Al Qubaisi Among Six-Strong New Talent Pool Intake

Amna Al Qubaisi will race in Porsche Carrera Cup Asia this season as one of six new arrivals to the one-make series via its Talent Pool program.

The 25-year-old Emirati racer, the daughter of Khaled Al Qubaisi, was named on Tuesday as one of six drivers to have taken part in last November’s Talent Pool assessment test at Sepang to have landed race seats for the upcoming season.

While best known for her single-seater exploits, with two wins in F1 Academy to her name, Al Qubaisi branched out into sports car racing last year with a Ligier European Series campaign, sharing a Team Virage-run JS P4 with her younger sister Hamda, and also appeared in last month’s Michelin 24H Dubai.

Also joining the Carrera Cup Asia grid via the Talent Pool alongside Al Qubaisi this year are Naquib Azlan, ‘Ricky’ Liu Ruiqi, Alex Sawer, Seth Gilmore and Joshua Berry, the son of FIA World Endurance Championship racer Martin.

Liu, Sawer, Gilmore and Berry will all be racing in sports cars for the first time, while Azlan makes the step up from one-make Toyota competition in his native Malaysia and Japan.

Alongside the six new arrivals to the Talent Pool are two returnees: Rodrigo Dias Almeida, who placed fifth in last year’s standings with two podium finishes, and Marco Giltrap, who returns to Carrera Cup Asia after contesting a part-season in 2024.

Series manager Alexandre Imperatori expressed his enthusiasm for the season ahead as Carrera Cup Asia prepares to be the first Carrera Cup series worldwide to run the new-generation 992.2 car when the season begins at Shanghai on March 14-15.

“I’m really excited for the new season to get underway and especially delighted to announce such a strong Talent Pool for the 2026 season,” said Imperatori.

“It’s going to be a massive year with the introduction of the new Porsche 911 Cup (992.2) and we’re really happy to have some incredibly gifted individuals joining us.

“One of our main goals for the 2026 Talent Pool was to detect and recruit younger drivers from the Asia-Pacific region. This is a really important mission for Porsche Carrera Cup Asia and I believe we have succeeded in selecting racers who have the potential to fulfil their dreams of becoming professionals.

“Six of the eight were picked up following the Talent Pool Assessment Test at Sepang last year, and we can’t wait to begin working with them and see them compete against each other and the rest of the field in the upcoming campaign.”

Besides the six new Talent Pool arrivals, last November’s Talent Pool assessment test at Sepang was also attended by Akshay Bohra, Kaleb Ngatoa, Rayan Caretti, Han Cenyu, ‘Dylan’ Jia Zhanbin and Aqil Alibhai.

Two days of pre-season testing will be held at Shanghai on Feb. 28-March 1.