Bandar Alesayi, right, of Alesayi Racing, won Saturday’s Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East season-opening race and will look for a repeat in Sunday’s second event at Yas Marina.
Bandar Alesayi, right, of Alesayi Racing, won Saturday’s Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East season-opening race and will look for a repeat in Sunday’s second event at Yas Marina.

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Alesayi pounces on mistake to get off to 'perfect start'

Bandar Alesayi took advantage of a mistake from Ahmad Al Harthy on the opening lap to take the lead and win the opening race of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East.

Graham Caygill

November 13, 2011

ABU DHABI // Bandar Alesayi had said before the start of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East season that he was ready to raise his game and become a championship contender.

The Saudi Arabian driver backed up those words in emphatic fashion on Saturday as he claimed victory in the first race of the series as part of the support race schedule for the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

He took advantage of a mistake from Ahmad Al Harthy on the opening lap to take the lead, and strong speed on the two long straights at Yas Marina Circuit kept him ahead for the rest of the 14-lap race.

Al Harthy, who had started on pole, had led the first half of the opening lap, but ran wide at Turn 14 and as he scrambled for grip on the kerb Alesayi swooped around the outside.

Alesayi said: "Ahmad made a mistake and I was able to get past him. It's the perfect start to the weekend for me."

He now shares the lead in the championship with compatriot Prince Abdulaziz Al Faisal, who finished third on Saturday after holding off a strong challenge from Stephane Lemeret.

Al Harthy starts from pole in Sunday's second race, with Al Faisal alongside him on the front row, and Alesayi in third.

Elsewhere, Fabio Leimer dominated the GP2 Final feature race to take victory.

The Swiss driver led from the start and was only headed briefly during the pit stops as he won from the Brazilian Luca Razia, and he said he had plenty in reserve.

"I could have gone quicker but I was driving smoothly to save the rear tyres to make sure that if there was a safety car at the end I would have no problem," he said.

Further back Tom Dillmann put himself in good position for a financial payout from Pirelli after finishing sixth.

The Frenchman was the highest finisher to have come from GP3, and Pirelli, who supply the tyres for the series, will give €15,000 (Dh74,700) to the GP3 driver with the highest points total from Saturday's event and Sunday's sprint race.

Nick Tandy won the Porsche Supercup race ahead of Rene Rast, with Khaled Al Qubaisi, the Emirati driver, finishing in 17th place in his Team Abu Dhabi car.

The result was enough for Rast to retain his drivers' title in the competition.

gcaygill@thenational.ae

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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