Making a case for nurturing home-grown talent

It was a case of vini, vidi, vici for Dubai-based 17-year old Edward Jones at the past weekend’s Dubai Motorsport Festival. The youngster was drafted in to race the Dragon Racing Radical SR8 in the two rounds of the Radical Winter Cup, where he ended up dominating proceedings over the two days.

To put the achievement into perspective it must be noted that on the field were a number of reputed drivers with vast experience in racing Radicals. Count into that group the former UAE champion Bassam Kronfli who knows the layout of a Radical cockpit very well and is a veteran of Dubai Autodrome. Mind you, he can also drive fast.

Also in contention, albeit sharing a car, was another UAE champion Jordan Grogor, who is also no stranger to hustling a Radical very rapidly.

Thus young Jones was thrown into the deep end with at least a couple of rivals capable of showing him a thing or two. The lad from Dubai College, who is polite and quiet spoken, signalled his intent as he scorched around the Grand Prix configuration in a time of 1 minute 56.226 seconds to claim pole position. Remarkably this was 1.4 seconds up on his closest rival on a circuit he was unfamiliar with when the session began.

Thereafter, in Race 1 on the first day of the festival, Jones simply drove off into the distance winning the 45-minute mini-enduro by a whopping 37 seconds.

A mere 24 hours later he did the business again, this time winning by 32 seconds and, as he did in the first race, setting the fastest lap.

It was a ruthless display by a youngster who started racing karts at the age of 5 years at the Jebel Ali karting track. His progress through the junior UAE karting series was stellar, before moving to Europe to take on the elite of the junior motorsport world in the highly competitive Formula BMW and then Formula Renault Eurocup 2.0 series.

His target is clear - to become the first UAE bred racing driver to make it to Formula 1.

As written in this column before, the ladder to the pinnacle of the sport is hugely expensive. From where he is at the moment, and at current rates, we are looking at anything in the region of around $10 million to $15 million for him to progress up the various rungs right through to the acknowledged F1 feeder series which is GP2.

Jones’ career until now, and for sure beyond, has been diligently funded by his father Russell Jones who was a Middle East motorsport champion in 80s. His commitment to his son’s future in the sport is exemplary.

This is admirable, and no doubt expensive, even at this early stage of his career. Sponsorship is vital for Jones to progress. He makes no secret that he wishes to impress and tap into UAE funding as he wants to represent the UAE on the international stage.

He lives here, he grew up here and he has often said, “I want to represent this country.”

What a role model he is as an example of a kid who is on a journey to achieve his dreams. Clean-cut, well-spoken and modest - the kind of kid who would make any parent proud. With an incredible driving talent he has been likened to Lewis Hamilton by those in the know.

Developed and nurtured in the UAE, that alone is a testament to the child-friendly society that this country provides no matter where you are from, where kids can grow up devoid of the harsh pitfalls and nastiness that afflict the lives of the majority of teens in the Western world.

Dubai produces cool, happy and determined kids irrespective of their land of origin. For the generation that has grown up, gone to school, made friends, played sport here in the UAE, this is the country they want to represent on the international stage.

Edward Jones – a name to note down for the future – deserves backing in his ‘home’ country. Ask anyone who witnessed his performance at the Dubai Motorsport Festival last weekend.

CREDIT: The writer is the Corporate Communications Manager at Dubai Autodrome llc.