Ligier European Series: Amna and Hamda Al Qubaisi achieve podium finish at Spa-Francorchamps
- LIAM REDFORD
- Aug 25
- 8 min read
Amna and Hamda Al Qubaisi scored their second podium of the season in the Ligier European Series with an excellent comeback drive at Spa-Francorchamps from the Emirati sisters, who displayed fantastic determination to fight back from a difficult qualifying and misfortunes at the start of the races to recover to third and fourth place finishes.
Emirati sisters Amna and Hamda Al Qubaisi scored their second podium finish of the season in the Ligier European Series with an excellent comeback drive at Spa-Francorchamps. After a technical issue dropped Hamda to the rear of the field on the opening lap of race one, a superb second stint from Amna saw the Team Virage duo finish in third position.
After the second qualifying session was cancelled and Hamda was forced to start from eighth in race two, she did an excellent job to avoid multiple first lap incidents before handing over to her sister in a strong position. Amna drove another fast and consistent stint to secure a fourth-place finish to complete the weekend, missing out on their second trip to the rostrum by just two seconds.
At the halfway point of their rookie season in prototype racing, Amna and Hamda Al Qubaisi have shown superb speed and adaptability. The Team Virage duo arrived at Spa-Francorchamps sitting fourth in the JS P4 championship standings having finished the first five races of the season inside the top-7. Racing at Circuit de la Sarthe last time out, the Emirati sisters moved through from 12th on the grid to finish in sixth position at their first start at the legendary circuit.
They were now targeting their second podium finish of the season after first stepping onto the rostrum in race two of the season opener at Circuit de Barcelona. Despite both drivers having competed extensively in single seaters, both Amna and Hamda had limited experience of Spa-Francorchamps prior to the weekend. Therefore, prior testing at the circuit proved important as they looked to further establish themselves as series frontrunners.
The race weekend began on Friday with two free practice sessions held for the Ligier European Series drivers. In session one held early in the morning, Amna and Hamda completed 13 laps with their best time of a 2:25.464 coming on the final lap of the session.
After ending the morning’s running in fourth position within the JS P4 category, the Emirati sisters were able to improve upon their times in free practice two. Amna in particular took a significant step forward with both drivers gaining crucial additional mileage. The Team Virage pair ended Friday’s running in ninth position with a fastest time of a 2:24.598.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and was split into two back-to-back sessions. Hamda Al Qubaisi drove in the first session with cool conditions while there was light rain in the air. Al Qubaisi built up her times throughout the session, before qualifying was ended prematurely due to a red flag caused by the JS2 R machine of Miguel Angel Romero. As a result, Hamda had qualified in eighth position in the JS P4 class with a best lap of a 2:30.375.
The second session followed directly after with Amna Al Qubaisi now behind the wheel. Just three minutes of the session were completed before an incident resulted in the session being red flagged and it was unable to be resumed. As a result, the grid for the second race of the weekend was based upon the fastest times set in the two free practice sessions.
Race one of the weekend was held on Saturday afternoon and following rain showers throughout the morning, the track was damp. This prompted a split tyre strategy across the field with Team Virage starting driver Hamda Al Qubaisi fitting the slick tyres, alongside the majority of the frontrunners. Due to the tricky conditions the race began under the safety car, however misfortune struck as a technical issue caused the Team Virage machine to come to a halt on the Kemmel straight.
Hamda was able to re-fire the car after a brief stoppage, but as a result of the delay she had fallen to the rear of the field. Before the race got underway, Matteo Pianezzola lost control of his Iron Lynx machine while warming the tyres and his Ligier JS P4 car hit the barriers. With the track continuing to dry due to the extended safety car period, a number of those who had started on the wet weather tyres also chose to pit in order to fit the slick rubber.
When the green flag was displayed, Hamda Al Qubaisi ran just inside the top-10 within the JS P4 class while having a large number of the JS2 R machines also ahead of her. As she looked for a way around some of the slower cars, she enjoyed a close battle with Andre Vieira with the ASM Motorsport driver also recovering from an early setback.
Hamda then settled into a rhythm and did a nice job to overtake the majority of the JS2 R cars before the safety car was redeployed on lap six. Championship leader Iko Segret had hit the barriers at the top of Raidillon and his car required recovery. Under the safety car, Hamda improved her position to eighth in class with the pit window opening as the green flag was displayed.
As the drivers returned to full racing speed, there was a split in strategy within the JS P4 class as some teams elected to pit, while Al Qubaisi remained on the circuit. After completing one flying lap, Hamda brought her Team Virage machine to the attention of her crew in fifth position, while sister Amna now got behind the wheel.
Amna rejoined the race in sixth position following the pit stop cycle, however the LR Motorsport machine of Michael Bulzacchelli ahead was under investigation for missing the pit stop window. Early in her stint, Al Qubaisi’s pace was strong despite her limited track time during the day and this was allowing her to match the drivers ahead, while managing the gap to teammate Dario Cabanelas behind.
