Amna Al Qubaisi

Amna Al Qubaisi (born 28 March 2000 in Washington, Virginia) is the first Emirati female racing driver. On the 16th of December, 2018, she became the first Middle Eastern woman to take part in a motorsport test program for Formula E after the Ad Diriyah ePrix in Saudi Arabia. This was just a few months after a ban, prohibiting all women from driving, was lifted within Saudi Arabia on the 24th of June, 2018.

Amna Al Qubaisi
Nationality Emirati
Born (2000-03-28) 28 March 2000
Washington, Virginia, US
F4 Italian Championship career
Debut season2018
Current teamPrema Powerteam
Car number88
Former teamsPrema

Personal life

Amna is the daughter of Khaled Al Qubaisi, who also is a driver that made history for the UAE when he became the first Emirati to compete at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France claiming 2 podiums. Amna has made history by being the first Emirati Female to participate in motorsports with Daman Speed Academy...[1] and compete internationally. Amna's sister Hamda Al Qubaisi is also karting alongside her.[2] Amna attends Paris Sorbonne University. Her interests include karting, gymnastics and jet skiing[3] Amna was also nominated as "top 10 middle eastern women who crushed it in 2017"[4]

Career

Karting

Amna began her karting career in 2014 at the age of fourteen. She was the first female Arab to participate at the Rotax Max Challenge (RMC) World Finals. Two years later she began competing internationally claiming top 10 finishes. In 2017, she was the first Arabic girl to win the UAE RMC Championship.[5][6] She was also the first female to be sponsored by Kaspersky Lab. She was also the first female to be selected by the ATCUAE to represent the UAE at the GCC Young Drivers Academy Programme which she won.[7]

X30 Euro Series Wackersdorf

Amna and her sister Hamda participated at the prestigious X30 Euro Series in Wackersdorf with Team Driver. it was Amna's first time to drive in Wackersdorf and she has showed great pace being amongst the top 5 in one of her heats. Amna has finished 16th overall out of 54 drivers she was also the only female to reach the Final.[8]

Italian X30 Championship

Amna has participated at the Italian X30 Championships in Adria for the first time. She was P15 until she was unlucky with an engine failure. However she was amongst the top 20 with only 0.2 sec off the fastest time.[9]

Open Wheel Racing

Formula 4
Amna's first official test with Prema Powerteam at the Yas Marina Circuit

Amna competed in the 2018 Italian F4 Championship with the championship winning Prema Powerteam. She competed in 6 of the 7 rounds, with her highest place finish in a race being 12th.[10][11][12]

Season Series Team Rounds Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2018 Italian F4 Championship Prema Powerteam 6 18 0 0 0 0 0 34th
2019 Italian F4 Championship Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema 7 21 (20 starts) 0 0 0 0 0 31st

Formula E

Amna was one of 9 female drivers to take part in a test session on Sunday, 16 December 2018, after the first round of the 2018-19 Formula E Season at the Ad Diriyah ePrix. This was held on a street circuit in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. She drove for the Envision Virgin Racing in an Audi powered Formula E car. It was an initiative by the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission and it came less than six months after women were legally allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia for the first time.[13][14][15]

W Series

Al Qubaisi attempted to qualify for the W Series for 2019, however she did not advance beyond the evaluation stages.[16][17]

Reference List
  1. Laracuente, Hailey (26 October 2017). "Amna Al Qubaisi Breaking All the Barriers with Kart Racing in the Middle East". Car chix.
  2. "Great Big Story : Go-Kart Racing With the Emirati Speed Sisters". www.greatbigstory.com. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  3. "Amna Al Qubaisi (@amna_alqubaisiracing) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
  4. "10 Middle Eastern women who totally crushed it in 2017". Emirates Woman. 2017-12-31. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  5. "Kaspersky Lab Congratulates Amna Al Qubaisi On Becoming The First Emirati Girl To Win Senior Max Title". Kaspersky Labs. Kaspersky Labs. 20 March 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  6. "Amna crowned senior max champion". Top Performance mag. Archived from the original on 2018-12-20. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  7. "GCC Young Drivers Academy Concludes Training Programme in UAE". Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. 2017-05-31. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  8. Qubaisi, Amna Al (22 Jul 2017). "Best euro Race in my career Heat1: P21 Heat2: P8 Heat3: P5 @kl_motorsport @DamanSpeedAcad @AbuDhabiRacing1". @Amna_Alqubaisii. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
  9. "Great experience for the Al Qubaisi Sisters in Italy". Kaspersky Motorsport. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
  10. "Amna Making History". Emirates Woman. May 2017.
  11. "Amna Al Qubaisi moves up to Formula Racing in Europe | Sport-Auto.ch". sport-auto.ch. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  12. "Emirati Amna Al Qubaisi, 17, to become first Arab woman in Formula 4". The National. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  13. Alex Kalinauckas (17 November 2018). "Bird tops post-race Formula E test in Saudi Arabia". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  14. Bradley Brownell (17 November 2018). "First In-Season Formula E Test Features Nine Female Racers". Jalopnik.com. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  15. Graham Caygill (20 November 2018). "Emirati Amna Al Qubaisi to be first Arab woman to take part in Formula E test". The National. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  16. "W Series names long-list of drivers". W Series. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  17. "W Series name 28 drivers through to the next stage". W Series. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
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