Marwa Aleifa: Steering Success
What are the typical dreams of a little girl? I can cite one. If you are born with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White being read to you before sleeping, then living happily ever after with Prince Charming and a beautiful gown might have been yours. However if you are being called not a princess but Schumacher or St. James, then the race track is your wonderland. That’s what happened to Marwa Aleifa.
Way back, Aleifa, 26 was being called Marwa Schumacher for always pretending to grip a steering wheel. So what would we expect? She is now United Arab Emirates’ top motor racing princess.
Aside from driving as her passion and perhaps, profession Aleifa inspires women to follow her footsteps. She is encouraging women of any race to pursue their racing dreams, compete with racers regardless of gender and mostly do their best to win. As of the moment, the 26 year old lad is UAE’s lone woman driver in the UAE’s motor racing circuit.
"I feel bad that I’m the only woman competing. I want to see women in this profession," she quips and adds, "You never know. You may just have the talent in you. So give it a try."
Marwa started her racing career three years ago after because of a friend’s suggestion. "He said as long as I’m a car freak and drive fast, I can make it."
Because there are very few professional training opportunities for women races in her country, Marwa wasn’t able to attend one. Despite this, she won the First International Women’s Rally car race in Dubai in 2005 competing against 20 women racers.
Since then, Aleifa was offered automotive sponsorships. At present, Aleifa is driving a vehicle by General Motors. She is a consistent participant of the Lumina CSV Championship ME, a regional racing series where racers from all nationalities race against each other. The competition filters the best of the best in the race, functioning like an Acura Integra air filter.
Always keen on improving her skills, Marwa trains herself by racing with professional male racers. "Sometimes I let the guys go past at the turns as some of them are tricky. But once I get the professional training, there will be no mercy. I’m hoping to double the number of cars behind me," she laughs.
Recalling her passion for cars since childhood, she says, "I used to cut out posters of cars and pretend to drive them."
