Club RallyClassicsorganizer of benchmark events in classic motorsports such as the Rally Motul Costa Brava and the Porsche ClassicSeriesHe has launched MotorDonaa program designed to promote female participation and talent in these and other events throughout the season.
MotorDona It is a three-year program (2022-2024) that will begin in 70 Rally Motul Costa Brava, from March 17 to 20 in Girona. This test, the dean of rallies in Spain, is a scoring event for the European, Spanish and Catalan Historic Rally Championships, and will have 181 participating teams from all over the continent.
At the 70 Rally Motul Costa Brava 13 female pilots and 46 female co-pilots will participatea fact that positions this rally as a benchmark for female participation at a continental level, and is a great starting point for the program.
The MotorDona program
in motor sports the female role is undergoing a great evolution in recent yearsa trend that the MotorDona program will work to transfer to classic motorsports, both in terms of the participating teams and in the other areas of organization of the tests.
alex romanypresident of Club RallyClassics: “andn RallyClassics we have been working for a long time to give visibility to female talent, using our own organization as an example. At the Motul Costa Brava Rally, positions of high responsibility such as Head of Medical Services (Dr. Anna Carreras), Chief Technical Commissioner (alexandra santamaria) or Secretary of the test (Tere Armadans), among many others, are occupied by women with long experience and a great career in motorsports. Now we want to take a step forward and work so that in our tests we have more female drivers and co-drivers, but also mechanics, engineers, team leaders or marshals, to name a few examples. We are convinced that the classic tests are a good entry point for women in motor racing, due to the ease of participating as an amateur, without the need for previous experience, and because they are well-regarded vehicles and highly appreciated by the public”.
Great female participation in the 70 Rally Motul Costa Brava44 women (4 drivers and 40 co-drivers) participated in the 69 Rally Costa Bravaheld in November 2021. The first objective was to present the MotorDona program accompanied by an increase in these figures, and the support that this initiative has received has been enormous, since the number of female pilots will triple (13) compared to the previous edition, and the number of female co-drivers will also increase (46).
Motul, together with Riki Cars, will launch a new women’s team which will have 4 classic vehicles that will participate in the category of Regularity. At the wheel of these vehicles will be the journalist and motorcycle driver Judith Florensa with the co-driver of Rallyes TT Jacqueline Ricci (Autobianchi A112 Abarth); Fine Romanwith more than 20 years of links to the Dakar Rally, a test in which he has participated in both cars and trucks, together with Yaiza Jimenezwinning co-driver of the Initiation team of the Gironina Cup of Regularity 2021 (Fiat Uno Turbo); Sandra Iniesta, Marketing Director of Motul Ibérica (Mini 1000); and Margot LloberaAndorran Rally-Raid pilot, with the Spanish Champion of Regularity in 2016 Laura Pedrosa (Fiat One Turbo).
Motul, together with Riki Cars, will launch a new women’s team
| RallyClassics
Porsche Center Barcelona will be present at the rally with two women’s teams in the Regularity category. With a Porsche 964 will be Mercè Martíthe driver who has made history in the 2022 Dakar Rally at the wheel of the 100% female first team, precisely with Margot Llobera to his right at that time. This will be his debut in the Regularity Rallies and he will do it together with the experienced navigator Nuria Bergel. At the wheel of the team’s second car, a Porsche 944, will be the 2020 Division III Autocross Champion of Spain Ares Lahozaccompanied in this new challenge by the Belgian co-driver Ingrid Peters.
Porsche Center Barcelona will be present at the rally with two women’s teams
| RallyClassics
For its part, among the six cars that the Historic SEAT team will move to the 70th Rally Motul Costa Brava there will be for the first time two with entirely female crews participating in Regularity: at the wheel of the 124 Sport 1600 will be the model Renata Zanchí and the writer fiona ferrerwhile the motor journalist Telva Somoza will drive the 1200 Sport “Bocanegra”, with the experienced Anna Vives as co-pilot.
They have also confirmed their participation in the rally Belen Garcia and Sonia Ledesma. The young Catalan driver, who in 2021 competed in the W Series and Formula Regional Europe, will debut in the world of classics and regularity accompanied by Sonia Ledesma, Spanish Off-Road Regularity Champion in 2019, with an Autobianchi A112 Abarth Prepared by Garage International.
Other equipment with great experience in rallies will be in the test, like the Monegasques Tiffany Perlino / Michelle Perlino (Opel Kadett GTE, Speed category), the Italians Marina Orlandi / Mariarosa Vicari (Lancia Beta Montecarlo, Regularity category), Christina Gomez (Fiat Uno, Regularity category) and Pigeon Meseguer (Volkswagen Golf GTI, Speed category).
Maria LanzonDirector of the Women and Motor Commission of the Royal Spanish Automobile Federation: “I only have words of appreciation for this brilliant RallyClassics initiative, which is firmly committed to female talent and to making visible the efforts of all the women who are part of our sport. The Rallyclassics and Rally Motul Costa Brava team is carrying out exemplary work in terms of inclusion and equality, which will surely serve as an example and inspiration for other automobile events”.
The future of the MotorDona program
Although this program will not officially debut until the 70th Motul Costa Brava Rally, RallyClassics is already working on new actions that will take place throughout the season, in events such as the Navarre Classic Festival (June 10-12), the XIX Rally Costa Brava Històric by Motul (October 27-30) and the Porsche ClassicSeries.
The MotorDona program is possible thanks to the collaboration of General Secretary of Sport and Physical Activity of the Government of Catalonia, Girona City Council, Girona Provincial Council, Motul, Riki Cars, Porsche Center Barcelona, Porsche Center Girona and SEAT.