Daham drifts his way to No. 1

DUBAI — Jordanian driver Ahmad Daham drifted late Friday night at the 2014 Red Bull Car Park Drift Grand Final in Dubai, and came out on top as the “King of Drift”.

"I am extremely happy that I won today for Jordan. It has been a long and difficult path," Daham said.

Drifters were required to negotiate a challenging course dotted with obstacles, and  judged according to a set of six criteria. Forty per cent of the mark was allocated to drifting skills, while proximity to the clipping point, and car look and design will each gave the driver 15 per cent of the mark. Tyre smoke, car sound, and performance in the “Box” — a tight enclosure the drifters needed to do two donuts in — each contributed 10 per cent towards the total score. Uncontrolled spinning and driving in the wrong direction got the drifters penalised, according to the Red Bull website.

Daham, driving a 3.4-litre 1000-horsepowered Nissan Silvia that was modified and prepared in Jordan by the team at NMK Dyno Centre, scored 257 points, one point ahead of Oman’s Ali Al Bloushi in his Nissan Silvia. Egypt’s Haytham Samir grabbed his spot on the podium with 236 points, after his BMW E46 lost power in the “Box”. Lebanese drifter Bassam Zahlan placed fourth overall after crashing out his BMW M3 on the final run.

“I would like to thank Red Bull for running this event and I owe a great deal to my sponsors and the team at the Dyno Centre. This is a great honour for the team and I can’t wait to take the trophy back home,” Daham said. 

“A special shout out goes to the Tensai Tuning in Abu Dhabi as they kept the car at its maximum performance level and helped with anything that we needed while we were in Dubai,” he added.

Daham wished his countryman Mohammed Al Kukhun, a member of the Hamada Drift Team, who retired in the first round due to a technical problem with his 2.5-litre 435-horsepowered BMW E46, the best of luck in the future.

“It was sad to see Mohammed had problems. He is a great driver and deserved to be in the top four, but this is sports. I am sure he will be back again because he is a champion,” Daham said. 

 “I hope that sponsors realise to what extent the Jordanian talent goes and all the talent that we have and help us grow even more in the sport. You will hopefully see both of us back at the Red Bull top four next year,” he added. 

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, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Daham and Kukhun clinched first and second places respectively in the Jordan Drifting Championship, giving them the opportunity to represent Jordan in the regional final.

Kukhun, for his part, was reserved.

“I don’t really know what to say. I gave it my best shot, but unfortunately we had a technical problem and I am sure Ahmad and I will be back next year,” Kukhun said.

“Ahmad deserved to win. He played it cool till the end and I am sure the competition will just keep getting better and better,” he added.

“I didn’t think the competition would be so tough,” said Daham.

Both drivers echoed the fact that driver and teams need sponsorship deals and hoped that somehow this win would lead to a greater understanding of the sport and would help the talent in the Kingdom grow to new heights.

“Jordan Motorsport will do everything in its power to help talented Jordanian drivers see their full potential.  Ahmad and Mohammed both gave great effort into getting here. Mohammed will be back stronger than ever, but fortunately Ahmad took this trophy home and we look forward to seeing other great drivers participate in this event next year,” Jordan Motorsport CEO and former speed test champion Othman Nassif said. 

“The competition was tremendous and we salute each and every participant in the event for their talent and the joy they have given us,” he added.

Abdo Feghali, Lebanese rally champion and the face of Red Bull Car Park Drift, presided over the design of the track for this year’s finals. Feghali, in a Ford Mustang, gave the audience a spectacular display of drifting as the judges tallied the point after the top four event.

International drifting stars Ken Gushi, Dai Yoshihara and Aleksandr Grinchuk judged the 18 regional drivers who went head to head for the coveted “King of Drift” title.