Drivers Profiles
Mansour Al Helei
Mansour first participated in karting events recreationally and was encouraged by his father who has a keen interest in motorsport. UAE driver Yahya Al Helei was navigated by his son Mansour when the Junior Al Helei made his competitive debut at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. This was the first race experience for Mansour and his initial step onto the international stage. By the following year, he had graduated to driving himself and competed in a Nissan Patrol T2, finishing 4th in his category.
Mansour has a real passion for cross-country competition and is no stranger to the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. In previous years, he led his father's service team, and he has now clocked up more than 7,000 kilometers of desert driving. Mansour was co-driven by Arif Yousuf in this year's competition, a veteran who has both national and regional championships to his name.
This season he intends to compete for the first time in the Saudi Arabia Hail Baja.
Mohammed Al Mutawaa
The youngest of the candidates, Mohammed started his career three years ago in single seater racing, and quickly progressed to both senior kart racing, and to racing sports cars in the UAE GT Championship, in which he currently participates.
An HSBC Academy graduate, Mohammed was one of three young drivers picked from a 700 strong field of UAE nationals to be admitted to the prestigious Autosport Academy in France. Mohammed has recently graduated from a Renault Clio touring car, to a Corvette T4 spec, which he believes to be one of the highlights of his young career so far. Mohammed won 5 out of 8 races in the GTB class in his debut season in the UAE GT Championship, finishing an extremely close second in the championship.
Mohammed is aiming towards competing in Le Mans style 24-hour races
Saeed Al Mehairi
Saeed started racing karts when he was 19 years old and currently races in a variety of track and karting series. This season he competed in both the UAE GT Championship and Suzuki Swift Cup Championship, finishing fifth overall in the latter. He has also competed in Middle East Supercars, UAE 24 hours, and kart endurance races. Another HSBC Academy graduate, Saeed was one of three young drivers picked from a 700 strong field to be admitted to the prestigious Autosport Academy in France.
In 2007, Saeed placed 3rd in the UAE National karting championship and 4th in the UAE Rotax Max Senior National Series and in 2008, he placed 5th in the Middle East karting cup.
Saeed is currently an official test driver for the Yas Marina Circuit with the Circuit also sponsoring him. He is also a co-driver for the Yas Aston Martin GT4 team.
Mohammed Al Dhaheri
Mohammed's first steps into motorsport came from competing in karting club races at Al Ain Raceway in 2008, and he quickly progressed to the DD2 series. He has already won the championship twice, in 2010 and 2011, and is generally regarded as one of the most talented karters to come out of the Middle East in recent years.
Mohammed will have the honour of representing the UAE in the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, which this year will be hosted at Al Ain Raceway, and believes this to be one of the greatest achievements of his career so far. Mohammed has just competed in Radical Sportscars for the first time, achieving strong lap times, and he hopes to be among the leaders in his debut Formula Gulf 1000 season next year.
Sheikh Khalid Al Nehayan
Sheikh Khalid started racing karts as a hobby five years ago, but it wasn't long before it developed into a genuine passion, and as a result, he started competing in the national championships two years ago.
Sheikh Khalid had a great season in 2010 to 2011, placing third in the highly competitive DD2 Championship, and is determined to go one step further and win the Championship next season. Sheikh Khalid hopes to make the move into GT2 racing or Formula 3 in the near future.