Female team enters PWRC
An all-female Swedish team has announced plans to make a challenge in the male-dominated sport of rallying in a black-and-pink Mitsubishi Evo X.
The Ramona Racing team, made up of driver Ramona Karlsson and co-driver Miriam Walfridsson, will compete in the Production Car World Rally Championship (PWRC).
"I've been rally driving for ten years and this has always been a dream for me that I've worked for from the beginning. I have to pinch my arm, that it has finally come true," Karlsson said on launching the team at a news conference.
The 31-year-old told reporters she had always dreamed of driving in an all-female team.
"When I started rally driving I was looking for a female co-driver but of course it's difficult. so when I had the luck to meet Miriam I immediately decided I wanted to work with her. As far as I know we're the only women-only team in the World Championship at the moment. That is both fun and unique."
The PWRC is a companion rally series to the World Rally Championship (WRC) and is limited to production-based cars.
Karlsson and Walfridsson have spent the last year securing sponsors and raising funds for the project, and their aim is to finish in the top five of the championship.
Ramona Rallying will contest six of the eight rounds of the championship, with their first race taking place on gravel in Mexico from 8-11 March.
Michele Mouton of France, who was appointed WRC manager last year, is the most successful woman in the history of the championship. She was runner-up in 1982 driving an Audi Quattro.
Pat Moss, the late sister of motor racing great Stirling, was also a successful rally driver in the 1950s and 60s.
In South Africa many women have competed for many years as rally co-drivers, with Megan Verlaque the most successful, winning the 2010 S1400 national championship.