Sunday November 13 saw the third 2011 4×4 event organized by ATCL. Ouyoun al siman kfardebyein hosted the event that featured hundreds of spectators on the muddy terrain near the mountains covered by snow.
The race started around 10 AM in the morning with an instalment lap and then was followed with a trial lap. The trial lap didn’t feature any significant results but the contestants were testing the track, their car’s performance, and the limits. Most of the drivers started with high jumps at the beginning of the circuit especially Rachid Naanai, Bassel Al Massri and Remond Saade. On the other hand Said Zacca broke the front differential of the jeep wrangler YJ after a high jump.
After the Trial lap the contestants started with the first of their 3 laps. From the beginning the lap times of all the drivers were close: all the drivers were pushing to clinch precious points of the final criterium of the 2011 championship.
Rawad Awar who started cautiously on his first lap and then started to pick up pace gradually, Mark Chidiac with an engine with less power than his competitors was pushing on the corners using the hydraulic hand break, Raymond Saade was very fast planning to win the 2011 championship. All three drivers were on Jeep Cherokee. At the other end Sleiman Khattar was cautious over the course of the rally and was enjoying the day and preserving his car.
Sleiman was driving his usual Mercedes G Class and Rachid Naanai was on his Range Rover Classic.
Georges Ziade with a V8 Ford Mustang engine on the Cherokee was suffering from tires punctures due to the aggressive driving.
Dory Hatem broke the transfer case but managed to finish in the 7th position.
In the third run Bassel AlMassri lost control of his Cherokee on a corner and the car rolled over but no one was injured.
Rawad Awar ended the race in the second position even with an engine problem in the third run.
Rashid Nainai was driving very fast and showing that he is an expert in offroad driving, but the heavy weight of the Range Rover in comparison with the jeep Cherokee did not allow him to end on a podium step.
Mark Chidiac won the race with clean driving, while Raymond Saade lost few seconds due to a mistake that forced him to get out of the path, but he was the winner of the 2011 championship.
Sleiman Khattar won the Veteran’s cup.
The race ended at 3:30 PM with podium festivities and presenting the winners and participants with their rewards.
Final Results:
1- Mark Chidiac 3:44:76
2- Rawad Al Aawar 3:46:81
3- Raymond Saade 3:49:54
4- Georges Ziade 3: 51: 36
5- Bassel Al Masri 3:52:97
6- Rashid Al Naanai 3:58:58
7- Dori Hatem 4:01:41
8- Sleiman Khattar 4:40:30
9- Said Zacca 4:57:38
Prepared by www.lebanonoffroad.com