ALKHOBAR: Mansour Al-Qahtani trounced the field to rule the two-day Toyota Saudi Star Autocross 2nd round at Iskan Alkhobar racetrack over the weekend.
In a night of fast and furious racing, Mansour Al-Qahtani, Abdulhadi Al-Qahtani and Mosaed Al-Khoyter sped off with the top honors overall in the round. Twenty-five competitors in six categories - AS, BS, CS, ES, FS, and SS - raced against time in their quest for ultimate glory in this timed event held on a tarmac circuit.
Mansour Al-Qahtani, competing in his Toyota Corolla, and then on Toyota Camry, official car of the race, topped the overall podium with a best time of 00.44.682.
Abdulhadi Al-Qahtani finished second overall with a best time of 00:46.056.
Mosaed Al-Khoyter managed to be third on the podium clocking 00:46.213.
“Sports events and competitions are important elements in the Kingdom’s culture, therefore we are always ready to extend our support to all our athletic associates,” said motorsport developer Abdullah Bakhashab, the organizer of the race.
The winner in each class and overall winners received a trophy.
With the 3rd round of the race to follow in Riyadh, points scored during the 3-round championship will be accumulated in order to determine class winners and the overall champion.
The race’s 1st round was held at Durat Al Arus racetrack in Jeddah recently. More than 40 percent of the entries in this round were totally new to the sport of auto crossing. “Toyota Saudi Star Autocross will continue to grow and together with other motorsports, we can see that there are more active partners now, which will help the sport and community grow,” Mohammad Ba Hassan, Toyota PR and events manager said.
Sponsored by Toyota as a main sponsor along with partners, Mobil 1 oil and Okaz newspaper as a media sponsor, the competing mood did not provide any chance for the drivers to cool down. Clerk of the course, Amer Al-Nahdi, made the layout highly technical for the Toyota Autocross drivers, and they had to rely on their memory for the track layout. The event drew a large number of car racing enthusiasts Kingdomwide who pitted skills in a non-stop endurance battle as each tired to score the maximum under the new system of awarding system.
Competing cars running with their drivers pushed their tires to the limits and coming out tops in all categories. The weather did not only overheat the drivers but some cars as well.
Following were the
Class winners:
Class AS, Mosaed Al Khoyter clocking (00:45:793); Class BS, Khaled Al-Harbi clocking (00:47:926); Class CS, Mansour Al-Qahtani clocking (00:46:055); Class ES, Ahmad Al-Khoyter clocking (00:47:874) Class FS, Abdul Hadi Al-Qahtani clocking (00:46:612) and Class SS Ahmad Al-Esaa clocking (00:44:411) topped the podium in their respective categories.
