Dubai: Mohammad Bin Sulayem, President of the Automobile & Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE), says UAE motorsport marshals are ready to prove themselves to be the best in the world at this weekend’s F1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
After months of training and preparation by the ATCUAE, Sulayem says 650 volunteers — 15% of them Emiratis — are primed to play a key role in ensuring the climax to this season’s FIA F1 World championship Prix runs smoothly and safely.
“Our training team has worked hard to get the marshals ready for the big event and we’re very happy with the way they’ve responded,” said the ATCUAE President. “We have a great team of volunteers and I’m confident they’ll once again show that they’re the best in the world.”
“Our marshals come from 26 countries and we appreciate the way they all blend in and work together. The eyes of the motorsport world will be on Abu Dhabi this weekend, so this is a great opportunity for them to show how committed and disciplined we all are.”
For the last three years UAE marshals have been named by the FIA, the sport’s governing body, as the worldwide Volunteer of the Year
Managing the volunteer programme, which is so vital to the Grand Prix, is a year-round task for the ATCUAE, which works under contract to Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management as sporting organisers of the race and other year-round competitive events at Yas Marina Circuit.
In the countdown to the event, the Club stages five general training sessions for marshals, while training is more frequent for some of the speciality units, including the safety team, and the medical and rescue team who have been in action every Wednesday.
When F1 first came to Abu Dhabi in 2009, half of the 650 volunteers needed to help run the event had to be brought in from the UK. By then the ATCUAE had already launched an intensive marshals recruitment and training programme. The objective over five years was to build a fully UAE-based group of Emirati and expatriate volunteers to serve the needs of the Grand Prix, and motorsport in general in the Emirates.
Key to the ATCUAE programme was the establishment of the UAE Motorsport Marshals Club to build a national framework of volunteers and officials and run events.
The target was achieved two years ahead of schedule with the help of Takatof, the voluntary social programme designed by the Emirates Foundation for Youth Development to create a culture of volunteering.
Today, the club has more than 1,000 members made up of 26 nationalities, with 15% of those who will be operating at Yas Marina Circuit this weekend Emiratis.
“We’re proud to have been given opportunity by the Government of Abu Dhabi to work with ADMM to create one of the world’s premier platforms for F1 racing and other world-class competitive motorsport,” said Sulayem, the FIA Vice President.
“In the process we have achieved our initial targets in motorsport sustainability by building an entirely local-based team of officials and volunteers capable of handling the full spectrum of sporting responsibilities for the Grand Prix, and motorsport in general.”
