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Bahrain International Circuit’s (BIC) Fayez Ramzy Fayez is all geared up to represent the kingdom in the international motorsport arena as race director for a major endurance championship.
The chief operating officer will be putting his years of experience and expertise to use in the six-event European Le Mans Series (ELMS) 2022 season, which started on Sunday at the Paul Ricard Circuit in the French commune of Le Castellet and will finish at Algarve International Circuit in Portugal on October 16.
“It’s a great privilege to be recognised by ELMS and to be entrusted with this position,” said Fayez who was in France for the ELMS pre-season testing and during the race. There were 42 cars competing in the 4 Hours of Le Castellet supported by additional races including the Michelin Le Mans Cup and The Ligier European Series.
“Moreover, it’s a great honour to be able to represent Bahrain,” he added. “It adds to our existing and growing number of people active in the sport outside of Bahrain. We are lucky that the platform we have at BIC, together with our colleagues at Bahrain Motor Federation (BMF), enables us to undertake these initiatives. I would especially thank Shaikh Abdulla bin Isa Al Khalifa, president of BMF, and recently appointed FIA vice-president for Sport in Middle East, who has supported so many of us with our involvement in motorsport.”
The ELMS is a European endurance racing championship organised by Le Mans Endurance Management, which is also the organiser of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) … a race that has been staged in the kingdom before.
“We have hosted this championship in Bahrain for many years now,” explained Fayez. “Having been deputy race director for WEC as well, I know the team very well and have worked with them quite extensively. ELMS itself is a great series and represents a training ground for many who go on to compete in WEC and its therefore extremely competitive and exciting to watch.”
The European Le Mans Series is a natural training ground for drivers wanting to tackle the FIA World Endurance Championship and it is open to Le Mans Prototypes, divided into the LMP2 and LMP3 classes, and grand tourer-style racing cars in the LMGTE class.
Drivers competing in LMP2 and LMGTE are racing the same machinery that competes on the world stage and perhaps the next world champion will be found on the grid of the ELMS.
So far, the Italian squad Prema Racing won the opening round of the 2022 European Le Mans Series at Le Castellet, with reigning champion Louis Deletraz taking the chequered flag to get his title defence off to the perfect start, standing on the top step of the podium alongside Ferdi Habsburg and Lorenzo Colombo.
The next race will be held in Italy at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on May 15, with other rounds set to take place in Spain, Belgium and Portugal.
As race director, its Fayez’s responsibility to ensure a safe running race weekend and he is confident of tackling the challenge alongside his role at the BIC.
“Most obviously, you would see me during a racing session co-ordinating with our teams on track and inside race control, making decisions which react to what is happening during the race, including such things as safety cars and yellow flags,” said Fayez. “I also have overall responsibility to check the circuit is safe for racing at all times and ensure that the right personnel are in the correct places to support in all areas of safety.
“I am extremely grateful to BIC’s chief executive officer, Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, who has been incredibly supportive in my work in this area,” he said. “In terms of managing this role and my work as COO, the ELMS season is fairly spread out between now and October and there are in all six race weekends. The majority of those races take place during our summer in Bahrain, so it should be fairly easy to manage the demands of ELMS to fit around our seasonal calendar.”
Fayez has held several leading roles in his career in all categories of international motorsport. He is also the Clerk of the Course for the annual F1 Bahrain Grand Prix and has also been the deputy race director for the WEC. In addition, he is a member of the FIA Circuit Commission and is also an FIA Track Inspector.
Aside from racing action in ELMS, Fayez believes F1 will make for an exciting watch this year.
“F1 has had an incredible start to the season and I think it’s clear even from this early stage that these new 2022 cars are offering great racing and superb entertainment for fans,” he said.
“I also think it’s great for the sport to see Ferrari back competing at the top. It will be interesting to see how all the teams develop their cars and make improvements over the next few races.
“I think what is especially exciting is that as teams improve their cars; the race results later in the season could be very different to what we are seeing now. It is a very exciting prospect for motorsport fans.”
