First round of drift championship starts Friday

DEAD SEA — The first round of Jordan Drift Championship organised by Jordan Motorsport shifts into high gear on Friday, with the participation of more than 50 drivers at the Service Park of the Dead Sea area.

Jordan Motorsport CEO Othman Naseef told The Jordan Times that this season will host five drifting events, "including a new event where the best 16 drivers will qualify to take part in the Red Bull qualification round for the year 2017".

"We expect this season to be more challenging and more competitive due to the enthusiasm we witnessed last year, as more new faces are joining the events," he added.

Last year, Mohammed Kukhen captured the title of the Jordan Drift Championship after topping the standings with 100 points from five challenging rounds.

Othman Takriti followed in the second place with 89 points, and Omar Kukhen came in third with 75 points.

Meanwhile, Rafat Haroun and Munir Hattar settled in the fourth and fifth places respectively with 70 points each, and Mohammed Foqaha came in the sixth spot with 66 points.

Last year's first round was won by Kukhen, who in his BMW A46 ended the round with 168 points, followed by Takriti in his BMW A46 (153 points), and Munir Hattar in third place (149 points) in his BMW A30.

Around 4,000 fans watched three heated rounds with the best 13 drivers battling it for the win in the third and most competitive round.

Drifting is a kind of driving technique used by drivers through oversteering and causing a loss of traction whether in the rear wheels or all tyres while controlling a certain entry to exit of a corner.

Drivers will be judged according to speed, angle and perfect track line (90 points), showmanship (5 points) and smoking tyres (5 points).