September 2, 2015 – Despite Rabih Ayoub’s absence due to important work commitment abroad, Kazan Performance Tuning is preparing to contest the 38th Rally of Lebanon on September 3-6.
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Former rally driver and the team’s founder Philippe Kazan said: We’re doing meticulous preparations, and the crews are testing well. We will be competing in the front-wheel drive class with Bassel Abou Hamdan and Tony Helou, in Group N with Rodolphe Asmar who’s improving very quickly, in addition to other names in the team, who I think will be competing in front. Moreover, Kuwaiti driver Salah Bin Eiden has joined the team and he’s leading the Group N class in the Middle East Rally Championship after winning in his category in Qatar, Kuwait and Iran.”
Indeed, whoever has watched Rodolphe Asmar – who announced that he’s entering the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy, following in Nicolas Amiouni’s footsteps – on the special stages in the Lebanese Rally Championship onboard his Mitsubishi Evo IX, realizes that the young driver has got the talent but needs more mileage behind the wheel, which he showed after crashing in the 24th Cedars’ Rally, costing him the Group N class lead, and now settles for fourth place in the category with 133 points.
Kazan continued, stating: “Rodolphe has carried out tests in Jordan in order to get accustomed to tougher roads, and he’s competing against drivers with more experience, and in spite of that, he’s quite remarkable, and the biggest proof is his good times during the first loop of the Cedars’ Rally. We have plenty of projects as Kazan Performance Tuning, and the target is to be the surprise of Rally of Lebanon. Concerning Rodolphe, we hope that he’ll be a future talent with a new generation of drivers that will compete against the older and faster generation. We want to break the rule that says there is no longer a talented generation of drivers compared to the old generation.”
Besides Rodolphe, the team will have Kuwait’s Salah Bin Eiden and his Slovak co-driver Villy Oslaj (Evo IX), who scored 75 points after his Group N victories in Qatar, Kuwait and Iran and wants to continue on the same path despite the difficulty of facing Lebanese drivers on tarmac.
Tony Helou, with co-driver Ziad Chehab, will sit for the second time behind the wheel of the Citroen DS3 R3T, which he’s driven to a tenth place overall in the 24th Cedars’ Rally in what was the car’s first race in the Lebanese Rally Championship.
Bassel Abou Hamdan and co-driver Firas Elias (Citroen DS3 R3T) return to the special stages after missing the Cedars’ Rally. Abou Hamdan won the front-wheel drive class in the Lebanese Rally Championship last year, and won the FWD class in the Spring Rally this year, before finishing third behind Henry Massaad and Robert Aaraj in Jezzine.
Pierre Wartanian, onboard the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, will be one of the new faces to compete in Rally of Lebanon, but he’s competed in all three previous rounds of the championship with co-driver Elie Jalkh. Nabil Abdel Hak and French co-driver Dominique Pasquier (Evo X) will try to break the jinx after retiring from all rounds of the season, while Ziad Nemr and co-driver Joey Matar will also defend Kazan Performance Tuning colors in a Renault Clio RS.
When asked whether he has anything else to add, Kazan replied: “I would like to thank the unsung soldiers who are working night and day and are doing a fantastic job in order for the team to be fully ready.”
