She broke new ground as Saudi Arabia’s first female racing driver, but that was never going to be enough for ambitious Reema Juffali. Following a tough apprenticeship on the UK’s single-seater nursery slopes, the 31-year-old switched to GT racing in 2022 – and has since gone on to create something truly special in the form of her own racing team – Theeba Motorsport.

Juffali is pressing on to chase her dream of one day making it to Le Mans, and on her own terms, with her Theeba team. The pioneering spirit is compelling, especially as she appears to be surrounding herself with exactly the right people she’ll need to achieve her considerable goals.

Theeba Motorsport was originally born to compete in the International GT Open, but has since grown to become a regular on the grid of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe, the highest global level of GT3 racing.

Juffali started her GT3 journey alongside her friend, coach and experienced team-mate Adam Christodoulou in their Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. Having started 2022 with the well-established SPS Automotive team and achieved back-to-back class wins in the opening two races, the pair struck out on their own from the second round at Circuit Paul Ricard, and hit the ground running by securing a breakthrough class victory in the second race to give the Saudi team a flying start to life. There would be one additional victory at the Red Bull Ring, and the team would cap its maiden campaign with a solid sixth in the overall drivers’ championship, and second in the Pro-Am class points. Some result for a squad so young.

This year was Theeba’s first running with the big boys in GT World Challenge. A dual campaign in both the Sprint Cup and Endurance Cup gained huge mileage and experience for the team, with Juffali paired with rising stars Ralf Aron and Fabian Schiller in the Sprints, with Alain Valente and Yannick Mettler dipping in for Endurance events. The season high came with a second place in the Bronze Cup class at Valencia, with Theeba rounding out its maiden season at elite level 10th in the teams’ standings.

Based at Silverstone in the UK, it’s a one-car team for now and boasts familiar top-level guidance beyond Christodoulou’s GT3 expertise. Juffali reveals 1999 British Formula 3 champion Marc Hynes – also formerly a close adviser to Lewis Hamilton – “is on this project to help me bring this to life”, while John Booth – Hynes’s old Manor Motorsport boss and the man who led the Virgin/Marussia Formula 1 team – has a consultancy role. Both men bring obvious credibility.

“I wouldn’t have started this team if I didn’t feel I was in good hands, if I didn’t have the right guidance,” Juffali tells Motor Sport. “Coming into the sport three or four years ago to learn as a driver, and now coming in as someone who is investing, it has definitely opened my eyes. It is exciting and I’m glad to have the right people on board.”

But she’d been a GT driver for all of seven months by that point (her first GT3 test was only in November 2021). Wasn’t Juffali trying to run before she could properly walk?

“The easier route would definitely have been to continue on my journey and learn GTs with an established team,” she concedes. “But I’ve done things, and will continue to do things, by challenging myself. Plus, I want to bring people along on the journey, and this team does that.”

“I’ve done things, and will continue to do things, by challenging myself”

By that she’s referring to the altruistic higher purpose that is driving Theeba. Juffali says she is doing this for the people of her home Kingdom, Saudi Arabia.

“The biggest reason why I’ve done it is because of all the support and questions I’ve received from back home,” she says. “I keep hearing, ‘How can I get into the sport – as a driver, engineer, mechanic?’ There are a million and 10 different ways to get into motorsport and I could never give them a direct answer. This team for me will do that, via our planned apprenticeship programmes. It’s a way of me giving back to the sport as well.”

That begs the question, is this a state-funded Saudi team? “At the moment it is privately backed,” says Juffali. “In the beginning we want to get the team and structure set up right. There are plans for apprenticeships and bringing Saudis in, so we are looking for commercial support internationally as well as in Saudi to help propel the team forward.”

She insists a demand from Saudis to explore motorsport is real, as the Kingdom opens up to racing via the Jeddah F1 Grand Prix, Formula E in Diriyah, the Dakar Rally and more.

