UAE sport in focus: Preparations for Hankook Dubai 24H Series a year in the making

A look at sporting events this past week in the UAE and a look ahead to the 24 Hours of Dubai series at Dubai Autodrome where two-time champion Khalid Al Qubaisi of the Abu Dhabi Racing Black Falcon team will seek a third win against a grid of 100 cars.

Start of the first ever Dubai 24 hour race in 2006. Photo Courtesy: Total Communications

A strong field, including two-time champion Khalid Al Qubaisi of the formidable Abu Dhabi Racing Black Falcon team, will take the chequered flag at the Dubai Autodrome this weekend for the opening stop of the seven-leg 2016 Hankook 24H Series, the Dubai 24 hours.

For the first time in its 11-year history, the race has attracted the maximum grid capacity of 100 cars, and many among them are Emiratis or based in the UAE, including the Moutran brothers – Ramzi, Sami and Nabil – who were the 2015 overall teams’ champion in their Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing Seat Leon.

Challenges

Dubai is the only non-European host of the 24H Series, and organising an event of this magnitude, of course, is never an easy job. According to Paul Velasco, the communications manager of Dubai Autodrome, preparing for the event is a 12-month process.

“The challenge starts almost immediately after the previous race – we already had the poster for the 2016 Hankook 24H Dubai when the winner crossed the line at the 2015 edition of the race,” he said.

“From around September onwards, we start having a weekly countdown of tasks and tick the boxes off as certain criteria and requirements are met.”

Checklist

As the staff from Dubai Autodrome and Creventic, the Netherlands-based promoters of the event, put their heads together in the planning stages of the race, their checklist could run into several excel sheets, with as many as 100 listed requirements.

“Dubai Autodrome have a team of around 20 people involved in delivering a pristine race circuit along with facilities, marshals, officials, media support, patronage, VVIP invites, press conferences, social media, etc,” said Velasco.

“Then about 10 days before the race, a team of about 20 Creventic staff arrive to run the event, including driver/team sign-on, briefings, race and paddock management, media, television broadcast, commentary etc.”

The floodlights

Being a 24-hour race, of course, means a few special requirements, the most important of which is the lighting.

Velasco said they use 50 floodlight units, with special focus on the “main straight and some at key corners”.

Marshals and race officials

“Typically we have 150 UAE based marshals and officials, who are joined by another 100 counterparts from Europe making a total of 250 marshals and officials on duty during the Hankook 24H,” said Velasco on dealing with track safety.

“Normally on a national race day we would have around 120. In terms of media, we have close to 100 TV and print media attending.”

Remarkably calm

“This is the 11th edition of this race and to be honest everything is well-oiled and efficient,” said Velasco, of how preparations for the annual event now run.

“The Dubai Autodrome and Creventic organising teams are familiar with one another – many people having worked with the event since its inception.

Things are remarkably calm and organised as all boxes are ticked well before the race week and race weekend begins.”

UAE sport in brief

Karting

Al Saadi impresses with pace in Oman

Ahmed Al Saadi led the way for the Daman Speed Academy last weekend after two podium finishes in the eighth round of the UAE Rotax Max Challenge at the Muscat Speedway in Seeb, Oman. Al Saadi, above, who had finished third in the Micro Max class on Friday, behind teammate Ali Al Shamsi and Mohammed Al Habsi, went one better by finishing second after starting from third on the grid. The Daman team had two more podium finishes on the day in Seeb with Saeed Al Ali taking second in the DD2 class and Hamda Al Qubaisi, finished runners-up in the Mini Max category for the seventh trophy of her fledgling career.

Tennis

Two weeks of action in Fujairah

The Tennis and Country Club Fujairah (TCCF) will see some of the best young tennis talents over the next two weeks after agreeing to host two consecutive ITF Junior Tennis Championships for boys and girls under 18. The first of the two tournaments, which have attracted more than 120 entries from 30 countries, started on Monday and the finals are scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The second week of action will start on Saturday. Slah Bramly of Tennis Emirates said: “The tournaments in Fujairah are extremely important for development of the local talent in the UAE as it gives them the opportunity to compete against the best players from all over the world.”

Archery

Frith hopes for archery victory

Several world champions will be descending on the Dubai emirate for the Second Fazza International Para Archery Championship 2016 that will be held at the Dubai Club for the Disabled from today until next Tuesday. Among them is Joanna Frith, who fully intends to bounce back after being hospitalised in the emirate following a setback in training as she suffered a neck injury. The Briton is the most high-profile athlete at the meeting having held every W1 women’s world record in para archery. The 54-year-old said: My heartfelt thanks go out to them for taking me to hospital and ensuring I got the best care. I promise to do my best to win medals.”

Motorsport

Al Nabooda after Yas Marina success

Al Nabooda Racing will look to maintain their perfect start to the season in Abu Dhabi next weekend in the latest round of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East. Drivers Jeffrey Schmidt and Zaid Ashkanani have built up a 45-point lead in the team standings after a dominant start to the season in which Schmidt has won the first four races of the season. Ahead of the races on January 15-16 at Yas Marina Circuit, team manager Vijay Rao said: “After the start we’ve had, the aim is to increase our lead in the race for the team title, which is our priority in our 10th anniversary season.”

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