Reema Juffali, Saudi Arabia’s first-ever female racing driver, has been confirmed as the Wild Card entry for the first round of the 2024 F1 ACADEMY Racing Series in Jeddah.

Making history in 2018 with her racing debuts in the TRD 86 Cup and MRF Challenge, Juffali went on to secure frequent points-scoring finishes in the F4 British Championship the next year. In addition, she became the first Saudi Arabian woman to compete in an international race in her home country, driving in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY.

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Off the back of her 2021 GB3 Championship campaign, the Jeddah-born racer switched over to endurance racing with a stellar debut, finishing second in her class at the 2022 Dubai 24 Hours.

Alongside this, she founded her own team, Theeba Motorsport, to improve Saudi Arabian access and participation in motorsport through educational and internship programmes.

From there, she helped the team secure victory in the 2022 International GT Open, making Juffali the first Saudi Arabian woman to win an international motor race, alongside achieving the Vice Championship title in the series’ Pro-Am class.

Juffali also continued to break new ground in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup last year, becoming both the first female and first Saudi Arabian driver to claim pole position.

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“It is an honour and a privilege to be representing my country, especially in my hometown,” said Juffali. “The day F1 arrived in Jeddah was the clash of both my worlds and now I am actually going to be participating! I’m really looking forward to it and happy to share the experience with my friends and family who are based here.

“As the saying goes: ‘if you can’t see it, you won’t believe it’. So, hopefully Saudi fans can see that there is a Saudi racing driver out there and it will get them to thinking that ‘this is something I can do!’. It is for this reason I have decided to take this challenge on. This is just the beginning!