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FIA Vice President Mohammed Ben Sulayem is urging Middle East motor sport clubs to work ever closer together to implement proposals designed to develop a new generation of young talent.
Wide-ranging plans have been discussed at a meeting of the organisers of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship at the Automobile and Touring Club of Lebanon in Jounieh, and Sulayem is optimistic that a new spirit of regional co-operation can guide the sport into a new era.
With the FIA Middle East rally series now particularly in need of fresh young talent, the national motor sport clubs which run the series are examining a number of options to pave the way for low cost entry into the sport at grassroots level.
They will also be able to capitalise on the establishment next year of a Young Driver Academy Programme, a groundbreaking new project by the FIA Institute to develop talent worldwide.
The project will be run on a trial basis in the first year with a view to full implementation in future years. It involves the creation of an academy that provides opportunities for upcoming drivers to develop the skills they need to progress their motor sport careers. It will be available to drivers aged 17-23 who have demonstrated excellence in competition.
In its first year the academy will select 10 drivers to take part, with at least one driver chosen from the Middle East, as well as from North, Central and South America, Western and Northern Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Accessible to drivers from both the rally and racing disciplines, it will take place in Europe in the first year but this will soon develop into a programme of events and workshops across the world.
The academy programme will be fully funded by the FIA Foundation, and managed by the FIA Institute, as part of the Motor Sport Safety Development Fund's Young Driver Safety Programme.
Young Middle East drivers interested can apply to their national motor sport authority which will put forward two candidates for consideration by the FIA Institute.
"This is an excellent new initiative which we can take advantage of in the Middle East to help develop our best young talent," said Sulayem.
The meeting in Jounieh, following the 33rd Rally of Lebanon, involved representatives of clubs in the UAE, Lebanon, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, Qatar, and Cyprus, which host Middle East Rally Championship rounds, joined by officials from clubs in Bahrain, Oman and Palestine.
