Theeba Motorsport is a Saudi Arabian motor racing team founded by the Kingdom's first female professional racing driver,

Reema Juffali Reema Juffali, also spelt either as Reema Al Juffali or Reema Al-Juffali ( ar, ريما الجفالي; born 18 January 1992), is a Saudi Arabian professional racing car driver who competes in the International GT Open with her own team, Theeba ...

. The team competes in the GT World Challenge Europe sportscar series using the Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.

History

Foundation

Theeba Motorsport was founded by Reema Juffali in 2022 to facilitate Saudi Arabian access to and participation in motorsport through a series of engineering, mechanical and commercial internship and apprenticeship programmes. The team aspires to one day compete at the prestigious

Le Mans 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...

endurance race under a Saudi Arabian racing licence.

International GT Open

2022 season

Theeba Motorsport joined the International GT Open Pro-Am grid for the 2022 season with Juffali and

Nürburgring 24 Hours The Nürburgring 24 Hours is a 24-hour annual touring car and GT endurance racing event that takes place on a combination of the Nordschleife ("North Loop") and the GP-Strecke ("Grand Prix track") circuits of the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palat ...

winner Adam Christodoulou forming the team’s driver lineup. Racing a

Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO The Mercedes-AMG GT (C190 / R190) is a grand tourer produced in coupé and roadster bodystyles by German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-AMG. The car was introduced on and was officially unveiled to the public in October 2014 at the Paris ...

, the team tasted victory on debut by securing back-to-back class victories at the Circuito do Estoril in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. With this result, Juffali became the first Saudi woman to win an international motor race. The team scored its first pole position one weekend later at the Circuit Paul Ricard and secured its third class victory at the French venue. After retiring from races at the

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has held ...

and Hungaroring, the team bounced back at the

Red Bull Ring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from to . It was later sh ...

to score its fourth Pro-Am victory of the season. In the final race at the Red Bull Ring, Juffali was involved in a weekend-ending accident after being rear-ended by Dominik Schraml. As a result, the team was forced to withdraw from the penultimate weekend of the season at

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

due to ongoing repair work. Juffali and Christodoulou returned for the 2022 finale at the

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has stands ...

and secured back-to-back class podiums by finishing third in Races One and Two. Despite missing three races in the 13-race campaign, Theeba Motorsport finished as the runners-up in the Pro-Am Championship with 57 points and finished sixth overall with 51 points.

GT World Challenge Europe

2023 season

For 2023, Theeba Motorsport joined the GT World Challenge Europe Bronze Cup grid, to compete in the series'

Sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

and Endurance Cups. In March 2023, it was confirmed that 2015 Italian F4 champion, Ralf Aron, and Switzerland's Alain Valente would join Juffali to form the team's driver lineup. Yannick Mettler later joined the team for the

24 Hours of Spa The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their a ...

, while

Fabian Schiller Fabian Schiller (born 24 May 1997) is a German racing driver who currently competes in the Nürburgring Endurance Series. Career Junior formula Schiller began his racing career in karting at the age of 12, competing in the ADAC Kart Masters seri ...

filled in for Aron at the Misano, Hockenheim, and Valencia Sprint Cup rounds. With Juffali at the wheel, the team secured its first series pole position at Hockenheim. On the following weekend at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, the team secured its first Sprint Cup podium, with Juffali and Schiller finishing second in class. Theeba Motorsport finished seventh in the Sprint Cup's Bronze category with 30.5 points and was classified 30th in the Bronze Endurance Cup.

Results

International GT Open

(

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) (^Superscript indicates overall position) (* indicates season still in progress.)

GT World Challenge Sprint Cup

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (^Superscript indicates overall position) (* indicates season still in progress.)

GT World Challenge Endurance Cup

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (^Superscript indicates overall position) (* indicates season still in progress.)

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.theebamotorsport.com/ International GT Open teams Auto racing teams established in 2022