Qatar- WTCC race vital for region: Al Attiyah

11/26/2015 1:08:00 AM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Head of Eurosport Events Francois Ribeiro (left) and Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah FIA Vice-President and QMMF President during WTCC press conference at the QMMF headquarters yesterday.Pic: Baher Amin

DOHA: The final round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) to be held in Qatar will usher in a new era in road racing championships in the region QMMF President said yesterday.

The iconic Losail International Circuit will host the first ever WTCC round under lights tomorrow when world champion Jose Maria Lopez will battle with 17 other drivers including Qatar rallying giant Nasser bin Saleh Al Attiyah.

“This race is not just important for Qatar but it is important for this region also” Nasser bin Khalfa Al Attiyah said yesterday.

“To have two rounds in the region - one in Morocco and one in Qatar. To have a round in Qatar it is challenging for us because we may have to do more road racing more activities of this level” he added.

“We have been putting this thing together for a long time. This event will encourage more suppliers and more of teams and more drivers to focus on road racing challenges of this kind” Al Attiyah said.

“We are ready to host this event and take culture of road racing to another level” the QMMF President said. Al Attiyah who is a Deputy President at FIA said night racing presented a unique challenge to MotoGP riders when they first raced under artificial light in 2008.

He said WTCC drivers may love the challenge in equal measure. “Night racing will be exciting for drivers and the manufactures. The performance of the engines will be much better” Al Attiyah said. “Focusing will be better because there’s only black curtain (night sky) so they can focus more on the track. They will get good times and I am sure next year they will have better times. That’s the kind of feedback we got from the MotoGP riders and mechanics” he added.

“We have improved the technology on our light system around the circuit. We started with a night race in MotoGP even before Formula One kicked off night races.

“To add technology - as in to shift from daylight to night time racing was not easy. It was a bit risk. We invest a lot of money in that. We had to consider the safety issues and the paramedics and we had to consider TV production aspects.

“The other concern was the shadows of the riders. Because when riders would see shadows they would feel somebody was over-taking them” Al Attiyah said.

“In the car side maybe it (night racing) would be easier. We have hosted a GP2 race before. We were amazed to see the competition. We are looking forward to see how the WTCC drivers race for the first time” he added.

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