Sulayem turns back the clock in Kuwait

Mohammed Ben Sulayem turns back the clock in Kuwait tomorrow (Wednesday) at the wheel of the rally car which helped establish him as the Arab world’s most successful driver.

Sulayem, who has not driven competitively for more than five years, brings his Ford Focus World Rally Car out of retirement for a super show on the eve of the Kuwait International Rally.

The UAE’s 14-times FIA Middle East rally champion will drive the Focus at full rally speed on the super special spectator stage at the Jaber Al Ahmad International Circuit at 4pm tomorrow afternoon.

The 2008 Kuwait International Rally gets under way on the same super stage on Thursday afternoon, and Sulayem is helping to promote the event as it looks to rejoin the FIA Middle East Championship next year.

He accepted an invitation from Sheikh Ahmad Al-Dawood Al-Sabah, president of the Kuwait Motor Sports Club, to make a special appearance in Kuwait where he scored four of his 61 career international rally victories in the region.

He last drove the Ford Escort WRC competitively on his way to securing the 1999 Middle East title. It was later replaced by the Ford Focus WRC which he drove to the last of his international rally wins in Dubai in December 2002.

Sulayem, President of the Automobile and Touring Club for the UAE, drove the Escort to raise money for charity in Dubai last November.

"This is a rare opportunity for me to drive a rally car at full rally speed and I’m looking forward to it," said Sulayem, who won the Kuwait International Rally 1985, 1988, 1989 and 1996.

The 2008 Kuwait International Rally is being run under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the Prime Minister of the State of Kuwait.

It is an official FIA sanctioned candidate event for the 2009 FIA Middle East Rally Championship and will be based at the Kuwait Shooting Club.

- Tony Lewis, Total Communications Dubai - also photos