The Emirati admits that part of his decision to hang up his helmet came from the fall in entry numbers and the rising cost of competing. But there is more to it than that. Getting married and with a family business to take care of, there was precious little time for Mohammad to spend time on-track, even if a desire to compete in next year’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge – after several rally outings in this year’s Pro Rally Challenge – suggests otherwise. Indeed, for the man himself, there’s still plenty of potential left in Middle East motorsport.
“There’s still a big future. We have hidden talents and we have the opportunity to explore them. We’ll hopefully be starting a new gymkhana event soon, which will be a good attraction. That is world famous now thanks to Ken Block, so we’d like to start something soon on that level. We’re also looking at a few things with desert rallying, but there are no specific details on that at the moment.
“We’d dearly like more support from government entities as well, helping to promote motor racing and the culture in schools from an early age. They are helping but professional drivers have built a strong future from that kind of grounding. We certainly have the facilities in the region, and hopefully we can extend the understanding of motorsport and the planning and investment on a wider level.”
RING
The chirrups are getting more and more frequent, and rather than mess around Mohammad’s schedule for the afternoon, I finish our chat with a simple albeit challenging question: what next for Motorsport Solutions and Middle East motorsport? The answer is surprisingly straightforward…
“Long term, I want three main things. The first is to be the face of local motorsport. I want these talented youngsters to come to my group and I want to give them the opportunity to become heroes and big stars both regionally and around the world. Secondly I want to create big attractions to motorsport, world-referenced events. Thirdly, I want to create local heroes who will be role models for the community and their countries.
“Some people ask me, ‘why do you do this?’ From the outside it looks like I’m spending a lot of money with not a lot of return. My objective is bigger, and from that comes my satisfaction. Hopefully I can create a platform that businesses in the region will want to support. From that we get more sponsorship and that helps the drivers and in turn the fans because it gives them a better show.
“The passion is there. It’s always there. It’s just up to us to make it grow.”
