Taif revs up for Saudi Toyota 2023 Championship finale

RIYADH: The Saudi city of Taif will host the finale of the Saudi Toyota 2023 Hill Climb Championship on Sept. 8-9.

More than 140 elite drivers, including eight female contestants, will compete in the final round of competition, which marks the governorate’s racing debut at Al-Mohammadia Hill in Shifa.

A challenging 4.2 km track with 30 hairpin turns will test drivers to their limit.

Results of the final round will decide the champion in each racing category as well as the overall winner. The finale will also feature an extended track and higher speeds than the previous two rounds.

Moving into the final two days of competition, Jean Lahoud leads the overall standings with 43 points, followed by Fadi Hamadeh with 40 points and Rabih Muayad Al-Aour with 28 points.

In the category standings, Abdulaziz Majid Al-Fadhli leads the G1 division, trailed by Sultan Saeed Abu Nabe and Walid Zaki Mahmoud. In the G2 class, Ali Mohammed Al-Khudeir leads, with Hisham Badei Al-Badei and Sultan Jalal Al-Din Hamdi in pursuit.

The front-runner in the G3 category is Mubarak Ali Al-Zubaidi, followed by Abdulaziz Al-Rumaih and Nawaf Bandar Baouzir. In the G4 class, Rabih Muayad Al-Aour claims top spot, closely followed by Sultan Thamer Kaylou and Mohammad Al-Shouraian.

Jean Lahoud maintains his lead in the G5 category, ahead of Ahmed Jamal Abdulhadi and Faisal Sufian Al-Qubani. Meanwhile, Fadi Youssef Hamadeh spearheads the G6 group, followed by Zakaria Sulwan and Saeed Zaki Al-Mouri.

This year’s medalists will receive substantial prizes, including a GR 86 MT car for the first-place winner and a SR50,000 ($13,000) in cash prizes distributed among the top performers in each category.

The championship, one of the leading events on the