Hamda Al Qubaisi will race in Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2022 with Prema Racing, with the Emirati driver stepping up from Formula 4.
Al Qubaisi made her single seater car debut back in 2019 and has shown her competitiveness throughout her time in racing, with multiple wins coming in the F4 UAE Championship, a record for any female racing in Formula 4 across the globe, as well as a podium finish in the competitive Italian Formula 4 championship last year.
She entered the Formula Regional Asian Championship to prepare for her main campaign in FRECA this year, and she is delighted to be remaining with Prema for another year.
“I’m very excited to be working with PREMA Racing for my first season in FRECA,” said Al Qubaisi. “I’m looking forward to building on what I learned in the Formula Regional Asian Championship and continuing to progress and improve.”
Al Qubaisi becomes Prema’s fourth driver for the 2022 season, with teams allowed to run four cars if the fourth driver is female. She joins Paul Aron, Dino Beganovic and Sebastian Montoya, all of which have been confirmed for the upcoming season.
Rene Rosin, the Team Principal at Prema Racing, is proud to see the progress Al Qubaisi has made during her short career, and he believes she will continue that development into 2022.
“We are proud to see Hamda make such a major step in a driver’s career,” said Rosin. “Moving up from Formula 4 brings a lot of new challenges but we know her ability and level of commitment.
“She started with the right foot in the Asian Formula Regional Championship and are looking forward to seeing that potential translate to FRECA as well. We are happy to continue working with her in what I think is a very interesting four-driver line-up.”
She becomes the second female driver to be confirmed for 2022 after Belén García was confirmed for a partial campaign with G4 Racing, while both Léna Bühler (R-ace GP) and Abbi Pulling (MP Motorsport) participated in pre-season testing.