WRC – Finalists for Beyond Rally Women’s Driver Development Programme announced

Fifiteen candidates from 13 different countries advance to the next stage and will join a Training Camp at M-Sport Poland headquarters in Krakow from 16-18 September. Three seats will be available for the WRC’s Central European Rally in October.

WRC Promoter has selected the 15 female applicants for the next step of its Beyond Rally Women’s Driver Development Programme who will meet next month to prove themselves worthy of one of three available seats in a Rally3 car at October’s WRC Central European Rally.

The candidates, selected from an excitingly global list of applicants, will attend a three-day training camp from 16 – 18 September at M-Sport Poland’s Krakow headquarters where they will seek to prove their rally preparedness, mechanical knowledge, media nous and driving ability on mixed surfaces.

The camp will be run by a team of rallying experts and a panel of judges, including FIA Women in Motorsport Chairwoman Burcu Çetinkaya, will be responsible for selecting the most promising three drivers to contest October’s Central European Rally, the penultimate round of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship. They will compete in M-Sport Poland-prepared Ford Fiesta Rally3 cars in a fully supported programme.

Following on from Central European Rally, a driver will be selected for a fully supported campaign in the 2025 FIA Junior WRC.

The successful applicants, from a diverse range of motorsports backgrounds, represent 13 countries across three continents.

The 15 successful applicants are:
• Lyssia Baudet – Belgium
• Emma Chalvin – France
• Ann Felke – Germany
• Joanna Hassoun – Lebanon
• Mako Hirakawa – Japan
• Hannah Jakobsson – Sweden
• Suvi Jyrkiäinen – Finland
• Luz Marina – Spain
• Nuria Pons – Spain
• Aoife Raftery – Ireland
• Claire Schönborn – Germany
• Madelyn Tabor – USA
• Alexandra Teslovan – Romania
• Hanna Lisette Aabna – Estonia
• Dorka Zagyva – Hungary

“We were completely overwhelmed by the number and quality of applicants,” expressed WRC Promoter’s Senior Director of Sport Peter Thul. “Selecting the final 15 was an incredibly challenging task and there were some difficult calls to make.

“We do not want any of the unlucky candidates to be discouraged and we do hope they will apply again in the future as we are absolutely committed to this programme for multiple years. We are now excited to focus on next month’s training camp.”