Oman's Sayyed Faisal Sami Al Busaid tore through the specially set- up course to clock a best time of 39.31 seconds to win the first-ever Mercedes-Benz Middle East Student Autocross Series final late on Thursday.

Held in the specially marked out course in the Dubai International Marine Club parking lot, the sturdy Al Busaid showed daring for the best time among the champions from six countries.

Coming in a close second was Saudi Arabia's Prince Khalid Bin Sultan with a time of 39.54 seconds.

Mattar Al Hameli, the UAE challenger from Abu Dhabi, had to settle for third place with a time of 40.93 seconds.

"What gave me tremendous satisfaction was the closeness of the competition," Al Busaid said.

"I came here with high hopes of winning, and that is exactly what I achieved," beamed the 22-year-old Business Administration student from Muscat.

Prince Khalid was gracious in accepting the second position.

"The first place rightfully belongs to him (Al Busaid) as he's a much better driver and he's proved it to all present here today," Prince Khalid said.

"I am happy with my second place. Faisal gave the competition something extra and was rewarded in the end," he added.

The reward will be a fully paid trip to the AGM facility in Stuttgart, Germany.

"I've been there before. But it really won't hurt if I go there again," Al Busaid said.

Close challenge

Competition was close with each of the seven challengers getting two runs each in both of the new generation Mercedes-Benz cars.

Though Dubai lad Chris Seneviratne set a challenging time of 41.38 secs in his third trip on the circuit, the Omani upstaged that in his very first visit with a winning time of 39.31 secs.

Prince Khalid tried in vain to match this time.

On his first visit to the track, Prince Khalid clocked 40.49 seconds, a clear one second off Al Busaid's time.

And on his fourth and final effort, Prince Khalid managed to power to a time of 39.54 seconds, just shy off the winning mark set by the Omani challenger.

More than 500 competitors from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar competed to choose the best driver in their home country, before sending him to the UAE for Thursday's competition.

"It was a very close final," said Johannes Fritz, Sales and Marketing Director for Mercedes-Benz.

"We plan to make this event an annual affair. Hopefully, a competition like this one will help educate young drivers to become more responsible when they drive on the roads," he added.

Results:

1. Sayyed Faisal Sami Al Busaid (Oman) 39.31 seconds; 2. Prince Khalid Al Sultan (Saudi Arabia) 39.54; 3. Mattar Al Hameli (UAE) 40.93; 4. Chris Seneviratne (UAE) 41.38; 5. Aalaa Darwish (Qatar) 41.86; 6. Tarek Mourey (Lebanon) 42.45; 7. Faisal Mansour Raffie (Bahrain) 43.02.