LCSC, Aspire Academy join hands to launch Qatar Motorsport Academy

DOHA:  In an effort to tap into the country’s young racing talent, the Qatar Motorsport Academy (QMA) was officially launched during the final round of the WorlSBK Championship that concluded at Losail International Circuit (LIC) on Saturday night.

Khalid Al Remaihi, Vice-President and General Manager of Losail Circuit Sports Club (LCSC), was joined by Jose Luis Cardoso, a former MotoGP and WorldSBK rider, and Markus Egger, Director of Sport and Strategy, Aspire Academy, at the announcement ceremony held at LIC on Friday.

Qatar, which built the region’s first and only bik race track in September 2004, remains the home of bike events in the Middle East. The LIC opens the MotoGP season every year with a night race for the last many years. The same venue also stages the WorldSBK leg besides scores of bike events on a regular basis.

Al Remaihi said on Friday: “We have made this announcement because we know this country has huge racing talent. We have been working on this plan for sometime now. We want to train young kids the right way with expert help coming from Jose Luis Cardoso and Aspire Academy.”

He added: “We talked about this project during the MotoGP week in March this year. We wanted to have an academy to look after the younger generation. We worked very hard to make this launch. The aim of the academy is to provide the chance of learning racing to as many young Qataris and for others from the region.”

Al Remaihi said: “Hopefully our friends at Aspire Academy and at Dorna, we will have a great experience in building young riders.”

Over the years, Qatari bike riders have featured in Moto2 Championship winning races. Young Qatari riders have also taken part in Spanish Championship to gain experience and to impress manufacturers with their improving skills.

Two seasons ago, LCSC joined hands with QMMF to launch a new championship for local riders - the Qatar Superstock 600.

Al Remaihi at the time said: “This is a perfect platform to nurture young talent. It’s an opportunity for local riders from the region, even from Turkey and neighourbourg countries to participate. It is our pleasure to have finally a championship like this where the competition level is same for everyone. It is your talent that proves if you are good or not. Also it is a great chance for us to assess our riders. Everybody is welcome to join us.”

Cardoso, the Head of QMA, said he looked forward to sharing his experience with young Qatari riders with high racing ambitions.

“For me, I want to thank LCSC for giving me this opportunity to build a new generation of riders. We will be working on what will be a big project. We will be doing our work very seriously and deliver quality. We will give opportunity to boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 16 years,” Cardoso said.

He added: “We will have testing in the program. We will have road and off-road situations with many different coaches from Qatar and Europe. They will teach them the right way. This kind of project is very exciting and challenging. We can make great work. We will have a great future for riders in this country.” During the official announcement ceremony, Egger applauded the LCSC for launching the academy initiative.

Egger said: “First of all let me congratulate Khaled Al Remaihi and his team on this great project. We have never worked on motorpsort as of yet. We are completely new to this sport. We are ready for this challenge. I have seen enormous racing talent in Qatar. There is great interest. We needed to get involved.”

He added: “We have been talking ‘what is the best way to get involved?’. In Qatar Motorsport Academy, our role is not technical. What we can do is look after the elite athletes’ physical and mental condition. We have loads of expertise in this field. Athletes in any sport need to have top physical and mental conditioning and this is where we have a great deal of expertise.”