Veteran Lebanese driver back in limelight as new series helps create racing history in Saudi

One of Lebanon’s best known drivers from the last three decades stepped back into the limelight today to take on a special mission as motor sport in Saudi Arabia entered a new era.
 
Veteran Nabil “Billy” Karam, whose career highlights included victory in the 1986 Rally of Lebanon, is making a guest appearance in the new Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East during a historic two-day “Speed Festival” at Reem International Circuit, outside Riyadh.
 
Fully sanctioned by the FIA, motorsport’s world governing body, it is the first international circuit racing event ever to be staged in Saudi, and Karam could mark the occasion by laying down a marker for more Lebanese drivers to enter the exciting new one-make Porsche series, which is sponsored by Michelin and Mobil 1.
 
It is a distance away from the twisting tarmac roads around Beirut where Karam first made his name in conventional rallying, and another world compared with rallycross and ice racing in Europe where he has made fleeting appearances in recent years.
 
“It’s completely different for me,” he said after emerging from the cockpit of a 2010 model Porsche GT3 Cup car following his first test session at the Reem circuit yesterday afternoon.
 
“This is an exciting championship and I came here on a fact finding mission. There are some other drivers at home who are interested and they’re waiting for me to report back to them. I could be back with one or two friends next time.”
 
Karam then headed off with Prince Khalid Al Faisal after Saudi Arabia’s joint championship leader offered to give him some tips on how to handle the new car, and the Reem circuit.
 
New to circuit racing, Karam is nevertheless comfortable in the company he is keeping this week as head of the Porsche Club in Lebanon who drove a Porsche 911 to his Rally of Lebanon triumph 24 years ago.
 
Having made a flying start in Bahrain last month, the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East features Rounds 3 and 4 at Reem as part of a double racing package alongside the
regional Chevrolet Supercars series today and tomorrow.
 
Prince Khalid and his cousin and team-mate, Prince Abdulaziz Al Faisal, are protecting an impressive ten-point lead, but after a retirement  and a fourth place finish on home ground last month, Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Rashid Al Khalifa is determined to live up to his status as the title favourite over the next two days.