Antonio Sandouk is Lagos Autofest’s king of drift

Stingray’s pointman, Antonio Sadouk, was crowned the King of drift of the 2020 Lagos Autofest held at Tafawa Balewa Square at the weekend.

Speaking at the Lagos Autofest organised by BMW Club Nigeria and Work and Play Motorsport group, Sandouk, who was returning to active racing after some break, described the win as an exciting one, adding that he is elated that the motorsports community in Nigeria is growing exponentially.

“I think we have great drifters here today and I foresee a stiffer challenge in every category of the sports in the future. There are very young talented racers coming on board these days, and that is a sign of growth,” he said. 

A former multiple race champion, Argo Raak, was the second-best drifter at the event, while Captain Awwal came third.

For his efforts, Sandouk pocketed N500,000, with Raak getting N200, 000.

Diekola Alabi won the time attack to pocket N200, 000, while Femi Dada took the N100, 000-second prize money.

This year’s edition was also supported by BetKing, Fearless Energy Drink, Autochek, Heineken, Motul, AMC, Infinity Tires Ace of Spades, Grandcru, Beat 99.9 FM, Coscharis Motors, JB Autos, SMT Volvo, Toyota and Elizade

According to the President of Work and Play, one of the organising teams, Adeoye Ojuoko, the event redefined possibilities in the motorsports community, as it was borne on the back of collaboration between his group and BMW Club Nigeria.

He said, “If we put our resources together we can go farther. This event is bigger and perhaps the best so far. 

“For us in Work and Play, we would explore more avenues to promote the sport, that includes joining forces with more willing stakeholders to drive down the values of the sport and expand the industry for more people to benefit from.

“If it were not for the cautious nature of the social event and the move by organisers of this event to align with Lagos State government and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control’s COVID-19 Protocols, this venue would have been sold out.”

The one-day event also featured a time-attack with outstanding parades from other motorsports groups from
Elated by the outcome of the event, President of BMW Nigeria, Kennedy Njideoffor, said the club planned to use the event to raise awareness for the sports and bring together car enthusiasts for common good.

“Beyond what happened at the Autofest 2020, it is the coming together of like minds that were our biggest achievement. Despite the pandemic ravaged economy, we are very positive that the synergy formed through Autofest here will propel the industry further,” he enthused.