Turkmenistan leader wins his country's first car race
14:31, 8 April 2012
ASHGABAT. April 8. KAZINFORM The president of Turkmenistan has won his country's maiden car race after an impromptu decision to enter, BBC informed.
Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov drove to the track in the capital Ashgabat in a green Bugatti sports car to watch.
Suddenly asking to take part, he changed to a Turkish-made Volkicar and won the time trial challenge.
Correspondents say the apparently choreographed display seemed designed to enhance the president's image as a man of action.
The winning car will be given to the desert country's national sports museum.
Mr Berdymukhamedov, a former health minister, came to power following the death of his predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, at the age of 66, in 2006.
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