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MOHAMED BIN SULAYEM.
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Mohammed ben Sulayem, chief organiser of the UAE Desert Challenge, has underlined his stature as the most successful driver in the history of FIA Championship rallying.
Sulayem, the Arab world's only A-seeded driver, secured an amazing tenth Middle East Championship triumph by scoring his third victory in Rally du Liban, fifth round of the 1998 series.
He has now won 39 International events in the Middle East in a career which has brought him 44 International wins overall, including two in the Group N World Championship.
Sulayem has been nominated for two entries in the Guiness Book of Records, for his achievements in winning the greatest number of official FIA rally championship titles and the greatest number of individual International Rallies included in official FIA Rally Championships.Much of his success has been achieved in partnership with Irishman Ronan Morgan, his co-driver for the last ten years and the Event Director for the Desert Challenge.
Morgan, FIA Observer at the Paris-Dakar Rally, opening round of the 1998 FIA World Cup for Cross- Country Rallies which finishes in the UAE, has won seven Middle East Championship co-driver titles.
Since its launch in 1991, Sulayem has been the driving force behind the Desert Challenge as chairman of the organisers, and he gave the event its breakthrough on to the World Cup circuit when the series was staged for the first time in 1993.For all his success, Sulayem says the growth of the UAE Desert Challenge into the top-ranked cross country rally in the world has given him the most satisfaction. He secured the event's World Cup status with a typically bold manoeuvre, breaking from practice for the World Championship San Remo Rally in Italy, catching a jet to Paris and persuading the FIA chiefs that the United Arab Emirates would build the best cross-country rally in the world.
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