On Sunday, September 23, 2018, more than 10 thousand people gathered in the parking lot adjacent to Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square witnessed Oliver Kik claim the 2018 Red Bull Car Park Drift Series Final. CPD Lebanon winner Kifah Hilal finished second while third position went to Egypt’s Hisham Al-Khateeb.
A total of 17 drivers, from 14 different countries, participated in the event. 4 of the drifters were wild cards. The judging committee included Aleksandr Grinchuk, Robbie Nishida, Mike Whiddett, and Eli Ghanem. They awarded points based on a diverse and well-defined set of criteria: 40 points were allocated to car esthetics, 20 to car sounds, 20 to tire smoke, 50 to box driving (2×25), and 20 to spiral driving. The remaining points were distributed to special manoeuvers, such as the Gate (20), Flipper (2×30) and Clip (50).
All drivers competed in Heat 1 with 8 qualifying to Heat 2 and 4 to the playoffs. Oliver finished Heat 1 third, behind fellow countryman and former King of Drift Fadi Boustany and Morocco’s Zaki Lafquiri. All three Lebanese drifters qualified to the second heat and topped its score sheet. Hisham Al-Khateeb and his Nissan Silvia joined them in the playoffs.
Kifah Hilal and Oliver Kik deliver outstanding performances in the last heat. The crowd was electrified and couldn’t wait to see Fadi’s run. However, disaster struck and Boustany’s wheel came off early in his outing. That meant that Hisham only had to get his car home to guarantee a podium finish.
The World Finals in Beirut was in partnership with Total, Falken Tires, and Honor by Go Mobile in addition to Solidere, Beirut Municipality, and Noise. Media partnership with LBCI, Sawt El Ghad, and NRJ Radio.