round on July 12-13 and the Riyadh round on Nov. 22-23 to determine the overall winners.