#AbuDhabi

It would seem that I’m not the only one excited for the Abu Dhabi F1 Race this weekend. Check out Susie Wolff’s Instagram (but NOT AT WORK!!!!!) for a stopover in Dubai… With the big guys at TTAC unable to attend the F1 festivities, it fell onto my weak and thin shoulders to share my experiences at the Abu Dhabi F1 race with you, the B&B.

Here goes.

Subayotas by night

Buckle your seatbelts folks; we’re firing up the wayback machine. Last week I had the privilege of attending the Yas Island Drift School with none other than Justin “Wheels” Crenshaw. I have actually known Justin for a few years now, back when he was juggling press loaners and writing for TTAC, while I had no idea this site existed. He helped me with this story, as well as editing it, so hopefully he saved Baruth some stress and the B&B some frustration with my tenuous language skills.

Behold, the Yas Island F1 track and general gearhead amusement park. We arrived for class and set about beating up their Toyota GT-86’s.

Ever since the TTAC Corporate jet dropped me off in Abu Dhabi, a reoccurring criticism has been “Who cares about Abu Dhabi?” Is Abu Dhabi a center of automotive design? Renowned for its automotive innovation? A world class automotive manufacturer? A breeding ground for world class drivers? Not yet, but it has a race track.

Actually, there are two racetracks in the United Arab Emirates; the Autodrome in Dubai and Yas Island just outside of Abu Dhabi. The Porsche Club of the UAE let me to tag along at their Yas Island track event.

The Emir of Abu Dhabi is tired of the car business. Germany’s Spiegel Magazin heard that Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Aabar wants to sell all stock in Daimler. Aabar also wants out of Daimler’s Formula 1 team and the joint investment in Tesla.

Reuters reports that Aabar Investments is considering increasing their stake in Daimler AG from 9.1% to 15%. Aabar is already Daimler largest shareholder and this move, should it happen, will further cement this position. The Abu Dhabi investment fund paid $2.7 billion for the 9.1% stake when the share price €20.77. Since then, the share price of Daimler has rocketed 77% and on the news of Aabar mulling a bigger stake, the share price rose by 4.4% to €35.81 per share. Daniel Schwarz, an analyst with Commerzbank AG said “It’s a positive signal that a large shareholder is showing a long term commitment”. But the strength of the fund’s love for Daimler doesn’t just extend to this increased stake.