Haitham Samir Claims Third Place Title at Red Bull Car Park Drift Grand Final

Jordanian drifter Ahmad Daham put in a stellar performance in front of a seven thousand strong crowd at the Red Bull Car Park Drift Grand Final 2014, which was held under the umbrella of the Dubai Motor Festival. While Egypt’s owned Haitham Samir seizes third place title.

The new champ scored 257 points aboard his Nissan Silvia, one point ahead of Ali Al Bloushi who was flying the Omani flag in another Silvia. Egypt’s Haitham Samir grabbed his spot on the podium with 236 points, after his BMW E46 lost power in the ‘Box’. Lebanese drifter BassamZahlan, crashed out his BMW M3 on the final run, and placed fourth overall.

After celebrating his win, Daham said: “I did not expect the competition to be that tough. My team and I have been working hard over the past year to get to where we are on this very day at the Red Bull Car Park Drift Grand Final. This is great honour for the team and I can’t wait to take the trophy back home!”

The Grand Final was the culmination of a series of national qualifiers held across the region, and featured drifters from Egypt, Mauritius, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The Grand Final was presided over by international drifting stars Ken Gushi, Dai Yoshihara and AleksandrGrinchuk who judged the participants according to a set of six criteria. Forty percent of the mark was allocated to drifting skills, while proximity to the clipping point, and car look and design each gave the drivers 15 percent of the mark. Tire smoke, car sound, and performance in the ‘Box’, a tight enclosure the drifters needed to do a ‘donut’ in, each contributed 10 percent towards the total score.

The Red Bull Middle East Car Park Drift Grand Final was part of “Dubai Motor Festival”, and was held in partnership with Ford Middle East, Sony Action Cam, Meydan, Pirelli, MBC Action and Al Arabiya 99.

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