Showtime announces historic broadcast partnership with Basi Shaaban

The region is in the midst of a meteoric motorsport development with the Bahrain F1 GP, running since 2004, and the highly anticipated 2009 Abu Dhabi F1 GP having taken giant strides in catalyzing the Middle East motorsport industry.

Starting today, Showtime-subscribers across the Middle East will be able to witness what is required for a human being to reach the pinnacle of international motorsport. This will mark the first time in history that an Arabic-language series centering on an Arab driver's development across a complete season on the "F1 Ladder" becomes available to an Arab viewership.

Showtime Sport has entered into this historic partnership with the Arab world's first and only driver to be competing in the F3 Euro Series, Lebanese-born and UAE-raised Basil Shaaban, to expose the challenges faced by the world's F1-hopefuls as they try earning a shot at a seat with F1 teams. 2007 F1-sensation Lewis Hamilton won the 2005 F3 Euro Series championship in his second season in dominating style, taking 15 wins from 20 races with ASM Formule 3, arguably the series' top-team. In total, seven of the twenty-two 2008 F1 race-drivers have come from the F3 Euro Series, considered to be the world's most competitive F3 championship. Four of the drivers Shaaban competed against in 2007 are now official F1 test-drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg dove-tailing his Williams F1 testing duties in 2008 with another F3 Euro Series title-attempt with ASM.

Basil Shaaban's ambition has made him more than simply the first Arab to reach this level of international formula motorsport. He is also a pioneer in having acquired and licensed the Middle East Broadcast Rights to the 2007 F3 Euro Series in an attempt to motivate the region's knowledge and interest in the F1 Ladder championships. "I am delighted that a network of Showtime's stature has seen the value in exposing in this region the exciting championships which lead to Formula One. It is a great honor for me to represent my country and the Arab nation in this highly-competitive series, and to be able to share with the Middle East the many challenges that are faced on the way up," said the 27 year-old F1-hopeful, who will be applying the lessons learned in his tough first season for his second attack on the upcoming 2008 F3 Euro Series championship.

Showtime's commitment to this special sporting display has seen the network give it several prime-time slots on its Arabic-language SHOWSports1 channel. Prior to the April start of the 2008 F3 Euro Series, the network will be airing the ten rounds of the 2007 F3 Euro Series over the next five weeks at 20:00 hours KSA-time on Tuesdays, during the hour prior to Premiere League "Super-Saturday," the hour following "Super-Sunday," and during various mid-week repeats. The first broadcast takes place this evening, starting with the action from Germany's Hockenheim F1 circuit.