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Ibrahim \u2013 who will race as part of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS field at Sandown for the penultimate SpeedSeries<\/a> event of 2022 on September 16-18 \u2013 has a fascinating history.<\/p>\n A royal from birth, the quietly spoken Prince lives a double life Down Under and has a dream to one day be a racing champion.<\/p>\n Of the countries on the Asian continent, Malaysia is hardly the first to mind when it comes to car culture, let alone Johor.<\/p>\n AS IT HAPPENED\ufeff:<\/strong> Red-hot Geelong romps to grand final<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Eels one win away from NRL grand final berth\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Amazing Federer's 'hardest loss, by far'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n ULTIMATE GUIDE:<\/strong> SpeedSeries at Sandown\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n A Malaysian state neighbouring Singapore, Johor does have some motor racing history having hosted the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix in 1998 and its own Johor Grand Prix from 1949 to 1953.<\/p>\n Racing is, for all intents and purposes, in the blood. Ibrahim's late grandfather, the Sultan Iskandar of Johor, raced a Mercedes-Benz 540K Special at the circuit.<\/p>\n However, he wanted his grandson to have very little to do with motorsport.<\/p>\n "He lost a lot of friends through racing," Ibrahim explained, speaking with Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n "Of course, I didn't think he would like having that fear of losing anyone more through motorsport because of the friends that he lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n "The family sport has always been polo. That was always something the family has been playing.\u00a0<\/p>\n "I did play for a few years but motorsport was always in the back of my mind of what I really wanted to do."<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CKV8P7trTg2\/?hl=en<\/a><\/p>\n Motorsport was always on Ibrahim's radar. He'd taken a particular liking to Supercars<\/a> and in 2016 visited Australia to see the Bathurst 1000<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Holden VF Commodore that Triple Eight Race Engineering and many of the teams ran took his interest and he decided he needed to have one of his own.<\/p>\n Plans were hatched to have a pair of replicas built for the road. Soon enough, he was introduced to then-Triple Eight Race Engineering team principal Roland Dane, beginning what would become a fruitful relationship.<\/p>\n Coincidentally, Dane already had a link to Ibrahim's family having met his grandfather via a mutual acquaintance in the 1980s.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BiUXvhVAClV\/?hl=en<\/a><\/p>\n Bitten by the Supercars bug, Ibrahim bought Jamie Whincup's<\/a> last championship-winning Supercar at the end of 2017.<\/p>\n Part of the deal saw the car cut laps at Ibrahim's home track, the Johor Circuit, where Shane van Gisbergen<\/a> got to have a go as well.<\/p>\n That was despite Ibrahim having had no previous racing experience whatsoever, not even karting.<\/p>\n "I was quite nervous, to be honest," said Ibrahim.<\/p>\n "I had never driven any crazy, high power race car, especially a Supercar \u2013 600hp, no traction control, no ABS, that was daunting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Watch every episode of Pit Lane with Matt White, Molly Taylor and Michael Caruso,<\/em><\/strong> now streaming on Stan Sport<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n "I was nervous, but then the time wasn't that bad compared to Shane. That's when the idea came to come race."<\/p>\n Soon enough, a plan was hatched to have Ibrahim race a Mercedes-AMG GT3 in GT World Challenge Asia.\u00a0<\/p>\n In many ways, he had come full circle.\u00a0<\/p>\n "Interestingly, my grandfather raced Mercedes-Benz 540K Special. We decided to go racing with Mercedes, not just because of that but because it's a better car," said Ibrahim.<\/p>\n "It was a coincidence that my grandfather raced a Mercedes, so that's how long the history has gone back."<\/p>\n While his family initially had reservations about going racing, safety had improved drastically since the days of his grandfather's time in the sport.<\/p>\n It is a bit of a balancing act, however. Occasionally, Ibrahim returns home to conduct military duties as well as philanthropic activities in the community.<\/p>\n "Thankfully, my father has been very supportive," he said.<\/p>\n "He knows how serious I am with the racing. This is what I really want to do, so he's been very supportive throughout the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n "I can put racing as the priority now and whatever duties I have back home, whenever I have the time, I'll do it. So far, racing is my main game and I'll try and focus just on this first."<\/p>\n Ibrahim is quick to admit he loves life in Australia where he can switch off and live a relatively normal life, something he hasn't known growing up.<\/p>\n "It's been great, to be honest," he said.<\/p>\n "I've been enjoying every single part of it having the freedom and not having people know you everywhere you go."<\/p>\n While royal life can at times be overwhelming, Ibrahim is conscious of his duty to the state and its people.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/ByZ3RTYpI2T\/?hl=en<\/a><\/p>\n One day, he wants to revitalise the Johor Circuit and start a racing academy to foster a new generation of racers.<\/p>\n "Me and my brother are planning to revamp it," he explained.<\/p>\n "Johor Circuit has a lot of history having MotoGP there. It was the first motorcycle grand prix in Malaysia and the last guy that won MotoGP there was Mick Doohan.\u00a0<\/p>\n "Right now, in Malaysia, the only race track in Sepang. I think the only way for motorsport to grow is to have more tracks. You can see in Australia, you have a lot of tracks. That's how motorsport will grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n "It will be nice to revamp it and to a safer standard too and hopefully that will help bring more international races but also grassroots too.\u00a0<\/p>\n "Overall, I see that it will help the motorsport scene having more tracks and more opportunities for people to go racing."<\/p>\n Ibrahim will race at Melbourne's iconic Sandown as part of the SpeedSeries<\/a> program in Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia alongside Shane van Gisbergen.<\/p>\n The Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series will headline proceedings supported by Turtle Wax Trans Am, Australian Production Cars, and Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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