SPORTS FILE
Unfulfilled
Talent
Wissam Assaf finds himself second in the 2010-11 Qatar National Road
Racing Championship, yet he's in danger of being forced to abandon the
t
sport because of financing issues.
he unfortunate thing about professional
sport is that solvency is generally the rea-
son for success and failure. Aptitude, tal-
ent, temperament and determination are
worthy attributes, but they are rendered
92 Qatar Today June 2011
redundant if they cannot be backed up with
the hard capital needed to promote them.
It's a reality which Lebanese native Wissam
Assaf can relate to, as he struggles to find a
partner who will help him realise his ambi-
tions in Qatar.
This is Assaf's second season competing
in the Qatar National Road Racing Cham-
pionship (QNRRC), a misleading title, as
all the races are actually held at the Lusail
Track, and not on Qatari roads. It's a repu-
table championship, recognised and regu-
lated by the Federation Internationale de
L'Automobile (FIA), and incorporates sev-
en races during Winter and Spring.
Assaf has been compelled to finance his
operation from his own pocket to date, and
whilst he is happy to do this, he understands
that personal financing isn't sustainable or
wise. He feels next season may be his last if
he cannot find a strategic partner.
“My aim is to go higher than where I am
SPORTS FILE
by Ror y C oen
currently,” says Assaf. “My start has been
encouraging, and because of this, I am will-
ing to keep financing my team from my own
personal budget. But, ultimately, my aspira-
tions can only be defined by how much I can
spend. I can't afford to have aspirations out-
side of Qatar until I find a sponsor.”
During the day, he works as a mechani-
cal engineer for an Oil & Gas Company in
Doha, and his evenings are spent working
on the car and his own physical fitness. His
job shifts him from place to place (he had
stints in Italy and the UAE as well), but the
one thing that stays constant in his life is his
unbridled love for motoring and racing.
“Cars have been a passion of mine since
I was a kid,” he continued. “I always had a
desire to explore the capabilities of a car, to
push it to its limit. I also wanted to push my-
self to my limit, which overtime established
my own personal capabilities in the car.
As soon as I fully realised this inspiration,
 SPORTS FILE
Wissam Assaf
Assaf's second season competing in the Qatar National Road Racing Championship (QNRRC),
I started to compete in auto-cross races,
speed tests and karting.”
His job brought him to Doha in 2008 and
as always the first thing he checked out was
the motoring scene. The QNRRC seemed
like it was well organised with competitive
teams and competent drivers, and it fitted
in well to what he wanted to do.
“In my first full season (2009-2010), I
didn't have a very competitive car. It was
old and untested in this type of champion-
ship. I didn't have the proper mechanical
coverage for maintenance which pointed
to unreliability and inconsistency. It was
breaking down, over-heating or cutting out
all the time. I managed one problem-free
race which I won but the other six were
fraught with mechanical issues.”
Assaf finished the seven race season in
fourth position nonetheless, and cited these
unreliability issues as his main priority for
the subsequent season. If he was to improve
and reach his goals, he would need to take
on more personal risk and spend more of
his own money.
“I sourced a brand new Mitsubishi Evo-
SPORTS FILE
lution 10 and had it shipped to Lebanon,”
recalled Assaf, “where Roger Feghali and
his Motortune team worked to define it
for the new season. He did a fantastic job
within my limited budget of enhancing
its reliability, but once the competition
started, we realised we needed to boost its
power a little bit more. Each race brought
the car on a little more, and with three of
the seven races remaining, I am in second
place in the overall standings currently.”
Yet all of this success cannot be done by
one man alone, and Assaf is hasty to point
this out. Virgin Megastore have done a
very professional job marketing his team.
The lack of sustainable financial support
however, means he is unable to finance a
professional mechanical team to run after
"I always had a desire to
explore the capabilities of a
car, to push it to its limit. I
also wanted to push myself
to my limit, which overtime
established my own personal
capabilities in the car."
him all the time, so his good friends see fit
to help him where and if they can.
“We do all the routine mechanical work
by hand and they help me out during races
with little tweaks to aid its performance
and they help with sourcing parts. We be-
came such a big bunch and the investment
of the second car meant we needed to make
ourselves official. I established 'Autopo-
tenza Racing Team'during the season. Our
website is currently under construction. ”
he added.
So Assaf and his new Autopotenza team
stand on the brink of realising a dream. As-
saf commented that while loving cars was
one step and loving racing was another;
actual racing was one step higher again,
but winning these races was the ultimate
increment. However, as he points out
himself, his struggle to compete finan-
cially with the other teams will trigger his
downfall
June 2011 Qatar Today 93