Aditya ChaudhuriSaudi Arabian racer Reema Juffali has been announced as the Wild Card entry for the 2024 F1 Academy season and will join the grid for the season-opener at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in her home country.
Juffali became the first-ever female racer from Saudi Arabia in 2018 and scored points in her debut F4 British Championship season. She became the first Saudi Arabian woman to compete in an international race in Saudi Arabia, when she took part in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY. Since then, she has raced in the GB3 Championship in 2021 and also in the 2022 Dubai 24 Hours.
Juffali also owns a motorsport team, Theeba Motorsport, and aims to increase participation and provide a platform for the women racers in her country along with educational and internship programmes.
Speaking about joining the F1 Academy grid, Reema Juffali said:
“It is an honour and a privilege to be representing my country, especially in my hometown. 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!“
