FIA boss Mohammed Ben Sulayem to meet Paraguayan President
The congress, to be officially opened on August Monday 25 by President Peña, brings together mobility and motorsport leaders from across the Americas to review key initiatives in road safety, sustainable mobility, regional sporting growth, and innovation in transport.
Hosted by the Touring y Automóvil Club Paraguayo (TACPy), the three-day event will also set the stage for a historic moment in Paraguayan motorsport as the country debuts on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar, with the WRC Rally del Paraguay taking place in the Itapúa region from August 28-31.
Speaking ahead of his visit to Paraguay, FIA President Ben Sulayem said: 'I am delighted to be joining our members and partners in Asunción for the FIA American Congress 2025, and I look forward to meeting with President Peña to discuss our combined efforts to drive global motorsport participation and safe, accessible mobility.
'This gathering is a vital opportunity to strengthen collaboration across the Americas, share expertise in mobility and motorsport, and advance our shared priorities of safety, sustainability and innovation.
'Hosting the congress alongside Paraguay's debut on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar makes this a truly historic moment for the country and the region as we continue to develop global motorsport, inspire our fans across the world, and welcome new audiences to the rally community."
The theme of this year's FIA American Congress is ' Safe Mobility and Motorsport in the Americas' with the programme addressing four key areas: road safety and traffic education, innovation and new technologies in mobility, global motorsport growth, and the role of automobile clubs in social transformation.
Featuring a series of sessions designed to equip Member Clubs with new strategies and insights into evolving mobility and sporting trends, the event will be an opportunity to share knowledge and best practice across topics such as service delivery, sustainable responsibility, and consumer-focused innovation.
The Member Club structure of the FIA, the global governing body for motorsport and the federation for mobility organisations worldwide, forms the backbone of its governance and operations.
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Instead, she's charting a new course in endurance racing that has allowed her to rediscover what she loved about racing in the first place. Moreso than in Formula racing, endurance racing tests the durability of equipment and participants. Teams of multiple drivers using the same car in shifts attempt to cover a large distance in a single event. 'When it comes to Formula racing, it's too expensive. Because of our budget, we were constantly behind the pack. 'So this year, we decided to move into endurance racing, where it's much cheaper and the costs are split between drivers. When I moved into endurance racing, it was the first time I felt like I was actually enjoying driving in a long time.' In some ways, her path to endurance racing mirrors the fictional journey of Brad Pitt's Sonny Hayes in F1 The Movie, in which Hayes finds himself constantly at the back of the pack and has to figure out a way to turn that to his advantage. 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The series marks the third tier on the endurance racing ladder of Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), the company behind the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. 'Sharing a car, we work together and help each other. We go through data together and strategise together. Having each other makes this decision easier, as we're both really good and we know each other, so we have an advantage.' What is the future of women in F1? Back in Formula racing, Al Qubaisi is rooting for the many young women working towards a spot in F1 but believes the sport as not a level playing field. 'It's very difficult to have a female in Formula One, no matter how good she is, no matter how big her achievements are. The Formula One teams need to have really big trust in those female drivers. 'They will need to invest in women drivers from a young age. I think they just need to start trusting women more to be able to reach that point too. 'Because now, all the girls who are working so hard in single seaters, who've made it to the top 10, who won races, nothing is done for them. No opportunity is provided and then they end up on the sidelines as a development driver or reserve driver, which isn't enough. If it was a male competitor, he would immediately have support, a test drive in a Formula One car.' Basic engineering was also an issue. Al Qubaisi faced difficulty with singer-seater cars that were built only for male bodies – 'we can't fit in that car' – which caused her and other women drivers to complain to the FIA regulatory body to ensure cars were built for both men and women. That issue was fixed, but Al Qubaisi feels it's symbolic of the inequality that exists in the sport. Telling her own story As she sets off on a new racing journey with her sister, Al Qubaisi feels that every bump along the way has prepared her for the difficulties ahead – not just as a racing driver, but as a public figure. She will rely less on how others tell her story and start to take an even greater hand in telling her own. 'I have a cameraman and we're doing our own YouTube docuseries for the racing championship. Every race weekend we show everything from our perspective and it's very authentic and very natural,' she says. 'I've learnt that I don't need anything polished and professional. These days, I just have to be real.'
