Amna Al Qubaisi (; born 28 March 2000) is an Emirati 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 Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...

after the

Diriyah ePrix The Diriyah ePrix is a race of the single-seater, electrically powered Formula E championship, held in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. It was first held as part of the 2018–19 season and was the first Formula E race to be held in the Middle East. The ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. 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.

Personal life

Amna was born in

Washington, Virginia The town of Washington, Virginia, is a historic village located in the eastern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park. The entire town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district, Wa ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She is the daughter of

Khaled Al Qubaisi Khaled Abdulla Al Qubaisi (born 22 December 1975 in Abu Dhabi) is an Emirati businessman and racing driver who is the Chief Executive Officer of Real Estate & Infrastructure Investments at Mubadala Investment Company. In his role at Mubadala, Al ...

, CEO of Real Estate and Infrastructure Investment platform at Mubadala Investment Company and also a racing driver that made history for the UAE when he became the first Emirati to compete at the legendary

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

race in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

claiming two class podiums. Amna has made history by being the first Emirati woman to participate in motorsports with Daman Speed Academy and compete internationally. She is also

Hamda Al Qubaisi Hamda Al Qubaisi (born 8 August 2002) is an Emirati female racing driver who currently races in the Formula Regional European Championship for Prema Racing. In June 2021 she became the first woman in the history of Italian F4 to score a podium, ...

's older sister. Amna attends Paris Sorbonne University completing a degree in Physics and her interests include partying, clubbing, karting, gymnastics, and jet skiing.

Career

Karting

Amna began her karting career in 2014 at the age of fourteen. She was the first Arab woman to participate at the

Rotax Max Challenge The Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals (RMC) is a kart racing series owned and organized worldwide by BRP-Powertrain and its distributors, approved and in compliance with CIK-FIA. Competition takes place on a club, national and international ...

(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. 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.

X30 Euro Series Wackersdorf

Amna and her sister Hamda participated at the 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 five in one of her heats. Amna has finished 16th overall out of 54 drivers, and she was also the only female to reach the Final.

Italian X30 Championship

Amna has participated at the Italian X30 Championships in Adria for the first time. She ran in fifteenth until her engine failed. However she was amongst the top 20 with only 0.2 sec off the fastest time.

Formula 4

Amna competed in the

2018 Italian F4 Championship The 2018 Italian F4 Championship Powered by Abarth was the fifth season of the Italian F4 Championship. It began on 29 April in Imola and finished on 21 October in Monza after seven triple header rounds. The title was clinched by Enzo Fittipald ...

with the championship winning

Prema Powerteam Prema Powerteam (competing as Prema Racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, the FIA Formula 3 Championship and European Le Mans Series and as Prema Orlen Team in the FIA World Endurance Championship) is a motorsport team from Italy. It mainly ...

. She competed in six of the seven rounds, with her highest place finish in a race being 12th. She also took part the following season, finishing 31st with no points.

Formula E test

Amna was one of nine 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 The Diriyah ePrix is a race of the open-wheel car, single-seater, Electric car, electrically powered Formula E championship, held in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. It was first held as part of the 2018–19 Formula E season, 2018–19 season and was the ...

. This was held on a street circuit in

Diriyah Diriyah ( ar, الدِرْعِيّة), formerly romanized as Dereyeh and Dariyya), is a town in Saudi Arabia located on the north-western outskirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Diriyah was the original home of the Saudi royal family, and served ...

. She drove for the

Envision Virgin Racing The Envision Racing Formula E Team is a British motor racing team based at Silverstone Park and majority-owned by Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Envision Energy that competes in Formula E. Currently, the two drivers are Nick Cassidy and Sé ...

in an

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

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.

W Series

Al Qubaisi wanted to participate in the W Series for

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

selection, but was unable to attend because the date interfered with her school obligations.

Formula Regional

Al Qubaisi will take the place of her sister Hamda for the

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

round with

Prema Racing Prema Powerteam (competing as Prema Racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, the FIA Formula 3 Championship and European Le Mans Series and as Prema Orlen Team in the FIA World Endurance Championship) is a motorsport team from Italy. It mainly ...

, in the

2022 Formula Regional European Championship The 2022 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine is a multi-event, Formula Regional open-wheel single seater motor racing championship held across Europe. The championship features a mix of professional and amateur drivers, competing in ...

Karting record

Karting career summary

Racing record

Racing career summary

† As she was a guest driver, Al Qubaisi was ineligble to score points. * Season still in progress.

Complete Italian F4 Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Regional Asian Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Complete Formula Regional European Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) † As Amna was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

References

External links

Official website (archived)

Profile on Racing Driver Directory
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Qubaisi, Amna 2000 births Living people Emirati racing drivers Female racing drivers People from Washington, Virginia Italian F4 Championship drivers F3 Asian Championship drivers Formula Regional Asian Championship drivers Prema Powerteam drivers Formula Regional European Championship drivers UAE F4 Championship drivers Iron Lynx drivers