On Thursday night, they were treated to an awesome show of supreme car control with the Kingdom’s top drifters in action during the first of four rounds this Ramadan. They then enjoyed some extremely close racing on Friday evening, with the first of two autocross events over a fortnight attended by many of Bahrain’s most talented and highly experienced drivers.
The events were held at specially erected tracks at Bahrain International Circuit’s car park area.
The drifting was organized by the circuit and a group of drifting enthusiasts, while the autocross was put together by Bahrain’s Circuit Racing Club, the Bahrain Motor Federation and ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’.
Salman ‘The Drift King’ Mahmood took first place in the drifting event. He put on a show and came away with additional prize money from SMS Company for his thrilling performance.
Shaikh Jaber bin Ali Al Khalifa was a close second, while Salah Salahuddin came third.
In the autocross, winners were crowned in four different race categories.
Filippo Egizii driving a Renault Clio Sport took first place in the Stock A class with a fastest time of 46.592 seconds in the sixth and final run of the night. Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa was a narrow runner-up. He had a best time of 47.119secs in his Subaru Impreza in the fifth run.
In Stock B, Shaikh Ebrahim Al Khalifa driving a Volkswagen Golf GTI claimed first place with a drive of 47.364secs. He marginally beat Abdulrahman Ghuloom, who had a final round time of 47.411secs in his Mitsubishi Evo 9.
Shaikh Abdulla Al Khalifa was another close finisher. He was third in his Volkswagen Golf R32 with a mark of 47.464secs.
In the Modified A category, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa driving a Honda Civic hatchback took first place with a quickest time of 43.222secs during the fourth run.
Faisal Raffaii in a BMW Z3 Coupe was the runner-up with a time of 45.212secs, and Salah Ghali took third in a Honda Accord Type R with a best run of 49.543secs.
In the Modified B group, Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, Chief Operating Officer at Bahrain International Circuit, put on a dominant performance in claiming the top spot. He had a fastest run of 41.641secs in his Porsche 911 GT3 RS.
Driving a Subaru Impreza, Abdulhadi Al Qahtani was second in 45.274secs. Khalid Al Dhahrani in a Nissan Altima 1990 model came third in 47.126secs.
Several others competed but failed to make the final classification in their respective categories. They were Sangeeth driving a Mazda 3 in Stock A; Salman Al Ghunaim in a Porsche Carrera S, Ali Al Wazzan in a Toyota Camry Coupe and Mohammed Ghali in an Infinity G35 Sedan in Stock B; Adel Mohammed in a Honda Prelude and Ali Al Kobaisi in a Mini Cooper in Modified A; and Ahmed Al Ahmedi in a Ford Mustang GT and Yaser Al Jalahma in a Westfield V8 in Modified B.
The second drifting event will be taking place at Bahrain International Circuit this Thursday, September 3, at the same venue. Those wishing to take part may register at the venue itself before the start of action.
All participants will be required to comply with the laws and regulations put in place by officials, and ensure that their cars are free of any parts that may pose any danger to the spectators or to the drivers themselves.
All are welcome to attend and watch the drifting, free of charge.
The final autocross event of Ramadan will be held on the night of Friday, September 11, at Bahrain International Circuit.