Dubai: There are a couple of handy firsts when it comes to the Mini Motorsport Centre team from England.
Theirs is the only Mini Cooper entered at the 2nd Toyo Tires 24 hour Dubai Endurance Race.
And behind the wheel will be a set of fresh faces in the form of Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Turki Al Faisal, Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Bin Abdullah Al Faisal and Paul Spooner, Director and Chief Instructor at the BMW Performance Centre in Bahrain.
"The aim is not to chase a win, but rather concentrate on finishing the race," Paul Harvey, owner of the Mini Motorsport Centre told Gulf News after a practice session at the Dubai Autodrome yesterday.
Harvey has been the only regular in the Mini Cooper for the past three races, while the two Princes and Spooner make their debut on the UK-based team this weekend.
"Our aim is to finish the race because 24 hours is a long time indeed," Harvey said. The trio are all in agreement with this ploy. "We do not need to do anything extraordinary, we just need to drive safely and keep clear of the heavy traffic that is bound to be out there," Spooner said.
"We do not want to go into the race with any expectations. This is an endurance race and hence we need to keep things clean, drive safe and then surprise ourselves with a placing."
Though getting into a right-hand drive Mini for the first time, the two Princes think they have been learning fast.
"I find myself very confident on the corners. It has been a learning experience so far and I will be glad to walk away a much better and confident driver at the end of this week," said Prince Abdul Aziz.
"I do not harbour too many big expectations this week.
"I want to drive clean and safe so that we can complete the race," Prince Khalid said. "Anything more than this will be a bonus," he said with a smile.
"Though we have some new drivers, we are confident of achieving our goal of completing the race," Harvey said.
Action will get under way at 10am today with a half an hour practice session.
