In front of thousands of motor sports lovers at the Forum de Beirut on Friday night, Lebanese Firas Khaddaj was crowned King of Drift after winning the Red Bull Car Park Drift final. The event was held here under the patronage of the Minister of Youth and Sports Dr. Ali Hussein Abdullah and in cooperation with the Automobile & Touring Club of Lebanon (ATCL). After around two hours of amazing shows, Khaddaj on his BMW collected the highest score and was crowned King of Drift of the Red Bull Car Park Drift. Lebanese Rafi Kevork came second and Saudi Saeed Al-Mouri took the third place. Bahrain driver, Salman Mahmoud Abdallah Mohammad who qualified to the Final Four round, had to quit after facing some technical issues. Fourteen of the best Middle Eastern drivers competed for the King of Drift title, offering spectacular shows filled with speed, thrill, and excitement. The drivers mainly relied on their hand breaking skills into the turns. They tried to show their own driving style and also styled their cars to satisfy the crowds and the jury. Red Bull driver Abdo Feghali organized the drivers' departure while a jury of motor sports experts and rally champions assessed the candidates and assigned 75 percent of the result to drifting art and skills, 15 percent to car appearance, and 10 percent to tire smoke and public praise. The jury included Lebanese rally champion Maurice Sahnawi “Baguerra”, Saudi rally champion Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Turky Al-Faisal, Qatari rally driver Nada Zeidan, Director of the Omani Automobile Association Anwar Sumar, and the representative of the ATCL Gaby. Dr. Ali Hussein Abdullah and Abdo Feghali, awarded the prizes to the top 3 winners in front of celebrating crowds. Khaddaj expressed his joy for winning the regional title and paid tribute to the excellent organization of the event.
