PIRELLI ‘STAR DRIVER’ AWARD
2009 FIA Middle East Rally Championship
For immediate release
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
NICK GEORGIOU LOOKS TO GAIN CRUCIAL
PIRELLI ‘STAR DRIVER’ POINTS IN SYRIA
· Kuwait’s Al-Thafiri and UAE’s Al-Mansoori qualified for Dubai final
AMMAN (Jordan): Lebanese driver Nick Georgiou will be hoping to earn maximum points in the Pirelli ‘Star Driver’ category of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship during next week’s Syrian International Rally.
Georgiou lost out on victory in last year’s prestigious competition on a technicality to Cypriot Nicos Thomas, but Georgiou and Lebanese co-driver Joseph Matar start as favourites to claim their first points in the West Zone section of the competition, which will be fought out over the rounds of the regional series in Syria and Lebanon.
Kuwait’s Meshari Al-Thafiri and Abu Dhabi’s Ahmad Al-Mansoori qualified for the regional final – which will take place alongside the Dubai International Rally at the start of December – through the Gulf Zone’s qualifying round in Kuwait.
“We changed the counting rounds for the West Zone after the recent Kuwait International Rally and Syria and Lebanon will now count for West Zone points.,” said Derek Ledger, FIA Vice President and regional rally commissioner. “Nick Georgiou is registered for the West Zone and will start as the favourite to score Pirelli points in Syria.”
Five points will be scored by a registered driver for a stage win, down to a single point for fifth position on a special stage. The two drivers who have amassed the most points from the Syrian and Lebanese rounds will qualify for the final.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, FIA Vice President for Sport and President of the Automobile and Touring Club of the United Arab Emirates (ATCUAE), will supply a new award. This will be presented to the winner by Derek Ledger at the end of the final round of the series in Dubai on Saturday, December 5th.
Note to editors:
The Pirelli ‘Star Driver’ competition
The Pirelli ‘Star Driver’ award is a worldwide search for the five best young rally drivers from the 2009 FIA regional championships in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa and European (including South America) zones.
Each region is holding qualifying events and a final shoot out. The successful drivers will be invited to contest a series of six rounds of the 2010 FIA World Rally Championship in identical Group N cars supplied and serviced under an FIA agreement.
Ends
For further media information:
Neil Perkins, 2009 Pirelli ‘Star Driver award’, Middle East International Media Liaison Officer, NDP Publicity Services, Mobile: + 44 7831 123153, E-mail: ndppublicity@googlemail.com, www.ndp-publicity.com (press releases)