JEDDAH: Sayeed Al-Moori scored the first victory in driving skills competition with 01:48:403 on the 1st day of the 1st round of Chevrolet Speed Star Championship at Durat Al Arous in north Jeddah on Wednesday night. “This historic achievement is behind the effort of Chevrolet motorsport team in the Kingdom,” said Al-Moori , a phenomenon in the exciting sport of driving skills. He charged through the grueling qualification process and winning the tandem battle. During the process, spectators heard the thunder of the V6 BMW Z3.
“I would like to thank Chevrolet motorsport team and Abdullah Bakhashab, motorsport developer in the Kingdom for making the sport increasingly more challenging,” Al-Moori said.
Eyad Al Najar, driving modified 6 cylinders BMW M3 car managed to score 01:51:234 to be 2nd in the 1st day.
Bandar Al Ghaleb, the famous rally driver, driving modified 8 cylinders Toyota Supra third with 01:52:223 to be 2nd in the 1st day. Driving skills competition is a high skill, high powered 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 the fastest, similar to skateboarding and freestyle motocross. The sport caters well to spectators and is exciting to watch. 2007 was the first year of the Chevrolet Speed Star championship series, the first national driving skills championship series in the Kingdom. Driving skills is a fast growing motorsport, with a growing fan base and many corporations vying to take advantage of the attention.
David Venticich, marketing director, General Motors Middle East, said: “Driving skills 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 race-track, and not the highway.” He added: “Our role is to ensure that safety reigns supreme and, with the support of Chevrolet Motorsport, we are confident that the Chevrolet Speed Star Championship will be every bit as exciting as driving skills has always been, but with the added advantage of being as safe as it can possibly be.”
