Circuit Racers in the Gulf States and the Middle East

The al-Qubaisi sisters (right) with Reema Juffali (left) and Scottish driver Logan Hannah at the 2019 Abu Dhabi GP

The motorsport scene in the Gulf States and the Middle East has only recently opened up to female drivers. In the case of Saudi Arabia, women only gained the right to hold driving licenses in 2019. Reema Juffali is the first Saudi female racer. Hamda and Amna al-Qubaisi have their own profiles.

Other countries have a more liberal policy and have a longer history of female motorsport competitors. 

Wiebke Buelow - 2019-20 season winner of the novice class of the BIC 2000cc Challenge class in Bahrain. Her car was a Honda Civic. The best result she had was a fifth place in the last round of the season. All of the races were held at the Bahrain GP circuit. She returned in the same car for the 2020-21 championship and appears to have had a best finish of seventh. She returned to the series at the end of 2021, driving a Civic. In the first two rounds, she improved her best finish to fifth. Shortly after, she scored her first overall podium. In 2023, she was second in at least one race. The BIC Challenge became the Bahrain Touring Car Challenge in 2024 and Wiebke raced her Civic. 2019 seems to have been her first season of competition. Wiebke is originally from Germany but has been resident in Bahrain since 2008.

Noor Daoud – racer and drifter from Israel/Palestine. In drifting, she competes all over the Middle East, in a BMW. She has also been active in mostly unofficial circuit racing in the West Bank since 2010, and is one of the “Speed Sisters”, a group of female racers from Palestine who have had a film made about them. In 2011, she raced a Formula Renault in the first legal Israeli race meeting, Formula Israel, in Eilat. She was third in a women’s race, and may have won another. Noor was born in the USA, and is a former international footballer for Palestine.

Maya Hartge - German driver who competes almost exclusively in the Middle East. She started out in a Ferrari in 2022, competing in the Gulf Procar championship in a 488. In 2024, she won the opening round of the Ferrari Challenge Winter Challenge at Abu Dhabi, before going on to win another of the series' three races a little later. At the end of 2025, she got into endurance racing and entered the 24H Series Middle East, driving a Porsche 992 with male team-mates. Her first event was the Abu Dhabi 6 Hours, and she was 27th and eleventh in class. She then took part in the Dubai 24 Hours, driving the same car for a different team. She was 30th overall, eighth in class and fifth in the Am class.

Farah Jaber - raced in the BIC 2000cc Challenge in Bahrain in 2020. Her car is a BMW E30 and she was competing in the Novice class. 2019-20 appears to have been her first season in the championship. She was not among the front-runners in the overall championship, with a best finish of tenth, but she held her own against the other novice drivers.

Martyna al-Qassab - Polish-born driver who races in her adopted country of Bahrain. She races in the Bahrain 2000cc Challenge and is the first female driver to do so. Her first car was a Renault Clio, which has now been replaced by an Acura DCS. She was fourth in the first round of the 2019-2020 championship. The previous year, she was a leading driver in the Novice class, winning at least one race. In 2020, she returned to the championship and finished fifth in the first race. In 2021, she raced the DC5 in the championship again. She is the founder of a Bahraini women’s motoring organisation, Yalla Banat, which has attempted to hold the biggest-ever women-only track parade at the Sakhir circuit in 2019.

Farah al-Sabah – driver from Kuwait, active in sportscar racing in the Middle East. In 2015, she competed in the NGK Racing Series in the UAE, driving a McLaren GT Sprint with Leon Price, from South Africa. So far, she has recorded two class wins, at Dubai Autodrome. She also races karts in the UAE, in the Sodi World Series.

(Image copyright UAE F4 Official Instagram)

Reema Juffali

Reema Juffali was the first Saudi woman to race cars competitively, in the modern era at least. Shortly after the Saudi government allowed women to apply for driving licenses in 2018, she entered her first race, albeit in Abu Dhabi. She was 26. 

She took part in the first two rounds of the Toyota TRD GT86 Cup at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina in late 2018, earning a second and third place in class. In the next round, also held at Yas Marina, she scored her first win. She was fourth in the championship.

As well as the one-make Toyota cup, she entered the same car into the UAE Touring Car Championship, driving for Dragon Racing and scoring two class podiums.

