Juffali, who spent her formative seasons racing in British junior single-seaters, has established Theeba Motorsport for an assault on this year’s GT Open International series with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo shared with Adam Christodoulou.
Theeba, which is racing under Saudi licence, will make its debut this weekend at Paul Ricard at the second GT Open round of the year.
The team was not operational for round one at Estoril early this month, so Juffali and Christodoulou raced a Merc run by SPS Automotive under the Theeba banner.
Juffai, 30, explained that her focus is now on sportscar racing and fulfilling the Le Mans dream after racing in the British F4 in 2019-20 and then the GB3 Championship (formerly BRDC Formula 3) in 2021.
“I came into motorsport a little bit later in life, so I decided that in order to fast track my learning single-seaters would be the best way,” Juffali told Autosport.
“But endurance racing was always the goal, and after last year I felt I’d made some advancement and that single-seaters had served their purpose.
“Down the line, Le Mans is a goal.”
Reema Juffali will share with AMG racer Adam Christodoulou
Photo by: Theeba Motorsport
Juffali made the decision to set up the Theeba team after making her sportscar debut in January’s Dubai 24 Hours aboard an SPS-run Merc.
“That is really what propelled me and encouraged me to set up the team,” she explained.
The short gestation of Theeba, which is operating out of premises in Banbury near Silverstone, meant the team was not ready for Estoril, where Juffali and Chistodoulou took pro-am victory in each of the two races.
No timeline has been set by Juffali for graduating to Le Mans with Theeba.
“Five years definitely, but I can’t give you an exact time there,” she said.
“Depending on how the team progresses, it could be three years.”
She revealed that the team was already looking to contest some endurance races such as the Spa 24 Hours and the Dubai twice-around-the-clock event.
Juffali explained that she had also been motivated to set-up the team to “improve Saudi Arabian representation and access to motorsport”.
“The reason why I have started the team is that people, Saudis in particular, were reaching out to me and asking how can I get into motorsport, what is your advice?” she said.
Juffali hopes that Theeba Motorsport will in future be largely made up of Saudi nationals
Photo by: Theeba Motorsport
“I always felt I didn’t have the right answer and I couldn’t give them the right guidance: this team started out of that and because I want to give something back.
“The whole idea of the team is to bring Saudis along on the journey and give them a platform to learn and understand the sport.”
Juffali outlined a hope that one day the team will be largely made up of Saudi nationals.
Theeba is planning to establish a second base in the Middle East to run a regional programme in addition to one on the European stage.
“Down the line we want to combine programmes so there is a Middle Eastern programme as well as an international or European one,” she said.
“We want to offer Saudis opportunities closer to home.”
Juffali explained that Theeba is largely funded “by family and friends” at the moment, but that she is reaching out to sponsors in the Middle East to facilitate the team’s growth.
The team is named after Juffali’s teenage nickname, which roughly translates as she-wolf.
Juffali was able to start racing after a royal decree in 2017 from Saudi Arabia’s ruling family allowing women to drive.