RIYADH: The Zain Reem international race circuit in Saudi Arabia will play host to the Saudi Race Festival on Thursday. The one-day motor sport extravaganza includes the first round of the 2010 Zain Lotus Cup and the Saudi Radical Championship.
The first round of the Zain Lotus Cup Middle East will be held in conjunction with main sponsor Saudi Oger. They will sponsor two young Saudi drivers in the Lotus race, with a view to seeing them progress through the ranks of motor racing. Saudi Oger is also supporting drivers in the Saudi Karting League and several other motor sport championships.
Other contenders for Zain Lotus glory include the Bison Reem Team and their driver Prince Mohamed Bin Faisal bin Abdullah Bin Mohamed. Majed Al-Ghamdi is a regular competitor in special stage rallies and will take a break from his preparations for the forthcoming Saudi Hail Rally to drive in the opening round of the Lotus series.
The RST Team will field Abdullah Al-Quain, the Big Wheels Team has entered Atef Al-Atef and there are also Lotus race entries from Al-Ghassan Motors, the Rahez Racing Team and Saud Bin Turki Al-Faisal, and Saeed Al-Mouri, Hussam Al-Saleh.
The festival will also include a round of the new Saudi Radical Championship. Participating drivers include Faisal Bin Laden of the Bison Reem Racing Team, Raed Abu Zenadh, Bandar Alireza and Medhat Sheikh Al-Ard. Alireza was one of the front-runners in last week’s Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge at the Reem circuit.
Osama and Faisal Shaker represent the RST Racing Team and other entrants include Saher Fataftah of the Rahez Racing Team, Nidal Al-Saadi and Mohammed Al-Tayeb. Completing the line-up will be the 16-year-old Fahad Al-Gosaibi, who finished a fine third in one of the recent Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge races.
Qualifying will take place on Thursday morning and the actual racing will start at 2:30pm, with the Zain Lotus race preceding the Saudi Radical Championship action, said HRH Prince Sultan bin Bandar Al-Faisal, CEO of the Zain Reem international circuit.
