Mansour Ojjeh

Mansour Akram Ojjeh (born June 24, 1952 ) is a Saudi Arabian businessman and partner in the investment company Techniques d'Avant Garde (TAG). He gained international fame as the financier of the TAG turbo engine developed by Porsche for Formula 1 .

Life

Ojjeh grew up as the son of Akram Ojjeh , a Syrian-born entrepreneur, and a French mother. He spent most of his childhood in France and completed his training in the USA with a Master of Business Administration .

Motorsport

Ojjeh discovered his passion for motorsport as a guest of the Saudi royal family at the 1978 Monaco Grand Prix . The Saudi Arabian Airlines were at this time sponsor of the Williams teams. This contact led TAG to become the main sponsor of Williams in 1979. The secured funding of the team enabled chief designer Patrick Head to develop competitive racing cars. In 1979 the team was able to take their first victory and win the world championship with Alan Jones in 1980 and Keke Rosberg in 1982 .

At the end of 1981, McLaren team boss Ron Dennis Ojjeh attracted McLaren as a partner. Ojjeh financed the TAG turbo engine developed by Porsche's Hans Mezger , which was presented to the public at the 1983 Geneva Motor Show and made its racing debut at the 1983 Dutch Grand Prix . In 1984 the McLaren drivers Niki Lauda and Alain Prost dominated the world championship with twelve victories in 16 races and Lauda took the title. In the following two years Prost was able to become world champion with the TAG-Turbo.

At the end of 1984 Ojjeh took over the majority of the McLaren racing team from Dennis. He holds 15% of the shares in the McLaren Group .

Web links

• Biography on grandprix.com (English)