Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Mark Winterbottom supports V8 Supercars search for female drivers

V8 Supercars champion Mark Winterbottom has backed the series' push to fund a full-time female driver, especially if it can attract someone of Formula E racer Simona de Silvestro's calibre

The Swiss driver and local Renee Gracie became the first females to start the series' Bathurst 1000 since 2009 last year.

That wave of publicity has prompted a renewed V8 Supercars push to have a female on the grid full-time, and the series is believed to have secured approximately AU$1 million (£490,000) in sponsorship to help any team put together an entry, almost certainly for 2017 at the earliest.

Melinda Price and Kerryn Brewer alternated events in the last regular female entry, a Larry Perkins-run Commodore, across 1997 and '98.

"I think it's good for the sport if they can find the right girl to come in and race," Winterbottom told Autosport.

"Simona at Bathurst was very, very good. I think if she had a full season, she would be very good.

"Her times for the first time being at Bathurst - first time in that car, with limited running - were really, really quick.

"I think it would be cool for the series to get someone in, and they need to be good and competitive and I think she would be, because she was really impressive.

"It would be interesting and I think the sport needs it, because our following is almost 50-50, male to female.

"Globally, you have Danica [Patrick] over in NASCAR, Simona in Formula E - they're good enough, you've just got to find the right girl that is the right fit to come into the category to do it."

While de Silvestro and Gracie were classified 21st at Bathurst, 40 laps down after Gracie tagged a wall, de Silvestro impressed onlookers with her approach, in a Ford Falcon run by Winterbottom's Prodrive outfit.

"Simona was in there asking, 'why is my car understeering?', 'what do I do here?', asking about brake pressures, she wanted to race," Winterbottom added.

"With more laps she would be very good."

Gracie and Chelsea Angelo will both race in the second-tier Dunlop Series this year, and 2017 would appear the earliest opportunity for a female to enter V8 Supercars full-time, with the '16 grid all-but set.

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Alexandre Premat gets Triple Eight/Red Bull V8 Supercars chance
Next article Craig Lowndes returns from injury in V8 Supercars testing

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe