Reema Juffali, 27-year-old Saudi female race car driver is set to blaze a trail in the male dominated motor sports as the first woman to race in the kingdom. She will be competing in the Jaquar I-PACE e TROPHY, an electric race in Dirriyah.
Such adrenalin rushes were unimaginable for women in the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom until June last year, when it overturned the world’s only ban on female motorists as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s wide-ranging liberalisation drive.
Juffali, who hails from the western city of Jeddah and was educated in the United States, will participate as what organisers call a “VIP” guest driver, becoming the first Saudi woman to race on home soil. Juffali, who made one of her first appearances in competitive racing at the F4 British Championship at Brands Hatch in April, has only about a year of professional racing experience under her belt. She has had a passion for fast cars since her teenage years and grew up watching Formula One. She passed her driving test after she moved to the United States to study some years ago, and is now one of only a handful of Saudi woman to have obtained a “racing license” in her home country, a mandatory requirement to race professionally.
