Anglo-Mongolian back in driving seat for Team Pakistan

KARACHI: Adam Langley-Khan, a British-born racing car driver who is of Ango-Mongolian heritage, will return to the driving seat for Team Pakistan in the third season of the A1 Grand Prix this October.

In a controversial move, Team Pakistan have decided to replace Nur Ali, who was their driver this season, with the Yorkshire-born Adam for the A1 Grand Prix in spite of the fact that he doesn’t qualify to represent Pakistan.

According to rules of the A1 Grand Prix, also known as the World Cup of Motrosport, ‘the driver as well as the sponsors (of a competing team), must be indigenous to the nationality of the team’.

Khan was born in England and neither of his parents is a Pakistani. His mother is British while his father is a Mongolian who proudly traces his bloodline to the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan.

Reports in leading motor sport magazines like Grandprix and Autosport Magazine have challenged Khan’s authenticity and legitimacy as Pakistan’s representative in the A1 Grand Prix.

Adam was Team Pakistan’s driver in the inaugural A1 Grand Prix season and was capped 16 times for the country in 2005-06. The 22-year-old driver, who has previous experience in British and German F3, took the team’s first point in the inaugural event at Brands Hatch in Great Britain almost two Years back. He also scored the team’s best finish, finishing fifth in the Feature in Shanghai at the end of the inaugural season.

In the second season, Adam was replaced by the 32-year-old Nur Ali, who is based in the United States. Nur drove in all the 22 races of the season with a best finish of tenth in the Feature race in Durban, South Africa.

In an interview earlier this summer, Nur appeared confident that with him in the cockpit of the green and white car, Team Pakistan can improve on their 21st place finish in the overall standings. Little did he know that the franchise holders of Team Pakistan had other plans.