Amna’s speed through the middle sector was particularly impressive and as a result, she was able to run successive personal best times while maintaining sixth position. As she looked to close in on the battling duo ahead, the safety car was required for a third time after Jude Peters became beached in the gravel following a spin. As a result, Al Qubaisi was inside the top-5 of the JS P4 class as the drivers prepared for one final restart.
The green flag was shown with seven minutes remaining and Amna held her position well through La Source, before 360 Competition driver Kristian Brookes closed in. After defending fifth spot, Al Qubaisi took advantage of a mistake at the final chicane from Luis Carlos Perez Cabello to move into a race-high position of fourth.
The battle for the positions within the top-5 were now extremely closely contested and after Brookes used the slipstream to overtake Al Qubaisi down the Kemmel straight, Perez followed him through. Amna was now running in sixth position and after this small loss of momentum, she did well to resist the challenge from teammate Cabanelas.
As her pace continued to improve in the closing stages, Amna mounted a final lap challenge on Perez Cabello and made a fantastic move at the final chicane to claim fifth position. Her position was improved further after a penalty was awarded to Bulzacchelli and a post-race decision also led to Brookes being penalised, with the Al Qubaisi sisters completing a superb recovery drive to finish the first race of the weekend in third position within the JS P4 category to score their podium result of the season.
Race two at Spa-Francorchamps was held on Sunday morning and with the grid positions based on the combined times from free practice, this led to an eighth-place starting spot for the Team Virage duo. The regulations also stipulated that the driver who set the quickest lap across the practice sessions was required to start and therefore Hamda Al Qubaisi got behind the wheel for the opening stint.
It was a chaotic start to race two as the 360 Competition machine of Kristian Brookes failed to accelerate away from the line and only quick reactions from Hamda ensured she did not make contact with the slowing car. As the drivers approached La Source, Hamda was again on her toes as she took avoiding action to miss two spun cars. Although a JS2 R car made slight contact with the rear of her JS P4 machine, there was minimal damage and Al Qubaisi was able to continue.
The safety car was deployed as a result of these incidents, and due to the contact at the hairpin, Hamda remained in eighth position. After a lengthy cleanup to remove four stricken cars, the race resumed with 45-minutes remaining on the clock. Hamda quickly overtook the JS2 R machine of Florian Tellais before a recovering Pietro Ferri made his way through. After a spin at La Source, Maxwell Dodds was keen to make progress and after he moved his ANS Motorsport machine through, Hamda was in tenth position.
In his attempt to make up for lost time, Dodds went off the track on lap five and became beached in the gravel at turn 12. This resulted in a second safety car period with Hamda now up into ninth position. As the safety car was withdrawn, the pit window opened and Team Virage elected to leave Al Qubaisi out on track while the majority of her rivals completed their mandatory stop.
This was a smart call as Hamda quickly moved up to sixth after Ruben Hage served a drive-through penalty, before she claimed third position prior to her pitstop. Taking full advantage of the clean air, Hamda set the overall fastest lap of the race as she cut the margin to the race leader to just over two seconds. At the beginning of the tenth lap, Hamda pitted to hand over to sister Amna Al Qubaisi for her stint in the Team Virage machine.
Following the conclusion of the pit cycle, Amna was in sixth position and she crucially overtook the slower Pro/Am class machine of Christophe Weber during the stop. As she built tyre temperature, Andre Vieira caught Al Qubaisi and he made his move on lap 11 utilising the slipstream on the Kemmel straight. Vieira then caught Yuki Tanaka and Amna was able to follow the Portuguese driver past the Japanese racer to reclaim sixth position.
Amna then settled into her rhythm while maintaining sixth position in the JS P4 class. Up ahead, Romain Boeckler had been given a ten-second penalty and with the Loire Valley Racing machine also struggling for straight line speed, Al Qubaisi began closing the gap. After Vieira passed Dario Cabanelas on lap 14, Amna also began closing in on her teammate and was quickly within slipstream range.
On lap 15, a personal best time saw Amna cut the gap to less than one second with Al Qubaisi making her move on the following lap. A stunning pass around the outside of Blanchimont saw Amna claim fifth position with the gap to the podium places now only five seconds. Amna’s pace remained strong in the closing stages and she was regularly the fastest drive on track through the middle sector.
With just one lap to go, Amna was half a second behind Boeckler and a fantastic late-braking manoeuvre saw her claim fourth position into La Source. The French racer was unable to respond with his lack of straight-line speed and as a result, Al Qubaisi set off in pursuit of Vieira. Amna just ran out of time to catch the ASM Motorsport machine as she took the chequered flag in fourth position, just two seconds away from the podium places.
It was another hard-charging drive from the Emirati sisters who displayed fantastic determination to fight back from adversity at Spa-Francorchamps. They were rewarded with their second podium finish of the season and were unfortunate not to make it two trips to the rostrum in as many races.
In their debut season in the Ligier European Series, Amna and Hamda Al Qubaisi have shown great adaptability and they will now be looking to continue this form when they visit a new circuit in the form of Silverstone on the weekend of 13th/14th September.
