Aliyyah Koloc

 

Aliyyah Koloc is a Czech driver of Emirati and Seychellois descent who races trucks and GTs in Europe, as well as competing in cross-country rallies for the Buggyra team. 

Born in Dubai, she grew up around motorsport; her father Martin Koloc races a number of different cars and is now the principal of Buggyra. Both she and her twin sister Yasmeen began competing as seniors as soon as they were old enough.

It began with a few races in a Renault Clio in the 2019 Eset series. She was only 15 years old and had only just recovered from an injury that put a halt to a promising tennis career. Her first appearance was at Gronik in Croatia, where she won her class in both sprint and endurance races.

She was still only 16 years old when she first got in a truck, entering the French and European championships for the Buggyra team. The French championship was the most successful for her, with a third and a second place at Nogaro. The second place was updated to a win, as on-track winner Adam Lacko was not registered for the championship. Her best result in the European series was eighth, at Most. 

She also set a series of speed records over the 500m distance in July 2020, driving a streamlined Buggyra-Freightliner truck. 

In 2021, she did races in both the French and European truck championships, concentrating on the French. She earned four podium positions: two seconds and two thirds. Her final position on the leaderboard was fifth. The best result of her European part-season was a ninth place at Jarama. This year, she expanded her circuit experience further with some races in the Club Challenge section of the Whelen Euro NASCAR series. Her car was a Ford Mustang, run by the CAAL Racing team. Her sister Yasmeen was her team-mate in a Chevrolet Camaro.

She spent 2022 preparing for her first attempt at the Dakar in a Buggyra prototype, as well as racing GTs in Europe. She competed in some more Eset races in 2021, driving a Mercedes AMG GT3 and GT4 car in different classes. With Yasmeen and Adam Lacko, she entered the 12 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in a similar car, but did not finish. Yasmeen crashed during the first part of the race and injured her wrist.

Aliyyah teamed up with Buggyra designer and racer David Vrsecky for the FFSA GT championship, in another Mercedes GT4 car. He replaced the injured Yasmeen, who had shared the car at Nogaro. She was eleventh in the Silver drivers’ championship. In August, Aliyyah and David raced at the Silverstone Classic for the first time, in the pilot event for the Masters GT4 series. Aliyyah was fourth and third. 

Her Dakar training was based around the Middle East Cup for Cross Country Bajas, driving a Can-Am light prototype run by Buggyra. She won one event outright and scored podiums in two others and won a the championship.

Her Dakar run itself was compromised by problems on the second stage, dropping her and co-driver Stephane Duple to the bottom of the leaderboard. She did steadily improve over the course of the rally and had a best stage result of 36th, on the twelfth competitive section. She was 104th overall.

Less than a week after finishing the Dakar, she was back on the circuits, driving the Mercedes with David Vrsecky. They entered the non-championship 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi and won their class.

Her first 24H Series race of 2023 was the Mugello 12H, in which the team, including Adam Lacko, finished second in the GT4 class, 26th overall. She and her two co-drivers were second in the GT4 class of the championship, with one win at Spa.

She has also tested a bigger T1 Dakar prototype, in preparation for the 2024 Dakar, where she is entered in a Red-Lined Revo T1+ with Sebastien Delaunay. Her build-up included testing in Abu Dhabi and some off-road bajas in South Africa.

Aliyyah is open about having Asperger’s syndrome* and considers it an asset when on-track, as she is able to assess risk efficiently and concentrate.

Image copyright AS Sports Communication

*This is how Aliyyah describes herself, although others do not like this terminology.