Gernas 114, the women’s team from Qatar University’s College of Engineering (CENG), emerged champions in the race category of the recently-held Taqa Hybrid-Electric Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.
With a score of 101 laps in the final race, Marina Ashraf Messiha, Rehab Abdelnasser Ahmad, Batool Sameer Gaben, Chresteen Fareed Baraket, Nouralhouda Tarek Zarga Youn, Sherouk Mohamed Morsi and Elrumisa Hassan Mohamed beat a lineup of more than 100 students from GCC institutions.
These included United Arab Emirates University, Khalifa University, The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi University, Masdar Institute, Nizwa College of Technology (Oman) and College of Technological Studies (Kuwait).
The student participants spent months designing and building single-seater, lightweight hybrid cars in line with race designs and safety rules.  
The men’s team, Gernas 214, finished second in the competition. Abdulla Rafaan al-Yami, Khaled Qahtani, Mohamed Saleh al-Ashqar, Saleh Saeed Safran, Hamad Jassim al-Bahar, Abdulla Rafaan al-Yami and Mohamed Negahdar Khodadady came in 22.32 seconds behind their female counterparts. The team from Nizwa College of Technology was third.
“Congratulations to both teams – we are very proud of them for their hard work and determination. Applause to the women’s team on this wonderful achievement, which demonstrates the growing place women hold in the field of science and engineering,” said Dr Rashid al-Ammari, CENG dean. “The winning students have shown that they have been exposed to a quality teaching and learning environment and that they can hold their own among colleagues from institutions at home and abroad.”
Rehab Abdelnasser Ahmad said: “We had one choice, which was to win.”
Abdullah al-Yami said: “I learned a lot about hybrids, their impact on the environment and society, and about project management.”