Shihab Al Habsi: An Omani on the final podium of the 2018 French F4 Junior Championship

After finishing 4th in the World Junior Karting Championship in 2017, Shihab Al Habsi made a late decision to switch to cars. It was again in Juniors that the very young Omani driver has just taken 3rd place in the 2018 French F4 Junior Championship.

His first car season ended in mid-October at the Paul Ricard circuit, the home ground of the 2018 French F1 Grand Prix. As he has done in previous events, Shihab Al Habsi consistently gave his best to achieve his goals in an F4 Championship which proved to be of very high standard in 2018.

“None of the seven races were easy, as our entry was decided quite late this winter and I found myself facing some extremely well-practiced opponents. I did not have the opportunity to learn the circuits during the offseason and I had to work hard to be part of the pack. On the other hand, it allowed me to accelerate my learning,” said the motor sport hopeful of the Sultanate of Oman.

“I discovered an extremely competitive environment and I made a lot of progress in terms of driving thanks to the FFSA Academy team and the work done with my coach Stéphane Daoudi. He has given me very professional assistance throughout the season, both on analysis of the behaviour of the car and on how to work with the engineers of the FFSA Academy. Of course, I would have liked to have a bigger budget to test before the races, but mentally it hardened me. I hope to fight for a title in 2019 if I manage to gain the necessary financial partners for my season.”

At the last meeting at Le Castellet, Shihab Al Habsi had to avoid mistakes to score enough points to get on the 3rd step of the podium of the French F4 Junior Championship. After three races where he showed great fighting spirit, he achieved his goal. “Shihab really does have a lot of potential,” added Stéphane Daoudi. “He does not have enough track time at each circuit. Going to a Qualifying session when you’ve only done a dozen laps in Free Practice is not easy. “

“This time again, Shihab was very fast despite his lack of knowledge of the track, especially in Races 2 and 3. Sometimes his learning was a bit too fierce, but he’s an attacker and he’s had to assimilate a maximum of elements in the minimum of time. He was the only driver to have not yet celebrated his 15th birthday in the later 2018 races and he will still be among the youngest in 2019… But with a season of experience in single-seaters, we can expect to find him at the front.”

No doubt this very promising season heralds a shining future for Oman’s Shihab Al Habsi.

Info Kartcom / © Photo KSP – Guillaume Veuve