Nigeria Content Online

Red
Bull champion Abdul Aziz Turki Al Faisal was the pride of all Saudis in
particular and Arabs in general with his world class victory.

Achievements are
recognised indeed by their size and importance on the global scene, and
this is exactly the kind of achievement achieved by Abdul Aziz, the
first Saudi to take part in the GT3 European championship. His
historical victory added the element of pride to his athletic career
and wining an international medal in the name of his country.

Abdul Aziz won the
championship title in the first GT3 European championship round
organized in the Algarve international circuit in Portugal. He came
first with his co-pilot Edward Sandstroem on a BMW Z4 on the Need for
Speed Schubert team. With this success, Abdul Aziz Al Faisal became the
first Saudi to participate and win a GT3 European Championship Race.

The team’s
happiness was completed when Csaba Walter and Claudia Huertgen of the
same team came in second after the Graff Racing team on a Mercedes-Benz
SLS AMG driven by Mike Parisy and Philippe Giauque was penalized for
violating the stopping rules. Third place went to the Faster Racing DB
motorsport team also driving a BMW Z4. With that BMW won the first
three places in the launch of the GT3 European championship.

Car was a breeze

After his victory, Red Bull champion Abdul Aziz expressed his feelings saying:

“When I came into
the race, I did not know if the car I had just over taken was from the
competitor’s team. I then asked the engineers on the radio, and as soon
as they informed me that it was one of our competitiors’, I increased
my speed. There wasn’t a lot of pressure; the car was easy to drive.

Edward did a good
job in maintaining the tires and he had to advance from the start. As
for me, I brought the car to the finish line. The problem in such races
is that you don’t know your position. I used the radio a few times to
check my position and to see if I needed to move forward, the answer
was ‘no, just keep your position’. I suffered from the cars lagging
behind since they were not moving aside so I can overtake them when the
blue flag was raised, I worried about their moves. In reality, I drove
the car to the finish line.” “This victory is very important for the
Gulf region and especially for KSA where car racing is growing rapidly.
It’s a new sport that started in 2004 with the Formula 1 in Bahrain. I
competed for 2 years in the Porsche GT3 Middle East championship,
winning the title last year and coming in second, this year. In fact,
my participation in this international championship is a very important
step. Frankly the victory was quite unexpected. But we have a great
team and great colleagues as well as a highly performing car”, he added.

Excellent performance

Edward Sandstroem,
the Red Bull champion’s co-pilot and member of the Need for Speed
Schubert team, said: “I am very happy to be a member of this team
especially with the presence of my colleague Abdul Aziz Al Faisal and
his excellent performance during the race. I am also very happy with
the results we achieved especially at the beginning of the season. The
car is better than last year when we struggled a lot and our journey
was hard if it were not for the tires that had helped us a lot. Now
it’s easier because we have all the factors for success. I thank the
Schubert team which has exerted a lot of effort. Now we have a stronger
car than last year, and we have become on the same level with other
cars, so we are able to compete for the title”.