Ameri retains Red Bull Car Park Drift title

Part of the Abu Dhabi Corniche was turned into a petrol head’s paradise Friday night as Ahmed Al Ameri was crowned the UAE’s Red Bull Car Park Drift champion for the second year in a row. In a nail biting finish, the Emirati driver just edged out Jordanian Ahmed Daham to the delight of a vociferous crowd that flocked to the car park in front of the capital’s Federal National Council. Al Ameri, who qualified first for the final round ensuring he was last of the five drivers to take to the tarmac, could only watch on as Daham raised the bar with an exceptional final run, backfiring his Subaru as he screeched around the circuit. That heaped the pressure on the defending champion, but he was up to the challenge and despite colliding with a barrier late on, he was awarded the title largely because of the superior car sound and smoke he was able to get out of his Lexus. Not that it appeared to do his heavily modified saloon any good, as it ground to a halt with technical issues as soon as it got over the finish line. Al Ameri will have plenty of time to fix the issue while he prepares his car for a second stab at the regional final in Beirut, Lebanon, on July 6. Al Ameri, who found it hard to contain his joy, predicted a better showing at the Middle East finals this time around, after he failed to make an impression in 2011. “I cannot find a word to describe it, it’s something amazing,” he said. “You know, it’s easy to go to the top level, but how you keep yourself on the top level, this is really the challenge. This is my second year, I’m delighted and Inshallah I’m going to go to Lebanon and something is going to be different over there.” Al Ameri was pushed all the way by Daham during an enthralling evening of drift racing – with the judges consulting for some time before reaching their final verdict – while third-placed Ahmed Al Romaithi was also impressive. And the champion praised his competition, revealing he felt the standard had definitely improved from 12 months ago. He added: “Compared to last year, the competitors were amazing, the challenge was too much. There was a little bit of stress but I am lucky, because when I finished my last lap the engine finished.” The crowd was also treated to displays from Lebanese rally driver and drifting supremo Abdo Feghali, who part of the judging panel. “We all know that in the Emirates we have the best cars available for drifting because they have three drifting tracks, one in Yas Marina, one in Dubai Autodrome and one in Al Ain, so I was expecting this; but I was really happy to see the competition for first place was really tight,” he said. “For the judges, it made our life really hard to choose the winner. It’s a combination between drifting, car looks, car sound and smoke and spectator’s reaction and that’s how Ahmed won the first place, he deserved it.” The drivers were judged on their ability to drift and time around the track, plus look, sound and tyre smoke from their machine and crowd reaction.