Qatar is getting ready to tackle one of many hardest and most prestigious races in motorsport historical past.
Staff Qatar has formally introduced its race automobile and driver line-up forward of subsequent month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. This will probably be a monumental second because the Qatari nationwide workforce will compete on this iconic endurance race for the primary time.
The workforce will compete within the LMGT3 class with Mercedes-AMG vehicles by a partnership between Qatar Bike Federation (QMMF) and Italian racing workforce Iron Lynx.
The automobile will carry race quantity 62 on the 13.6km Circuit de la Sarthe, simply exterior Le Mans, the place racing has been held since 1923.
For Qatari driver Abdullah Al Khelaifi, the fact of the second remains to be sinking in. “This will probably be a historic milestone for QMMF and Qatar as properly, as a result of that is the primary ever participation within the World Endurance Championship and I may even be the primary Qatari to really do it,” Al-Khelaifi mentioned.
“So it is a huge second for me, however it simply does not really feel actual proper now.”
Al Khelaifi, 35, received the 2025 24 Hours sequence total with QMMF and in addition received the Dubai 24 Hours race.
Within the 2026 European Le Mans Sequence season, he grew to become the primary Qatari driver to take pole place on the opening race in Barcelona, with Staff Qatar ending in fourth place.
A race not like some other
First held in 1923, this 24-hour occasion is taken into account the head of endurance racing.
Drivers rotate by no-error conditions day and night time, whereas groups take care of fatigue, technique, climate modifications and mechanical challenges all through the day’s racing.
German driver Julian Hanseth mentioned preparations start properly earlier than race week. “I am going to the fitness center on daily basis and experience my bike on daily basis,” Hanseth mentioned.
“That is the preparation you should carry out higher within the automobile when it’s 40 levels and you must work laborious bodily.”
French driver Giuliano Alesi mentioned endurance racing not solely pushes drivers bodily but in addition mentally.
Alesi is the son of former F1 driver Jean Alesi, who raced for Ferrari all through the early Nineties and received the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix.
“There are loads of issues to place in place by way of coaching, hydration and diet,” Alesi mentioned.
“Driving at night time is just not 100% situation, so it requires loads of coaching, not solely bodily but in addition mentally,” he defined.
Constructing the way forward for motorsport in Qatar
The Le Mans mission was years within the making. QMMF Chairman Abdulrahman bin Abdullatif Al Manai says the aim goes past a single race consequence.
For the previous three years, the federation has been nurturing native expertise and creating an avenue for younger Qatari drivers to compete internationally.
“In the present day we have now skilled drivers who’ve an opportunity to compete in Le Mans,” mentioned Al Manai.
“For us, a small nation like Qatar, we have now very huge ambitions to compete in Le Mans and hopefully take house the trophy.”
The 24 Hours of Le Mans will happen in France on June thirteenth and 14th, and Staff Qatar will compete alongside a number of the world’s largest endurance racing groups.
