Yas Marina Circuit may be renowned for holding the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix but for one Emirati driver the next few days will be all about a motorsport that has a longer history in the UAE.
Since Sunday, the 22-year-old rally driver Mansour Al Helei has been trying to give his career a boost by qualifying for a place at next year’s FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy.
Al Helei was selected by The Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE to represent the nation in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia regional qualifying event for the 2015 academy, alongside 15 other drivers from the region.
He missed out on a place last year, in his first try, and this time he is aiming to become the second Emirati, and the third Arab driver, to go through the academy after fellow Emirati Mohammed Al Mutawaa in 2012, last year’s winner at Abu Dhabi, and Abdullah Bamogaddam of Saudi Arabia.
The Young Drivers Academy was founded by the FIA in 2011 with the goal of developing young talent.
Three of the graduates from that first year are now Formula One test drivers.
Son of Yahya Al Helei, who has the distinction of taking part in every Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, Mansour was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps.
“Most of my childhood was spent at motorsports events, rallies, workshops. I’ve been going out with my father since I was seven or eight,” he said. “Watching my father stand on podiums had a huge impact on me. I fell in love with this sport. I grew up on it.”
He started competitive racing as soon as he got his driving licence.
In 2010 he entered the Desert Challenge for the first time, as a co-driver for his father. Surprisingly, it is not an experience he looks back on with any fondness.
“Honestly, my first year I did not enjoy it,” Al Helei said. “I am a driver, and had grown up as a driver.
“So, entering as a navigator, I did not enjoy it one bit.”
The following three editions that he was behind the wheel, he said, made him better.
“In motorsport, there is nothing you can teach yourself without actual driving,” he said. “My father was a great influence, of course, telling me how to improve and what to expect in a particular rally. But all this theory is of no use if you’re not out there practicing and discovering racing for yourself.”
Now he has the chance to take his training to a new level.
The Abu Dhabi qualifier consists of a series of tests on the track and in the classroom. So far, the majority of his races have been on local desert terrain.
“In cross country, I don’t have the budget to race in more than two or three races,” Al Helei said. “In a year I might enter three or four rallies, at most.”
He conceded this is nowhere near enough, and leaves him lagging behind more experienced drivers.
“This is a slow rate of education. Imagine, if every month I was in a different rally,” he said. “Every month I’d learn something new – new reactions in the car, new routes, different terrains, new opponents. All this speeds up your knowledge. If you sit at home every day watching videos and being taught theory, you will not improve.
“Yas is circuit racing. I’m a cross-country driver. Usually, we never know what the route is like and where it takes you. When you enter, you know very little about what’s ahead of you.
“Circuit racing is different. With every lap, you become better and better at that circuit. You have to keep a certain line. For us, it’s a little different to someone who has done this throughout his career.
“Even if they haven’t been on Yas Circuit itself, they will have better experience.
“On the other hand, get the best circuit driver in the world and you put him in a cross-country race. How will he do?
“It’s totally different.”
Al Helei is up against Kuwait’s Ali Makhseed, Oman’s Anas Al Raeesi, Jordan’s Nabeeh Muammar, Lebanon’s Patrick Njeim and Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah El Khereiji.
Others are from Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia.
But earning a spot at the academy is not his primary goal.
“The most important thing for me is to learn as much as possible from the experience,” Al Helei said. “There are so many things to gain.
“Anything I gain from the academy experience will help me in my cross-country racing.
“It is my priority.”
akhaled@thenational.ae
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