On a night of fast and furious racing, Faisal Al-Sharief, Fahd Al-Harazi and Mohammad Al-Ahmadi sped-off with the overall top honors in round one of the Toyota Saudi Star Autocross Championship 2008 at the Durat Al-Arous race track here. The two-day championship was organized by former ace rally driver Abdullah Bakhashab, who is deeply involved in the development of motorsport in the Kingdom. Al-Sharief had finished second on the first day while Al-Harazi was third. In total, 25 competitors participated in six categories – AS, BS, CS, ES, FS, and SS – in the first round of the 2008 championship, which was sponsored by Toyota as a main sponsor and Mobil One Oil and Okaz as cosponsors. Clerk of the Course, Amer Al-Nahdi had made the layout highly technical this time and the race maintained high standard. Al Sharief, competing in his Subaru Impreze, and then with Toyota Camry, race official car, topped the overall podium with the best time of 00. 44.425. Al-Harazi, in Toyota Yaris, clocked 00:44.904 to fnish second and Al-Ahmadi, in a Subaru, followed with 00:45.899. Following were the Class winners: Class AS - Bandar Galeb (00:39.064); Class BS - Faisal Al-Sharief (00:40.895); Class CS - Fahd Al-Harazi (00:42.546); Class ES - Mohammad Al-Ahmadi (00:42.706); Class FS - Raian Al-Huseini (00:47.400); Class SS - Eyad Al-Najar (00:42.746). “Toyota Saudi Star Autocross will continue to grow together with other motorsports. We will help this sport and drivers improve,” said Mohammad Ba Hassan, Toyota Public Relation and Events Manager. __
