Infiniti & Red Bull host "Unlock the Race challenge" final

On 31st October, Infiniti along with Red Bull Racing hosted the final of the Unlock the Race challenge. The challenge started off from Jumeirah Beach Residence, The Walk, where people were challenged to set their fastest lap time on the Yas Marina Circuit, in a game, using the playseat. 600 contestants set their lap times and out of the 600, the top 30 made it to the grand finale on the 31st. Things were going to get tad bit interesting for these lucky 30 people, as they were going to go head to head with one another and Sebastian Buimi, to beat the lap time set by the F1 driver.

The evening of the Grand Finale started off at 6:30 PM, with people taking photos alongside an amazing Red Bull Racing team F1 car on display. Then everyone was told to go inside, where refreshments were being served. The drinks mainly consisted of concoctions with Red Bull in them – which seemed pretty apt, since it was partially a Red Bull Racing event. The official start time was 6:30 PM but people kept arriving till pretty late. The official proceedings of the night did not start until at least 7:15 and meanwhile, people were asked to enjoy the music played by in-house DJ and have refreshments and snacks.

Afterwards, the event finally got under way. Martin Brundle was introduced and called on stage. He is a former world F1 champion and pretty expert at motorsport affairs. He is currently a F1 commentator for Sky Sports. He came and talked a bit about Formula One, his favorite drivers – he is a big fan of Alonso and said that Alonso is his Formula One hero of 2012 and other things. When he was done, he called on stage Sebastian Beumi, who is the Reserve and Test driver for Red Bull Racing. He talked about F1 and his aspirations. The press and media people were also give a chance to ask questions to both Martin Brundle and Sebastian Beumi.

Next part of the evening, was the actual Unlock the Race challenge final. Sebastian Beumi was invited to sit on the playseat and set his fastest lap time. The 30 finalists were supposed to beat his lap time and whoever set the fastest lap time of the evening, was going to be invited to the VIP lounge at the Red Bull Racing event in Abu Dhabi, at Yas Marina. Sebastian Beumi set his fastest lap and then the rest one by one set theirs. It took some time. The results were announced at 10:15 PM.

Phillip from Spain, an 18 year old, set the fastest lap time and he was presented with the invitation. Two more invitations were given out to the second and third fastest lap time holders. After that, Infiniti surprised everyone by announcing that there had been a special draw for customers that had purchased Infiniti cars in the past month and a lady from Lebanon won an Abu Dhabi Grand Prix F1 VIP ticket. She seemed really happy and went on stage to collect her ticket.

The official proceedings ended at around 10:30 PM, but people were asked to stay back if they liked and view the various Infiniti models on display, enjoy the music or have some more refreshments. The unofficial part of the night included celebrating Sebastian Beumi’s birthday, as it was his birthday too. A mini cake cutting ceremony was held, after many of the guests had left. All in all, it was a fun evening.