FIA: Emirati Mohamed Al Mutawaa accepted into Young Driver Academy following assessment in Austria

Nov 17th, Austria – Following a week of intensive testing, Mohamed Al Mutawaa was last night accepted as the UAE’s first ever representative to the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy, the most prestigious motorsport training academy in the world.

The FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy was established in 2010 to train young racing and rally drivers from around the world in the skills that they require to be better drivers on the track, and safer drivers on the road, and is led by former Formula One driver and two time Le Mans winner Alex Wurz, who instructs the participants on track, and World Rally Championship Winning Co-Driver Robert Reid, who will look after the participants off track instruction.

Al Mutawaa, who races in the UAE based Formula Gulf 1000 series, was nominated to the Academy by the Automobile & Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE) as a result of being one of the winners of the UAE Motorsport Star programme which identified him as the leading young circuit racer in the country.

Al Mutawaa was understandably delighted with the news, “I am still a bit in shock to be honest! It was a fantastic experience to just attend the selection event, but to be accepted into the academy itself represents such a big step forward in my career, and I hope that I can make my nation proud by representing the UAE at such a prestigious international academy.”

ATCUAE President and FIA Vice-President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, whose decision it was to nominate Al Mutawaa as the UAE’s representative, was also very encouraging upon hearing of the news,

“Mohamed (Al Mutawaa) is entirely deserving of this recognition by the FIA Institute, and I believe he will be a great international ambassador for Emirati Motorsport. I hope other aspiring drivers will follow his lead and understand that the opportunities are there for young competitors if they are prepared to dedicate themselves to their goal.”

Al Mutawaa is one of the youngest participants to have been accepted, and will be joined in the academy by other young talent from Austria, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Italy, Columbia, Lithuania, Denmark, Costa Rica, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Holland, the USA, and the UK.

Al Mutawaa, along with the other 17 academy students, will attend five workshops of five days each at destinations around Europe where he will learn all the skills required to compete at the highest levels of world motorsport. The first workshop will take place in Edinburgh in December.

The 18 drivers are (in alphabetical order):

Mohamed Al Mutawaa, 18, UAE
Klaus Bachler, 20, Austria
Andrea Bate, 22, South Africa
Craig Breen, 21, Ireland
Andrea Caldarelli, 21, Italy
Gabriel Chaves, 18, Columbia
Jonas Gelzinis, 23, Lithuania
Michael Klitgaard Christensen, 21, Denmark
Jack Le Brocq, 19, Australia
Michael Lewis, 20, USA
Alexander Lynn, 18, UK
Jose Andres Montalto, 21, Costa Rica
Ramon Pineiro, 19, Spain
Brendan Reeves, 23, Australia
Pontus Tidemand, 20, Sweden
Timo van der Marel, 22, Holland
Sepp Wiegand, 20, Germany
Lewis Williamson, 21, UK

They will now be coached ‘in the car’ by former Formula One race driver Alex Wurz and his team from Test and Training International, and ‘out of the car’ by former World Rally Champion co-driver Robert Reid and his team from Elite Sports Performance.

The Final Day

All drivers headed to the track for a race-of-champions style shoot-out on the final day of the selection event.

Performance managers Alex Wurz and Robert Reid were quick to point out that the racing, while the pinnacle of the competitive element of the shoot-out, would only represent a part of their assessment of the drivers which has been ongoing through a series of tests over the last four days.

Yet this did not dim the competition on the track at the Wachau Ring in Melk, Austria. The itinerary was straightforward with practice and qualifying followed by a pursuit-style, knockout competition for the top 16.

In the final, the fastest qualifier was pitched against the ninth quickest; second fastest versus tenth down to eighth versus 16th. Starting alongside each other, one driver would take the quick outside track whilst the other went to the twisting inner part of the circuit and they swapped halfway through to complete two laps.

From then on the competition was pure and simple: the winner went on, the loser went out. This brought a final shoot-out between rally driver Craig Breen and race driver Michael Klitgaard Christensen. Breen won this race of future champions, demonstrating that he will be one to watch during the 2012 Academy.

Armed with the data, the analysis and the results from four days, the judges – Robert Reid, Alex Wurz, FIA Institute Director General Richard Woods and FIA Institute Director of Programmes Quentin Crombie – went through the thorough process of deciding on the successful drivers.

The Academy

Over the next year, the 18 drivers will attend a series of workshops covering all aspects of driver performance and safety. The driving elements of the course include the development of technical skills, safety training, attitudes and awareness. The human performance aspect will feature physiology, psychology, nutrition, media skills and career management.

The primary goals of the Academy are: to prepare young drivers to compete at the pinnacle of the sport, to increase skills in the area of driver and road safety; and to actively promote the principles of safety, fairness and responsibility both on and off the track.

Alex Wurz, Performance Manager, FIA Institute Academy, said:”Over the course of the four days we have been looking at every area of driving skill. We have broken this down into its composite parts, such as steering input, braking input, throttle input, and into combining all of this behind the wheel. Overall, these guys have demonstrated a lot of talent. They are also all very coachable and they have a good understanding of what we are after. I’m really looking forward to a good cooperation with the new Academy drivers.”

Richard Woods, Director General, FIA Institute, said: “This selection event has demonstrated the breadth of young driving talent worldwide. We are delighted to be able to help develop that talent further and in the right way, with the focus not just on performance but also on safety and excellence.”

 

The first Academy workshop will take place on 10-14 December 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland.