Hankook Racing achieved a top-five finish during the second round of the drifting championship, with the team happy and leader Saeed Al Mouri optimistic of claiming a competitive result in the final round of the series. Al Mouri showed signs of competitiveness during the early stages but misfortune with the cars deprived him and team-mate Mohammed Al Ourabi of pace, limiting them to fifth and seventh places respectively, which were the best possible results due to the difficulties faced by both drivers. Al Mouri's position was encouraging considering the participation of more than 60 cars in the event but he is looking forward to returning to the podium in the future. Al Mouri said: “I thank God for everything. In fact, I think I would have been able to achieve a better result than this but unfortunately we encountered some problems which restricted our ultimate performance. Fifth place is still good as we look to re-group for the third and final round of the championship.” Al Mouri noted that Hankook Racing is working on introducing two new models from Toyota and BMW in order to compete for victories and podiums. Al Mouri said: “We've decided to bring a new Toyota car to use, in addition to a more advanced BMW, and we will receive them in a week or two. The goal of this is to compete for first place and to always be in the podium positions.” He added: “I am very happy with this partnership with Hankook, which gives us great support from all sides and which is vital for our success. God willing, we will put all of our efforts into winning the third round of the drifting championship. We will try our best to reach the desired goal.” Meanwhile, Mohammed Al Ourabi, who accompanied by Al Mouri, and hopes to achieve a strong result in order to assist Hankook Racing in the teams' championship before the final round of the competition, said: he was pleased to score points and to continue gathering experience in the other car. He said: “It is helpful for me to gain the necessarily experience at the moment and to score consistently in order to help Hankook Racing in the standings. Frankly, I'm happy to be able to do and I hope the new cars will enable us to achieve the best result possible in the last round.” He added: “Saeed Al Mouri is a champion in drifting and he provides me with many tips on how to improve my game and what is the right strategy to be followed in the races. I think we form a successful partnership for the Hankook Racing team.” Al Mouri is one of the drivers with the most experience in the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia, and has achieved success in different areas of motorsport, having been crowned champion of the Red Bull drift series in 2011, and holds various titles of several races in which he competed in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. — SG