Not content with production sportscar action, she entered her first single-seater races at the start of 2019, making an appearance in the final rounds of the MRF Formula 2000 championship at the Madras circuit in India. Her first race in the MRF F4/F3 hybrid car began with a spin and she finished last. During the other four races, she struggled with the car and was penalised for obstructing other drivers.

Some surprise was expressed when Reema signed up for the British Formula 4 championship, given her lack of single-seater experience and advanced age compared to her rivals. She drove for Double R Racing and although she was not among the front-runners, fairly soon, she was close to the pace. Towards the end of the season, she scored eighth places at Thruxton and Knockhill. She took advantage of any opportunity to test and became a competent racer. 

At the end of 2019, she made more history by becoming the first Saudi woman to take part in a circuit race in her home country, against a mixed field. She was invited by Jaguar as one of its guest drivers for the I-Pace eTrophy, a one-make electric saloon series which supports Formula E. Her two races at the Ad-Diriyah street circuit ended in a tenth place and a retirement.

Her second Gulf region appearance of 2019 made history again. She raced for the Dragon team in the Grand Prix-supporting UAE F4 race and took to the track alongside three other female drivers: Amna al-Qubaisi, Hamda al-Qubaisi and Logan Hannah. Her race results were a twelfth and a sixth place.

Her Abu Dhabi outing was a prelude to a run in the UAE F4 championship. Her best finishes in hte series were two fifth places in Dubai, and she was a much more competitive presence, if not yet a frontrunner.

She came back to the UK for a shortened British F4 season with the Argenti team. Her times were more competitive this year and were level with most of the rest of the pack. She was thirteenth in the championship with a best finish of eighth: twice at Silverstone, once at Croft and once at Snetterton.

In 2021 she moved up to the GB3 championship, previously British F3. She was driving for the Douglas Motorsport team. Mid-season, she surprised everyone with a fourth place in a reverse-grid race, but she was very much in the learning phase of her F3 career. She was 18th overall.

Although her family has always been involved in the automotive world, Reema only became seriously interested in motorsport in 2017, after meeting Susie Wolff at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Previously, she had only been involved as a spectator at bigger events. She is from Jeddah, although she was educated in the United States and works in the UK.

Her big news for 2022 was the debut of her own GT team, Theeba Motorsport. The Theeba Mercedes AMG GT3 ran in the International GT Open and drivers Reema and Adam Christodolou were second in the ProAm class, with four class wins. As well as racing for Theeba, Reema also made some appearances for SPS Automotive Performance, driving another Mercedes. She and her three co-drivers were ninth in the GT3 class and second in the GT3-Am class at the Dubai 24 Hours, then a different quartet including Reema won the Bronze class in the Fanatec GT World Challenge at Spa. They were 34th overall in the Intercontinental GT Challenge race the next day.

Theeba continued to compete in 2023, with Reema as a driver. She entered the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe, contesting both the Endurance and Sprint categories. The car was a Mercedes GT3 again. For the Endurance races, it was shared between Reema, Ralf Aron and Alain Valente. They were 30th in the Bronze Cup after finishing all of their races apart from the Spa 24 Hours, when Yannick Mettler joined the team. Their best result was 29th at the Nurburgring. 

In the Sprint races, she partnered Fabian Schiller. Their best result was 21st at Valencia and they were seventh in the Bronze Cup.

In 2024, she made a surprise return to single-seaters, accepting a wildcard entry into her two home races in the all-female F1 Academy championship. She was eleventh in the one race she finished. 

Theeba Motorsport was parked that year, and Reema's sportscar activities were limited to one round of the GT4 European Series. She shared an Aston Martin Vantage with Ahmed Bin Khanen in the Jeddah race, but did not finish.

There was more GT4 Europe action in 2025, this time in a McLaren Artura. Reema shared her car with Ali Juffali, and picked up a second place in the Am class at Barcelona. 

The early part of the year was spent with the Haupt team and their Mercedes-AMG. She and German Salman Owega shared the car for the Creventic Middle East Trophy. They took part in both the Dubai 24 Hours and the 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi. They were 15th overall and fourth in the GT3 Am class in Dubai, then thirteenth (fourth in class again) at Abu Dhabi. 

