After his 7th consecutive win in the Lebanese Hill Climb Championship, we got together with Abdo Feghali to discuss his achievement in addition to his future plans.
Abdo, how many wings have Red Bull given you so far?
Red Bull have given me 7 wings so far since 2006 (laughs) and the good thing about it is that it never gets boring, it’s amazing, and each and every single one of my runs feels as if it was my first. We’re putting on a great show for ourselves and the fans.
I believe the administrative and technical checks during the race were the headline of today’s event because, with all due respect to my fellow racers, there’s a lot of cheating going on in almost all categories. Who are they trying to fool? ATCL have done a great job to stop these people from gaining an illegal advantage, so I hope they go through with these checks in all upcoming events.
If someone cheats and eventually wins, how would they feel? Would they feel happy or satisfied with what they’ve achieved? It’s a sport, all of us are risking our lives; we’re all paying amounts of money. Why would they want to cheat? Why can’t they simply try their maximum?
I would like to send this message to whoever’s cheating: Cheating doesn’t help you progress, you’d be fooling yourselves if you believe otherwise.
In the end, I hope the teams and drivers would be honest with themselves in the future, and I hope ATCL keep up the great work, they have our full support.
Tell us more about your runs today, how were they?
The weather was super hot, I was trying my best but I just couldn’t improve; the track temperature was blisteringly hot so there was no point in taking risks.
What do you think about the chicane removal?
We all saw what happened to Michel my cousin on Friday, so every time I pass through that chicane I think of what might happen, and to be honest the chicane slows you down for a mere half a second, but Thank God, the cars are equipped with all the necessary safety features, and the fans decided to show up instead of going to the beach despite all the heat.
Abdo are you the oldest Red Bull racer in the Middle East?
Yes, and this week signals our 10 years together, so it shows how much they trust me and how much I’m delivering good results. We’re preparing a special surprise for Rally of Lebanon.
Any hints of the surprise?
Either an RRC or an S2000 car, we’ll see. Cedars Rally will prove which car is the better.
Will you test the car in Cedars Rally?
I doubt it; we’re probably going to have to wait for Rally of Lebanon. Roger got an RRC car and I might get a Skoda S2000 in order to compare both cars and determine which one’s better. It’s costly, but hopefully with the support of Red Bull, our fans and Rayes Racing Parts we’ll be able to achieve something great.
