Swiss watch manufacturer TAG Heuer, has added UAE rallying star Mohammed Ben Sulayem as a brand ambassador as part of its arsenal of celebrities both from the sporting world and the film industry. The deal was announced at a press conference in Dubai, TAG Heuer General Manager for the Middle East, Eric Vergnes said, “All our brand ambassadors are world class achievers who are at the very pinnacle of their respective professions and can strongly identify with TAG Heuer's commitment to quality, reliability and uncompromising performance and Mohammed, who has won more FIA regional championships, and more international rallies, than any other rally driver in history, is an ideal fit.” Vergnes said that Ben Sulayem, has won the FIA Middle East Rally Championship 14 times and has more than 60 individual rally victories in the region. Commenting on his association with TAG Heuer, Ben Sulayem said his association with TAG Heuer came after he participated at a TAG Heuer charity event in France where several high performance vehicles were tested. “It was then that the TAG Heuer CEO Jean-Christophe Babin and I agreed to work together as I like what the brand stands for, and I like their watches.” “TAG Heuer is part of the history of GT motoring, which is the ultimate in high-performance, long distance driving.” “I've been aware of their involvement in the sport for a long time, and they were the first luxury watch manufacturer to provide chronographs for car dashboards,” Sulayem said. Sulayem said the proceeds of the deal with TAG Heuer will be given to an international charity organisation, Save the Children. Founded in 1919, Save the Children is the world's leading independent children's rights organisation. TAG Heuer's racing heriTAGe stretches back as far as the earliest days of sports car competition. TAG Heuer was the first watch brand to partner with racing drivers, the first watch brand to partner with a Formula One team and the first watch brand to crack and master the split second time barrier. TAG Heuer was the Official Timekeeper of the F1 Championship from 1992 to 2003 and the Official Timekeeper and Chronograph of IRL/Indy 500 Race from 2004 until now. The company is renowned for the production of luxurious chronographs with an unsurpassed precision of 1/10th, 1/100th, 1/1,000th and 1/10,000 of a second. Mohammed Ben Sulayem is the Arab world's leading motor sport figure and his reputation extends worldwide as a result of his success as a driver, his achievement in making the UAE Desert Challenge a leading international cross country rally, and his work as President of the Automobile and Touring Club for the UAE. As a driver he dominated the FIA Middle East Championship across three decades after capturing the regional title for the first time in 1986, and also enjoyed success overseas, including Group N World Championship victories in Spain and Argentina. He secured his 14th Middle East title in 2002, rounding off the year by winning his last competitive event, the Dubai International Rally, for a 15th time. Ben Sulayem launched the UAE Desert Challenge in 1991 and established it as the premier event in the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup for cars and the FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship for bikes. __
