The Driving Force: Pressure building for the Desert Challenge

The busiest time for myself and the organising team involved in this year's UAE Marlboro Desert Challenge is the last week, when the pressure begins to build and there are many last minute problems to solve.

I like to work under pressure and always feel that the greatest personal challenge is when I am faced with problems and setbacks. Many people are involved in making our event a success and this goes to make my job that much easier. We are all acting in the best interest of our country and this is an incentive for everyone to work closely together.

Only around 30 per cent of the entries for our event are from professional teams and that remaining 70 per cent is made up of amateur drivers and riders. They experience their own problems, such as shipping delays, last minute panics and we are there to help them out.

The Middle East region is on the crest of a wave at the moment in terms of the success of motorsport in the present and exciting plans for the future. Plans to run a Formula One Grand Prix race in Bahrain in 2004 are massive and this is the biggest sporting news in the history of the Middle East.

Neighbouring countries will all benefit from this decision. There will be global interest in the region on a sporting basis and I would imagine that there would be a massive resurgence of interest in all forms of motorsport within the Gulf on the back of this news. Other countries will probably want to become involved in circuit racing and maybe smaller race circuits will be built.

But it is not just Formula One fans who will benefit. Rallying has been on the ascendancy in the region since the UAE Marlboro Desert Challenge became a round of the FIA World Cup in 1993. It continues to achieve success.

The emergence of the Qatar Rally Team to challenge the likes of myself and Abdullah Bakhashab's team was a major boost and I personally hope that they will continue next season and ensure the future success of the regional rally series.

Rules and regulations are continually changing, but I don't feel that the FIA can impose all its regulations on the Middle East region. We are a specialist part of the world, with unique and challenging terrain. We have some excellent rallies and a competitive sport.

I feel the decision to allow World Rally Cars to continue in the future is a good one, although maybe we should be restricted to two-year-old cars in the future to reduce costs and make the series more open to new entrants.

The Rally of Turkey has just replaced the famous Kenyan Safari rally in the FIA World Rally Championship and this must have given heart to the Rally of Lebanon organisers who have been hoping for inclusion in the premier series since 1996.

I say to the FIA, give the likes of Lebanon a chance to prove its worth in the World Championship or tell them straight that this will not happen in the near future.

Max Mosley of the FIA visited the region recently and publicly stated that there would only be one Formula One race in the Middle East and he would like to see a round of the World Rally Championship here. This is excellent news for Lebanon. Maybe their dream will indeed become reality.

However way the future pans out, the announcement of the 2004 Bahrain Grand Prix, the ongoing success of the UAE Marlboro Desert Challenge and the ever-increasing popularity of the FIA Middle East rally championship mean that motorsport in the Middle East region continues to go from strength to strength. These are exciting and challenging times for all of us.

The UAE rally ace Mohammed bin Sulayem is a 14-time Middle East Rally champion. He also heads the organising committee for the Marlboro Desert Challenge. He writes this column exclusively for Gulf News