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Basil Shaaban

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basil Shaaban
NationalityLebanon Lebanese
Born (1980-03-27) 27 March 1980 (age 44)
Beirut, Lebanon
Debut season2007
Current teamPrema Powerteam
F3 Euroseries
Car number5
Former teamsHBR Motorsport
Starts60
Wins0
Poles0
Fastest laps0
Best finish17th in 2009
Previous series
2005
2005
2005–06, 2006–07
2006, 2008
Italian F3
3000 Pro Series
A1 Grand Prix
British F3

Basil Shaaban (born 27 March 1980 in Beirut) is a Lebanese racing driver.

Early racing

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Shaaban began racing in Lebanon at the age of 14 at the Circuit des Champions karting center near Brummana. Eventually, he worked his way up to driving 16 horsepower (12 kW) 100 cc 2-stroke karts.

Racing in university

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While a student at University of California, Berkeley, Shaaban bought a 23 horsepower (17 kW) 100 cc kart from Trackmagic and began racing in the Northern California region alongside his studies. Over the next few years he won several races. Shaaban graduated with a bachelor degree in astrophysics from Berkeley.[citation needed]

Entry into formula cars

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After graduating from Berkeley, in 2004, Shaaban began racing in Formula Renault 2000 in the USA and Formula Ford 1800 in the United Kingdom. He became the first Arab to win a Formula Ford 1800 race in Europe.[citation needed]

A1 Grand Prix

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Shaaban was one of A1 Team Lebanon's drivers for the inaugural 2005–06 season of the series, alongside Khalil Beschir and American Graham Rahal. None of the drivers scored any points. However, Shaaban scored Lebanon's highest finishing position of the season in the feature race in Estoril, finishing 11th out of 24.

Shaaban inaugurated A1 Team Lebanon's second season when he raced at the A1GP 2006–07 season opener in Zandvoort, the Netherlands.

Formula Three Euroseries

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Shaaban during the opening round of the 2009 Formula Three Euroseries season at Hockenheim.

Shaaban competed in the Formula Three Euroseries beginning in 2007, which was his first full season of car racing. He spent his first two seasons (2007-2008) at HBR Motorsport, before moving to Prema Powerteam for the 2009 season. In his 55th race, Shaaban took both his first top-ten finish and his first Euroseries points (seventh) in Barcelona. In the second race, he started from the front row due to the series' reverse-grid system for the top eight finishers in the first race. Although he was passed by Alexander Sims, Shaaban finished third. In 2009, he finished 12th in the Masters of F3 at Zandvoort.

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points
2005–06 Lebanon GBR
SPR

PO
GBR
FEA

PO
GER
SPR
GER
FEA
POR
SPR

18
POR
FEA

11
AUS
SPR

Ret
AUS
FEA

12
MYS
SPR
MYS
FEA
UAE
SPR

Ret
UAE
FEA

16
RSA
SPR

17
RSA
FEA

Ret
IDN
SPR

17
IDN
FEA

Ret
MEX
SPR
MEX
FEA
USA
SPR
USA
FEA
CHN
SPR
CHN
FEA
23rd 0
2006–07 NED
SPR

16
NED
FEA

Ret
CZE
SPR
CZE
FEA
CHN
SPR

19
CHN
FEA

13
MYS
SPR
MYS
FEA
IDN
SPR

19
IDN
FEA

Ret
NZL
SPR

NZL
FEA

AUS
SPR

AUS
FEA

RSA
SPR

RSA
FEA

MEX
SPR

MEX
FEA

CHN
SPR

CHN
FEA

GBR
SPR

GBR
SPR

23rd 0

References

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