Female speedsters take on Australia’s ‘Great Race’
BATHURST:
When Swiss ace Simona de Silvestro and co-driver Australian Renee Gracie competed in the Bathurst 1000 “Great Race” last year as a rare all-female duo, they were labelled “pussy wagon” by a male competitor.
But they weren’t daunted. This year the pair are back at the 161-lap 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) endurance contest at Mount Panorama northwest of Sydney-widely regarded as the pinnacle of Australian motorsport-in their second one-off race. The difference this time is that De Silvestro is wielding a three-year full-time contract starting next year from organisers V8 Supercars. Supercars’ chief executive James Warburton said signing the “Iron Maiden”, who has raced in IndyCar, Formula E and as an F1 test driver, in the male-dominated sport was no gimmick.
He has a clear goal in mind-to have at least three full-time female drivers on the grid by 2025, an exciting prospect for up-and-coming talents like Gracie. “I have no doubt Simona will be the first but she won’t be the last,” Gracie told AFP ahead of the race tomorrow. “I’ve never had advice from a female (driver) before because obviously there are none,” added the 21-year-old, who usually competes in the touring car championship’s second tier. “For the first time ever, I have someone to look up to... so it’s great for me and I’m sure other women in motorsport will feel the same.” Last year’s Bathurst 1000 winner Steven Richards, co-driver to veteran Craig Lowndes, believes the 28-year-old’s arrival will encourage more women to take up the sport. “Motorsport is one of the few sports where gender doesn’t make any difference,” Richards told AFP.
“They can look at Simona and go, ‘She’s at the top of her tree, there’s no reason why we can’t do the same’, so I think it’s fantastic.” For life-long fan and local Sonia Boga, the signing could not come soon enough. “Go girl power... We’re just as good as the males, so bring it on,” she said as she lined the main street of Bathurst with thousands of fans to cheer on the drivers in a parade. Driver David Reynolds, who was hit with a Aus$25,000 (US$19,000) fine for his “pussy wagon” comments, this week praised the Swiss as a “well-credentialed driver” but told AFP it could take her some years to “get up to speed... because this category of racing is phenomenally very, very tough”. “I think being the only woman in the field, everybody’s going to look for where the girl finished,” De Silvestro admitted. —AFP