Ahmed, Ali claim top honours as Qatar Drift Championship concludes

Ahmed al-Amri and Ali al-Jabsheh clinched top honours as the Qatar Drift Championship concluded after the thrilling fifth and final round in front of packed stands at Qatar Racing Club (QRC).
The championship was held under the auspices of QRC Chairman HE Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani. Oman’s al-Amri and Kuwait’s Salem al-Sarraf were competing for the first championship title, while the contest for the second title was mainly between Ali al-Jabsheh and Saud al-Attiyah.
Qualifying trials on Thursday, saw al-Amri leading ahead of al-Attiyah, with Riyadh al-Mabasli and Alaa Zareef coming in third and fourth respectively. These results contributed to al-Amri’s lead in the overall standings, while reducing the gap between al-Attiyah and Ali al-Jabsheh in the lead for the local category.
The first round in the elimination stage witnessed the passage of the contenders for the title, with Ahmed al-Amri, Khalid al-Shafei, Alaa Zareef, and Yazen al-Jabsheh qualifying from the first half of the double-header matches, while al-Attiyah, Ali al-Jabsheh, al-Mabasli and al-Sarraf qualified from the second half.
In the second round, the strongest match featured the competitors for the local category title, Ali al-Jabsheh from “Brothers Drift team” and al-Attiyah, ending in the former’s victory.
The remaining matches in this round saw al-Sarraf defeating al-Mabasli and al-Amri surpassing his competitor Khalid al-Shafei from the “Brothers” team, while the match between Yazen Jabsheh and Alaa Zareef ended in Yazen’s favour, making him the last qualifier for the semi-finals. The first match in the semi-finals brought together al-Sarraf and Ali al-Jabsheh, ending in favour of the former, marking his third arrival at the final race this season, while al-Amri managed to defeat Yazen al-Jabsheh in the second semi-final match, marking his fourth arrival at the final race this season. These results set the brothers Ali and Yazen, teammates in “Brothers Drift team”, face to face in a match to determine the third-place holder in this round overall and the first place in the local category, which Ali achieved, securing his second win this season and the fourth podium in the local category, while Yazen settled for second place, and the third place went to the racer al-Attiyah.
As for the final match between al-Amri and al-Sarraf, it ended with al-Amri winning his first title in the championship, marking his fifth podium this season. This is the second time the two racers have met in the final match, the first being in the final of the third round, which was won by al-Sarraf back then.
QRC director Sheikh Jabor bin Khalid al-Thani crowned the top three winners on the podium. The winners of the top three positions in the local category were also crowned amid a distinguished audience. The crowning ceremony concluded with the crowning of the season’s champions, where Ali al-Jabsheh won the season championship in the local category, while the overall championship title went to al-Amri, securing his title for the third consecutive season.