Formula Female put together a competitive all female team for the Tillotson T4 world cup race at Whiteriver Park, Collon in Ireland.
Each year the top drivers from around the world come together to compete in the Tillotson World Cup.
The all female team comprising of Alyx Coby and Roisin Sweeney, made up the only two female competitors in the male dominated grid of 36 drivers. The Tillotson T4 is a new monobrand chassis with a 4 stroke engine which makes it a more affordable, accessible and fair form of karting. It also means that winning is down to the driver rather than the kart.
Both Alyx and Roisin had strong performances by their own standards. Alyx had some technical issues which meant she missed out on the first heat. Starting 10th for heat 2 she finished 3rd. the combined results of a DNS in heat 1 and 3 in heat 2 meant she would start 14th for the super heat. She made up 10 places to finish 4th and took the fastest lap of the race. Unfortunately more technical problems prevented her from taking the green flag for the final and she missed out on the award for fastest race lap of the day by 7 thousandths of a second. Without the difficulties, Alyx was set for a podium finish. Alyx will return to racing in the Motorsport Ireland X30 Senior Championship this weekend at Pallas Karting.
Roisin Sweeney, is a newbie to karting, having only raced one season in the Tillotson T4. A quick learner, she quickly became a competitive driver in the series taking the fastest lap of the day in the race before the World Cup race.
With little experience at Whiteriver, she repeatedly smashed her personal bests to end the event with her fastest time ever around that track almost 2 seconds quicker than she had ever done. It was an impressive personal victory for Roisin. She battled in the top 6 and 7 of her group throughout the day and made huge progress on her starts.
Both Alyx and Roisin are great examples of powerful female role models, who highlight and endorse the fact that women are well suited for roles in male dominated fields.
We are so proud of both girls and their performances against the top T4 drivers. We believe their efforts and attitude will continue to drive more females forward.