Race Week for Women in Motorsport – F1 Academy Round 2, WMX Round 3, and 12 Hour Spa-Francorchamps. All women are perfectly geared to battle race tactics, skill, and experience on track across the varying FIA and FIM disciplines confirming that female driver’s, rider’s and racer’s are anything less than complacent when pursuing forward movement in their respective careers.
The debut of F1 Academy for Women last weekend at Red Bull Ring gave opportunity for 15 female driver’s to extend their race capabilities under 5 Teams whose affiliation with F2 and F3 calendar brings plenty of credibility to the 7 Round Series.
For sure, the Team’s line-up of 3 driver’s each ranges from experienced WSeries driver’s – Marta Garcia, Nerea Marti, Abbi Pulling, Emely de Heus, Bianca Bustamante, and Megan Wilkes, to sister’s Amna and Hamda Al Qubaisi who both competed in Italian F4 Championships and F4 UAE.
Younger driver’s across all Teams: ART Grand Prix, Campos Racing, MP Motorsport, Prema Racing and Rodin Carlin are equally up for the challenge of pushing their talent to the max against highly competitive field.
British driver’s Jessica Edgar and Chloe Chong – at mere 16 years of age finished P4 and P8 respectively in Round One R1 along with Lola Lovinfosse rounding out top 10. Swiss driver Lena Buhler and ART Grand Prix team-mate Carrie Schreiner completed R3 in P6 and P7, with British driver’s Jessica Edgar and Chloe Grant finishing inside top 10 on P8 and P9.
Given the unfortunate incident of disqualifying Carlin Rodin driver Abbi Pulling from Pole – due to car technicality infringement- full credit goes to Prema Racing driver Marta Garcia for taking R1, R3 and the overall win of F1 Academy Round 1. All eyes turn to this weekend racing Round 2 at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain.
2023 Women Motocross World Championship Round 3 takes place this weekend in Spain with plenty of anticipation on who will take top honours come Sunday. With racing and points so close, qualifying, starts, and racing on the hard pack track with few mistakes will no doubt be key focus for women standing at top of Championship points table.
Dutch rider Lotte van Drunen has made spectacular debut season in 2023 WMX holding the Red Plate having posted 2 wins and 3rd podium from 4 races. Mere 1 point behind on Championship table, NZ’s Courtney Duncan has finished P3, P4, P1, and P2 standing on 85 points with Spanish rider Daniela Guillen tied on 85, taking her first race win in Round 1 at Sardinia in March.
For Lotte, racing 2022 EMX 125cc season has most certainly given the 15 year old all necessary taste of what is needed to compete against fiercely competitive field. Speed is her forte, along with grounded, determined mind-set which blocks out any disruptions on race day.
All of which suggests, changing of the guard on who stands top of WMX podium is for real. Guillen and Australia’s Charli Cannon are on the throttle, and not afraid to punch above their weight against the more seasoned rider’s of Duncan, defending WMX Champion Nancy van de Ven, Larissa Papenmeier, Sara Andersen, Amandine Verstappen, Lynn Valk and fellow Dutch rider Shana van der Vlist.
And, for the history books, WMX 6x Champion Kiara Fontanesi, mother of #2 daughters – Skyler and Alaska returns with vengeance on making her mark on the track. Kiara has to be admired for her sheer mental prowess at overcoming all odds to gain physical fitness to race up front, as confirmed when she claimed in Round 2 R1 of P2 and in R2 finishing in P5.
The careful preparation and strategy to enable 18 year old Aliyyah Koloc to unlock her full potential on the track has to be measured in terms of her racing achievements across varying disciplines. From her father’s love of racing Trucks, to Aliyyah’s elation of seated behind the wheel, the Czech-Emirati driver tops the chart on what she has achieved in off-road and circuit racing.
Breaking land speed record from standing start over 500 metres, to racing Trucks, GT4 Championship, Endurance circuit racing and the ultimate 2023 Dakar Rally, Aliyyah holds exceptional talent under her watchful guidance of her father’s Buggyra Racing Team.
Not deterred by the force of entering unfamiliar race territory, Aliyyah presents formidable presence on track, not least when she lines up with fellow driver’s David Vrsecky and Adam Lacko in 2023 12 Hour Spa-Francorchamps this weekend. Watch this space.
Great group of Women in Motorsport competing this weekend for the sole benefit of furthering their respective careers.
Header photo: Courtney Duncan and Lotte van Drunen WMX. Image: @shotbybavo
Words: Sharon Cox.
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