Amna Al Qubaisi secures back-to-back top-10 with strong Fuji weekend in Porsche Carrera Cup Asia

Amna Al Qubaisi continued to make significant progress in her rookie Porsche Carrera Cup Asia campaign, securing back-to-back overall top ten finishes at Fuji Speedway in the third round of the 2026 season, where she raced at the iconic Japanese circuit for the first time.

Photo credits: Porsche Motorsport Asia

Amna Al Qubaisi continued to make significant progress in her rookie Porsche Carrera Cup Asia campaign, securing back-to-back overall top ten finishes at Fuji Speedway in the third round of the 2026 season. Racing at the iconic Japanese circuit for the first time, the Emirati driver once again showcased her rapid adaptation to GT racing, equalling her career-best result with two highly competitive races in one of the strongest and largest Carrera Cup Asia grids in recent years.

Al Qubaisi has already made history several times throughout her young motorsport career, establishing herself as one of the leading female racing talents from the region while building experience across single-seaters, endurance racing and, from 2026, in GT competitions. The Abu Dhabi native first gained worldwide attention in 2019 when she became the first Arab woman to win a single-seater race, before progressing through the Italian F4 Championship and Formula Regional Asian Championship, where she scored points on debut. She later spent two seasons in F1 Academy, collecting two victories and four podium finishes.

In 2025, Al Qubaisi stepped up to sportscar racing alongside her sister Hamda in the Ligier European Series, where the pair secured three podium finishes in their rookie campaign and ended the season fourth in the championship standings. Her performances earned her selection into the Porsche Talent Pool Asia, making her both the first Arab and the first Arab woman to join the prestigious programme.

The daughter of accomplished GT racer Khaled Al Qubaisi, Amna has increasingly focused on GT and endurance racing in recent seasons, including an appearance at the 24 Hours of Dubai earlier in 2026, before stepping up to Porsche Carrera Cup Asia with Team Jebsen for her first full campaign in Porsche 911 GT3 Cup machinery.

After an encouraging debut at Shanghai, where she finished 13th in the Pro class, Al Qubaisi claimed her maiden top ten at Zhuhai with a ninth place, and she carried that momentum into Fuji as the championship returned to the Japanese venue for the first time in several years. The weekend also marked Amna’s first experience at the fast and technical circuit, against a highly competitive 30-car grid.

The Emirati driver immediately showed strong pace in practice. In FP1, she clocked a 1:44.208 lap to place 10th in the Pro class and 16th overall. She then made a major step forward in FP2, improving to a 1:41.670 to finish 10th overall and eighth among the Pro entries, in one of her strongest performances to date.

Saturday morning qualifying brought another positive step. In Q1, Al Qubaisi set a 1:42.435 lap to secure 10th in the Pro class and 15th overall on the grid. She improved again in Q2, posting a 1:41.501 that put her back inside the overall top ten and eighth in the Pro category, confirming the progress she had made throughout the weekend despite some traffic.

Race 1 featured a chaotic opening lap when contact at Turn 1 sent a couple of cars into spins. Al Qubaisi reacted well, making a strong launch and immediately taking the inside line to avoid the incidents ahead. She settled into the fight for the overall top ten and moved up to ninth in class, battling closely with the AM-class Porsche of Wu Jiaxin. Amna cleared Wu on the second lap, but soon found herself fighting with the ProAm car of Wang Zhongwei while maintaining ninth position among the Pro entries.

Behind her, Seth Gilmore recovered from the opening-lap contact and worked his way through the AM and ProAm traffic before closing onto the rear of the Team Jebsen Porsche. Al Qubaisi, however, defended strongly and consistently stayed within one second of ProAm leader Wang Zhongwei throughout the race while maintaining a comfortable margin over Gilmore.

The Emirati racer delivered another clean and mature performance, remaining calm under pressure and avoiding mistakes as she crossed the line 10th overall and ninth in the Pro class. Post-race penalties later promoted her to ninth overall as well, allowing Al Qubaisi to equal her career-best finish in the championship.

Photo credits: Porsche Motorsport Asia

Sunday morning brought sunny weather conditions for Race 2, with Al Qubaisi once again starting from a strong position in ninth among the Pro drivers and 10th overall. The start was particularly busy in the midfield, but she negotiated Turn 1 cleanly and slotted into 11th overall while retaining ninth in class. Avoiding trouble once again, she tucked in behind Lu Wei’s leading ProAm car, while Wang Zhongwei made an excellent launch to take over the ProAm lead and gain a position overall.

Amna remained in the battle for the overall top ten, running in a tightly packed group of cars. Meanwhile, Pro-class driver Joshua Berry recovered through the field after passing several ProAm competitors and began closing onto the rear of Al Qubaisi’s Porsche. Despite the pressure, Amna initially retained her position.

On lap six, John Shen stopped his car off-line, though the race initially remained green. One lap later, Berry eventually completed a move at Turn 1 to take 10th in the Pro class from Al Qubaisi just before the safety car was deployed for Shen’s stranded machine near Turn 2.

When the race resumed at the end of lap nine, Al Qubaisi came under renewed pressure but defended confidently and continued to run cleanly in the midfield battle. Further ahead, Liu Wei ran wide at the final corner on lap 10 and dropped down the order, while Gilmore was handed a penalty for gaining an advantage off track.

Those developments promoted Al Qubaisi back up to 11th overall and 10th in the Pro class, before she was later classified 10th overall as well, securing her first back-to-back overall top ten finishes in Porsche Carrera Cup Asia.

Reflecting on another encouraging weekend, Al Qubaisi highlighted the progress she continues to make in her first GT racing season: “Every round feels like another step forward and I’m proud of the progress and improvements being made with each race weekend,” she said.

“Qualifying didn’t go exactly how I wanted after some traffic, but still had my best qualifying through the season with a P10/30. I’m proud of how far I’ve come and the direction we’re heading in.”

After three rounds, the Team Jebsen driver now sits 10th in the overall championship standings with 32 points as she continues to gain experience against some of Asia’s top Porsche one-make racers.

The Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season will continue on 4–5 July at Thailand’s challenging Bangsaen Street Circuit for the fourth round of the championship.