Road to Liwa: beyond the drive with the 911 Dakar and Amna Al Qubaisi

An all-terrain Porsche sports car and a local motorsport star cross the desert in search of the famous Liwa Tal Moreeb Festival.

Dubai. Behind the wheel of the 911 Dakar is a face familiar to the UAE’s diverse and fast-growing community of motorsports fans. Amna Al Qubaisi has emerged as a talent to watch in the world of single-seater racing after the young Emirati won two races in the F1 Academy championship last year. As a woman in a male-dominated sport, her rise to sporting prominence could hardly be more impressive or more timely.

Today, however, Al Qubaisi will be far from her natural habitat of the racing circuit. And until recently, the dunes were an unfamiliar place to find a Porsche sports car. But the specially developed lift system of the 911 Dakar offers a remarkable 191 millimetres of ground clearance at speeds of up to 150 km/h. Together with stiffer engine mounts from the GT3, rear-axle steering and PDCC active roll stabilisation, the Dakar promises Al Qubaisi unprecedented athleticism in an environment that was once the preserve of traditional, heavy SUVs.