Such is Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s love of motor racing that a championship in the country is hardly worth running if the president himself is not competing and winning.
And win he does: a government website has reported that car-loving Berdymukhamedov has once again been victorious, this time on the 22 August when he won the Alfa Romeo 2015 Cup.
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Racing up The Serdar Path, a concrete track that winds up into the mountains south of the capital, Ashgabat, initially built by Berdymukhamedov’s predecessor encouraging his citizens to “walk their way to a long life”, the route was praised by the government for its technical challenges.
“The route of the race, which is 35 miles long, was designed with a rather complex configuration, which allows competitors to show off their best qualities and to confirm their top class driving skills,” a government report on the race explained.
The president, who has run the country since 2006 and is accused of presiding over one of the most pervasive personality cults in the world, is widely known as Arkadag, or “the patron”.
In the last year alone he’s built himself a cast bronze statue covered in 24-carat gold leave, featuring his likeness riding a horse 20 metres tall; and has awarded himself the honorific title “People’s Horse Breeder”, on the country’s annual Day of the Horse celebrations.
Despite his status, the government’s blow-by-blow account of the race described Berdymukhamedov in car number seven, alongside six other identical green Alfa Romeos, facing real competition from his fellow racers.
But either way, the outcome was a given: “The cars fly, engines roar, the distance between them gets shorter and lengthens again on the bend, but then the Alfa Romeo number seven breaks away from its nearest pursuers and rushes forward, to victory!”
Berdymukhamedov clocked a finishing time of 26 minutes and 10 seconds, which equals an average speed of 81 miles per hour.
Good PR
This is not Berdymukhamedov’s first brush with motoring glory.In 2012, he took first place in a time-trial challenge in Turkish-made Volkicar.The Associated Press reported at the time: “Berdymukhamedov drove to the racing track in a Bugatti sports car Saturday morning ostensibly to give his blessing to the former Soviet Central Asian nation’s maiden automotive competition.
“While an event presenter introduced the president, he received a request nobody in Turkmenistan would be likely turn down. Can I take part?’ Berdymukhamedov asked.”
Correspondents present at the time suggested the stunt was designed to enhance the president’s image as “a man of action”, part of a series of spectacles to burnish Berdymukhamedov’s ever-intensifying demigod status.
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But there’s also an international public relations aspect to Berdymukhamedov’s motoring win: the government is eager to boost Turkmenistan’s prospects as a potential host for major sporting events, such as the second Asian Indoor-Martial Arts Games, which will be held in Ashgabat in 2017.
Berdymukhamedov pressed that notion at the Alfa Romeo Cup event, describing the construction of a high-speed track as a leading precondition for the country to host international level automobile competitions in future.
A version of this article first appeared on Eurasianet.org