Honda KSA introduces new team for Hill Climb Championship

JEDDAH: Abdullah Hashim Co., the sole distributor of Honda automobiles in the Kingdom, has announced it is sponsoring a racing team for the Hill Climb Championship, which forms part of the Saudi Toyota Championship, scheduled to take place on July 14 and 15 in the Al-Baha region.

The Hill Climb Championship, hosted by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation with Abdul Latif Jameel Co., is being supported by the Ministry of Sports and the emirate of the Al-Baha province.

The sponsorship announcement was made on Wednesday night at Honda’s main branch in Jeddah with participants including racing fans, top Abdullah Hashim Co. officials, family and friends of the team, sponsors and journalists.

The new Honda team consists of Saudi racers Bandar Al-Silmy and Afnan Al-Marghalani, who will drive high-performance Civic Type-R carts.

Speaking to Arab News at the launch, Al-Silmy said: “I’m excited to participate in the Saudi Toyota Championship in Al-Baha under the sponsorship of Abdullah Hashim Co. and do hope that we will achieve good results.”

“Hill Climb Race is a challenge in which drivers compete against the clock on an uphill course, and only strong cars can participate in it. We use the high-performance Civic Type-R car, which is on top of the sports car category that fits in these kinds of races.”

Teammate Marghalani, who has won several local and international autocross racing titles, lauded Abdullah Hashim Co. for the support.

“It’s very exciting,” she told Arab News. “The Hill climb race is very challenging to drive and, of course, thrilling as well and we hope with the support of Honda team we can gain great results.”

“There will for sure be a lot of things to learn from this race together, but I will