Each of the trainings was set up to accommodate 30 participants willing to broaden their knowledge on the subject of judging in drifting, representing both the ASNs hosting the event as well as representatives of other, usually neighbouring countries.

The inaugural training was held last October in Latvia (also welcoming participants from other Baltic states), with the second event taking place in Czechia, with contestants also coming from Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Turkey and the UK.

Held this February third and final in the series of events that took place in Oman, on the occasion of the final round of Oman International Drift Championship.

“This is a great opportunity for Oman to host the first Drifting Judges Training in the [MENA] region with the support of the FIA,” said Suleiman Al Rawahi, General Manager at Oman Automobile Association.

“To bring this kind of expertise and to develop a new generation of judges in the region is very important.”

Al Rawahi also stressed that having a pool of qualified judges in the country will help the ASN to generate significant savings while hosting the events.

“The training gives us the opportunity to lower the cost. For the local championship, we have our local judges. But with international events we bring judges from other parts of the world,” he explained.

“[Judges] from countries like UEA, Bahrain, or Kuwait can either just drive or fly at a minimal cost. We’ll become more cost-effective because the cost is the biggest challenge that we have in the region. All these elements are very important and help us to bring the level of events to a higher degree.”

He also spoke highly of the rapidly developing scene in the region. “This sport has been the fastest-growing [motor sport] discipline in Oman and in the region.”

“It’s a spectator’s sports so we have quite a lot of interest from the public, but at the same time, the growth and self-development of drivers force us as the ASN to raise the bar in terms of organization to the highest. For us this is probably the most important discipline so far,” he concluded.

Koichi Murata, recently appointed as the new FIA Drifting Commission President, was also full of praise for the initiative.

“I’m immensely pleased that owing to the FIA Sports Grant Programme several member clubs of the FIA had the chance to host these trainings,” said the Japanese.

“The initiative serves several purposes, from allowing the clubs to have pools of highly-qualified drifting judges, and thus making them more cost-effective on an operational level, to improving judging standards across national and regional competitions in different parts of the world. This is also a great example of how the FIA can develop grassroots level motor sport,” he summarised.

The trainings were run by experienced drifting judge David Kalas who was partnered by either fellow judge Vernon Zwaneveld or FIA Drifting Commission member and FIA Motorsport Games gold medallist Dmitriy Illyuk.