Salim, Hamad triumph

MUSCAT, FEB 26

The Oman Automobile Association (OAA) continued the action by holding the Oman Freestyle Drift 2021-22 after the grand success of Oman International Drift Championship recently.

At the Muscat Drift Arena, Oman’s Salim al Sadi emerged champion in 4×4 category and UAE driver Hamad al Kaabi claimed the sedan section honours in Round 3 of the Oman Freestyle Drift on Friday night.

Mohammed al Kindi, OAA board member, was the chief guest and gave away the trophies to the top-three winners in two categories at the concluding ceremony.

UAE drifter Khalifa Ibrahim finished second in sedan class, while Oman’s Mohammed al Qulhati bagged third spot.

In the 4×4 class, Omani drivers Abdulaziz al Sadi was second and HH Al Sayyid Dhu al Kufl claimed the third position.

Al Kaabi was in top form and performed consistently to collect 154 points from the three rounds in the finals.

After a stable 50 points each in the first two runs, the UAE drifter bettered to 54 points in the third and last run.

Compatriot Ibrahim, who was ahead after the first two runs (56 points and 53 points), slipped to second due to a below par performance of 43 points in the last run.

Hamad claimed the top prize with a two-point difference to Khalifa who finished on 152 points.

Local drifter Mohammed al Qulhati claimed third position in sedan section with 147 points.

UAE’s Mohammed al Dahmani was fourth with 144 points and Oman’s Salim al Saadi was overall fifth with 138 points.

A total of 25 drifters were in action in the finals at the Oman Automobile Association’s drift venue.

Local drivers Ibrahim al Azri (137), Waqqas al Balushi (119), Jasim al Farsi (115), Mana al Ajmi (111), Abdulaziz al Sadi (107) and Al Sayyid Dhu al Kufl (106) also had decent runs to finish in the sixth to eleventh positions respectively.