Dubai: The Victory Team is continuing to view a bigger picture after recruiting promising driver Mansour Al Mansouri into its fold.
Huraiz Al Mur Mohammad Bin Huraiz, Chairman, Board of Directors, Victory Team welcomed the 23-year-old Abu Dhabi resident into the Victory Team set-up in the presence of former multiple F1 world champion Scott Gillman and F1 driver Ahmad Al Hameli at the team’s headquarters in Jebel Ali.
“At Victory Team, we never stop thinking. We are always keen to ensure a bright future for our sport and that is the reason why we followed this young driver Mansour, and today he is one of ours,” Huraiz told Gulf News.
“Mansour knows perfectly well what is expected of him, and he has already shown a lot of potential going forward. As a team we can only wish him all the best and some exciting and safe racing in the future with the proud blues colours of our team,” he added.
Al Mansouri has been one of the standout drivers in the UIM F4 Championships that are being held alongside the F1 powerboat series. After four races, the youngster from Abu Dhabi is at the top of the overall drivers’ standings with 60 points.
However, competition has been stiff with F1 Atlantic Team’s Jeremy Brisset, fast-improving Australian lady driver Louise Vella from Team Sweden and Team Abu Dhabi’s Mohammad Al Muhairbi within striking distance with an identical 58 points. Mad-Croc Baba Racing’s Kalle Viippo and Maverick F1’s Corentin Guesnel are tied with 29 points in the next two spots, while CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team driver Bingchen Wu is in seventh with 26 points.
Search of excellence
“My task for the next two rounds is set. I know exactly what I need to do to mark a strong entry into such a fantastic team like Victory. When I started powerboat racing it was my dream to get into such a set-up that would back me up and help me realise my potential on the water,” Al Mansouri said.
“It has been a tough thing going through the season so far with skeletal backing that we had to put in place by ourselves. But now I am part of such a fantastic team, and things can only get better for all of us as I make the Victory Team principles my own in search of excellence,” he added.
Al Mansouri started powerboat racing in the F4 Championships in 2015. However, he had to alternate between mandatory military service and sport through a major part of last season.
“But this season has been more serious for me. It has been about taking forward what I learnt over the past two years, and now I feel I am ready to take the step upwards. For the moment, there is a huge task to be accomplished and that is to win the F4 Championships for the Victory Team,” Al Mansouri related.
“I have a good feeling about this one. We have started something and I am confident we can end on the winner’s podium spot at the end of the season in Sharjah,” he confided.
“We need to look at the whole process of taking in fresh talent and turning them into something worthwhile with a future in racing. Our policy at Victory is to ensure we have serious drivers in all categories with a fierce competitive spirit of moving up the order when needed. We needed a fresh face and we got it in the form on Mansour. We will continue with this process in the future as well,” Huraiz added.
