After the second day of testing we met MotorTune’s Tamer Ghandour and stood upon his prerpartion.
We saw you practicing today and yesterday. This road is very close to your mountains home. Tell us more about it.
It is close to my home in the mountains but it’s not my home road. I have never practiced on it and it had been a long time since I went to Zaarour anyway.
Does it matter if you have practiced here anyway?
It doesn’t really matter since this Hill Climb is all about chicanes and not the road itself. There is no turn where I can say that there is a driver technique that plays a role. We cannot say that in this curve I have the edge over anybody or vice versa. It’s all about managing the chicanes and getting a very fast exit.
Your teammate Abdo Feghali told us earlier on that are its more like a highway or a speed test road. What can you say about that?
I can give the track a rating of 2/10. There are no driving skills. Abdo has already changed 2 transfers because of the chicanes. I hope we don’t suffer from the same problem too. I can understand that we place a chicane in order to reduce the speeds but we can’t organize a Hill Climb based on Chicanes. It’s just about getting some top speed entering the chicanes cleanly to avoid penalties and continue on the same pace.
It’s nothing like Falougha or Deir El Qamar. I don’t know honestly where the nice driving experience in it is. If it wasn’t about the championship points I wouldn’t have participated. Check out Nick Georgiou, he came checked the road twice and decided not to compete. Chafic also drove a bit on the road and decided not to continue. Fouad Feghali also wanted to participate. He rented a car from MotorTune but decided not to compete.
What are your chances in the championship? You are competing directly with Sysley where Joe Ghanem is a little bit far away. You seem more relaxed if we can say.
Well I am more relaxed in the championship. I have carried points with me from the rallies and I am looking good for the win if nothing dramatic happens. If both guys finish ahead I’m still good from the championship so I have no problem.
Can you win this Hill Climb or is it difficult against Joe on the EVO 10?
If the road was twisty I could say that the competition will be very tough. We will still have a tough competition but the EVO 10 is faster on the long straights. As long as you give it space it will reward you. If the road was twisty the gap would be much lesser. It will be more about the driver and the car would also be closer.
If you come and tell me how the car would perform on a long rally similar to this road, I would absolutely tell you that the 10 is better. If the road was like Falougha we will have a different talk.