Sulayem to meet FIA boss at Morocco WTCC

FIA Vice President Mohammed Ben Sulayem is in Marrakech to attend the World Touring Cars Championship (WTCC) and discuss future plans for motorsport in Morocco and the region as a whole with local officials and FIA President Jean Todt.
The FIA WTCC resumes after a one month break following the cancellation of the second event of the season that was due to take place at Puebla, Mexico, on April 21.
Sulayem, who is attending the event at the invitation of the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Motocyclisme, will hold a slew of meetings with local motorsport officials in his capacity as the FIA official charged with furthering the sport in the region.
“I have some very fond memories of Morocco, having won here twice and also being witness to Morocco returning to international racing after five decades last year,” Sulayem, who is also President of the Automobile & Touring Club of the UAE, said before his departure.
Apart from meeting local motorsport officials, Sulayem is also slated to be closeted with FIA President Jean Todt where the two are expected to discuss several issues that will impact on the sport in the region.
Sulayem was instrumental earlier this month in introducing the FIA president to top motorsport officials in Syria and Lebanon, and importantly including a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and Syrian Tourism Minister Dr. Sa'adallah Agha Al Qal'a.
The 3rd and 4th rounds of the WTCC season will be held on May 2nd on Marrakech’s street circuit that will host the championship for the second consecutive time.
The 4.5-km track, traced out in the hotel district of Agdal, which lies only a few kilometres south of the Medina, Marrakech’s historical centre, has been slightly modified compared to last year. This has made it possible to get the Grade 2 FIA homologation in order to host the FIA Formula 2 Championship that will complete the weekend programme.
In 2009, the WTCC Race of Morocco brought back international racing to North Africa fifty years after the last Formula One Moroccan Grand Prix was held in Casablanca in 1958.