Lebanese driver Nicholai Georgiou, 26, has won the FIA Middle East Rally Championship Pirelli Star Driver Shoot Out. Georgiou beat Meshari Al-Thafiri (Kuwait), when the two went head-to-head on this week’s Dubai International Rally.
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX driver Georgiou collected more points than Al-Thafiri on the two-day final round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship, to win the coveted place on the second year of the FIA’s ground-breaking driver development programme. The Pirelli Star Driver programme runs across six rounds of next year’s FIA World Rally Championship.
Georgiou, co-driven by Joseph Matar, won the West Zone of the Pirelli Star Driver competition in Syria earlier this year to qualify for this week’s Shoot Out.
After a fascinating build-up, the result was known at the end of Friday’s opening day of action on the desert stages south of Dubai in the Hatta region. Al-Thafiri suffered a mechanical failure aboard his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX on the opening stage of the event and dropped 20 minutes. Georgiou was ninth fastest through the opener. Al-Thafiri made it to the second test in the Hajar Mountains, albeit in last place, but he retired at the start of the stage. From then on, Georgiou’s job was considerably more straightforward: he had to get through each of the opening day’s five stages to collect the biggest prize of his career to date.
The nomination for the Pirelli Star Driver programme from the FIA Middle East Rally Championship was decided on the driver who was quicker through each of the individual stages. Georgiou won five on Friday and with only four stages to run through on Saturday, Al-Thafiri elected not to re-start under the SupeRally regulations. The Dubai International Rally was run in sunny conditions, with temperatures around 27 degrees.
Georgiou took an understandably controlled approach to the event once he learned of his rival’s downfall in stage one, Al-Rowdah. He ended the event 11th overall, but delighted with his result.
Georgiou said: “It’s a great feeling to seal the Pirelli Star Driver here. This is a major breakthrough in my driving career. I came so close to winning it last year and now I can look forward to an exciting season in 2010. This event was a case of driving very carefully through those final stages, listening out for any strange noises, and making sure I reached the finish.”
Georgiou was born into a rallying family, with his father Tony a regular competitor in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship and a regular rally winner in Oman. For Georgiou junior, however, the stages of the FIA World Rally Championship beckon as he takes his place in the world’s most exciting young rally driver development programme.
Georgiou has been competing in rallying for the last four years – and improving with every season. After a year of rallying in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship, he finished fourth in the 2009 standings.
There was a third driver in Dubai nominated for the Pirelli Star Driver seat, but Ahmed Al-Mansoori (Abu Dhabi) elected not to take part alongside Georgiou and Al-Thafiri. Al-Mansoori has been part of the Fiesta SportTrophy International this season and was travelling to Britain to join his Fiesta team-mates at the Fiesta Shoot Out.
Georgiou is the fifth and final driver to be selected for the Pirelli Star Driver scheme. His team-mates in 2010 will be Hayden Paddon from New Zealand (selected on Rally Australia in September); Estonian Ott Tänak and Alex Raschi from San Marino (both selected at the FIA European Rally Championship Shoot Out in Freistadt, Austria in September) and Kenya’s Peter Horsey (who was selected on the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally in September). The five drivers will all compete on six rounds of the 2010 FIA World Rally Championship in a front-running Group N car.
Next year will be the second season of the Pirelli Star Driver programme. The scheme is designed to offer drivers from around the world, competing in the FIA Regional Championships, the opportunity to compete at the highest level of the sport.
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