“It’s an exciting time for people in Saudi to just have this as an option, which they never had before. I can finally answer their questions with this team.” Men and women? “Definitely. It’s about creating this space for people who feel up for the challenge and hopefully this will encourage them to get into the sport, maybe even to one day start their own teams.”

Speak to Juffali and you can’t help but be impressed by her drive, ambition and a desire to make a difference, in a country where she has witnessed recent seismic change first-hand – most obviously by the lifting of the female driving ban that kept her at arm’s length from her passion for cars as she grew up in Jeddah. The team name fully reflects her spirit.

“When you are young and get up to mischief, a friend would call you ‘beast’ or something that translates that way. My friends contrived this word ‘theeba’, which is essentially ‘she-wolf’. It’s a fitting name”

“Theeba was what I was called when I was a teenager,” she reveals. “When you are young and doing something cool, or some mischief, a friend would call you ‘beast’ or something that translates that way. In Arabic they use the word ‘beast’, but also the word ‘wolf’. It was very male and there wasn’t really a female version – so my friends basically contrived this word and called me Theeba, which is essentially ‘she-wolf’. I forgot about it until I started racing and thought it was quite a fitting name and symbol, so I had it on my helmet from the beginning. When I started the team I couldn’t think of any other name that was as fitting, because it really does describe that passion and drive to want more.”

Juffali flung herself straight into GT racing by competing in the Dubai 24 Hours in January 2022. Again, there might have been easier ways – but ninth overall and second in GT3-Am was vindication. It also triggered the formation of the Theeba Motorsport team.

“The race was incredible,” she says. “I expected it would take me time to get my head around it, but I actually felt like I thrived, especially in night practice. I ended up doing quite a lot of the night stints and I really enjoyed the racing. It was a lot more strategic and not just driving to the limit constantly. I like that side of things and that excellent result was one of the reasons for thinking, ‘This could go well, how can we think about the long-term goal of getting to Le Mans?’ We started thinking, ‘We need a full Saudi entry… this can’t just be a Saudi driver.’”

The relationship with Christodoulou stretches back to her first season racing in the UK in 2019 when he coached her in a Renault Clio around the British tracks. She knows the 2016 Nürburgring 24 Hours winner well and that is easing her learning curve.

So, while Le Mans is the target for the future, performing well on the GT World Challenge stage is the present. Juffali has already broken new ground there, becoming the first female driver to take a Sprint Cup pole position at Hockenheim.

“As we now look back on our first GTWCE season, there is a lot we can be proud of as a team,” she says. “For myself personally, to take pole at Hockenheim and to stand on the podium at Valencia were very special moments. I feel proud for the team, to have been a huge part of the building of this team, and where we are going in the future. We want to be fighting for wins and championship success in 2024, and we will look to do what we can over the winter to put us in the best position to do that.”

But she knows that despite her desire to be judged on her performance on track she will face questions about the challenges for her countrywomen wanting to follow her into the sport. “I can’t speak for my country,” she says, “but we are making inroads and are trying to open up to the world through tourism, sporting events, even internally with local tourism. There are things I’ve never seen before that I’m going to visit. There is so much positivity and the people are excited. They want to be part of society and contribute, something I considered wasn’t a fact a couple of years ago.

“There is still some way to go. A new country opening its doors to the world, there’s bound to be some kickback. But just be patient and with time these things will change.”

“We are passionate and avid sportspeople. This will catch on and hopefully we will have a thriving car and race culture soon in Saudi”

She speaks passionately about a growth in interest for karting and the circuits that will soon be built, for a people who “are passionate and avid sportspeople. This will catch on and hopefully we will have a thriving car and racing culture soon in Saudi.”

There’s a “curiosity” about this unfamiliar new world of motorsport, she says. “Theeba will be an introduction and once they hear about the opportunities we are opening for them, I’m hopeful they will be excited and want to be a part of the Theeba team.

“It’s really about sharing this journey with them. It’s not just my story anymore.”