JEDDAH, 1 August 2003 — An enthusiastic audience gathered at Durat Al-Arus, the venue of the inaugural two-day Jeddah Star Autocross Race, on Wednesday night.
Families and children who turned up in large numbers cheered their favorite participants as the race was flagged off at 9 p.m.
Eighty of 90 drivers had qualified to take part in the Kingdom’s first autocross race, which lasted two and a half hours on Wednesday.
Participants were divided into two groups of 40 each. The first group competed on the first day and the other group last night.
Participating cars were categorized into seven classes, depending on engine size and power, car size and year of manufacture.
Seven winners were nominated in the qualifying rounds. The Class SA winner was Fadi Hamada, Syrian, on board an Audi S3 scoring 1.11.071 min. Ayman Gadi, winner of Class SB on board a Mini Cooper, scored 1.17.579 min. Class SC winner was Turki Al-Gohani, on board Ford Fox, who scored 1.13.756 min. Class SD winner was Mahir Khaleel, on board a Lumina SS, who scored 1.16.415 min. Class SE winner was Mohamed Talal, on board a Toyota Cressida, who scored 1.15.00 min. Class SF winner was Nasir Al-Isailan, on board a Lumina SS, scoring 1.120.037 min., and the winner of class SS Eyas Hamadah on board an Audi All Road scored 1.16.006.
Then all seven winners competed for the Citroen Champion Cup. Instead of their own cars, they drove Citroen C3 cars, provided by main sponsor Bakhashab Brothers Co. Ltd. The three winners were Fadi Hamada, who broke his previous record by scoring 1.10.454, Turki Al-Gohani, who achieved 1.13.731, and Mahir Khaleel, who scored 1.13.965.