Her motorsport career goals include racing in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

(Image copyright AFP)

Women in One-Make Series: outside Europe

Robyn Kruger with her VW Scirocco

Female drivers are now found in one-make series for any number of different cars, around the world. South America has quite a large number, and one-make series in Asia and India are on the increase, so this post will expand in future. Drivers from outside Europe are also moving over to compete there. Reema Juffali now has her own profile.

Andrea Bate - has raced a VW in South Africa since 2009. She competed locally in the Western Cape GTi Challenge, and was fifth overall, driving a VW Golf. In 2010 and 2011, she raced the car in the Goldwagen Challenge, picking up several class wins. She also had her debut in the South African Production Car series, and was second in class. This led to her being invited to the Scirocco-R Women In Motorsport shootout in Germany, and the FIA’s Young Driver Excellence Academy. She earned a spot in the Academy for 2012. In 2013, she started racing in the VW Engen Cup in South Africa, driving a Polo this time. Her results are proving hard to find, and she may have only done a part-season. She raced in the Engen Cup again in 2014, and was seventh overall. She also made a guest appearance in the Shelby CanAm series, driving in the African 3 Hour. She and her team-mates were fifth overall. In 2015, she did some club-level racing in the Midas Sport Clubmans Championship. Her 2016 season was a write-off, after she was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident at the end of 2015. After that, she decided to retire. 

Theresa Condict - SCCA racer who began her career in autocross, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer. She won a national championship in 2008, having already won various Ladies’ titles. In 2009, she was part of the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Championship, having been selected from a large pool of aspiring drivers. She was 22nd in the championship, with a best finish of 15th, in New Jersey. After that, she returned to SCCA competition in a Honda, which she prepares herself, with her father.

Elna Croeser – normally races a VW Golf or Polo in South Africa. She has been involved in one-make series for Volkswagens for at least five years. She won her class in the Goldwagen Challenge in 2008, and has challenged for race wins in the Golf since, on many occasions. Previously, she raced single-seaters in Formula GTi. She took part in the African 6 Hours in 2014, not in a VW for once. Her car was a Shelby Can-Am, and she and her two team-mates were fourth. For the rest of the year, she raced a Polo in the Comsol VW Challenge. She continued to race the Polo in 2015. At the end of the year, she took part in the African 9 Hour endurance race. She returned to the series in 2019 and scored some class podiums. In 2020, she was 19th in the VW Challenge and seventh in class. She was 20th in 2021, after a part-season. She continued to race in Class B in 2022. Her car changed to a three-cylinder Class C model for 2023. In 2025, she moved back to Class B, then A, and was 16th in the championship.

Charisse van der Merwe - races a Volkswagen Polo in South Africa. She competes in a one-make series for that car, the Motormart VW Challenge. 2019 appears to be her first season in the championship and possibly her first year of racing. She was 16th overall and sixth in Class B. The B class is strongly contested and she is referred to as one of its leading entrants. Her best result looks to have been a tenth place at Red Star Raceway. She did another season in the VW Challenge in 2020, finishing 21st in the championship. In 2021, she was third in her class and fourteenth overall. She appears to have done the whole season in the Polo in 2022 and continued to compete in 2023.

Loni Unser - races a Mazda Miata (MX-5) in the USA. Her career began in 2017, when she was 19 and a college student. Since 2018, she has raced in the Global MX-5 Cup in the States. In 2019, she had a best finish of seventh in this championship, achieved at Circuit of the Americas and Barber. She is a member of the Sick Sideways team and is sometimes part of their saloon endurance squad for events such as the ChampCar (formerly ChumpCar) enduro. In 2021 she raced as a Mazda scholarship driver in the MX-5 Cup, finishing 16th. Her season was marred by some non-finishes but picked up two top-tens, the best of these being a seventh place at St Petersburg. In 2022, she tackled the 100th running of the Pikes Peak hillclimb. Her 2024 season was spent in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America, finishing on the podium of the Cayman Pro-Am class six times. She was third in the class championship. She won her first Sprint Challenge race in 2025, at Watkins Glen, taking the lead on the last lap. For most of the season, she sat in second in the Pro-Am class. She is a fourth-generation member of the famous Unser family, the daughter of Johnny Unser.

(Image from http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/)