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INSIGHT EXTREME E 40 AUTOSPORT.COM 7 JANUARY 2021 headlines, the likes of Price, Molly Taylor (Rosberg Xtreme Racing) and Catie Munnings (Andretti United) will have an invaluable opportunity to demonstrate their talents to audiences who may never have heard of them, and to become stars of the series in the way unheralded Formula 1 refugees such as Sebastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi became the standard-bearers in Formula E. Unsurprisingly, the “revolutionary” sporting format, which requires both the male and female driver to complete one lap in each heat, has the full support of FIA Women in Motorsport Commission president Michele Mouton. “For many years we have been striving towards gender equality and equal opportunities in the sport,” she said at the launch. “Extreme E is supporting this philosophy and has taken a concrete action that highlights female racers’ competence, and it’s for me a very important element. We are really supporting seeing more women competing in a mixed environment and we are extremely pleased with this great opportunity for them.” There can be no doubt that XE’s stance points to an encouraging shift in the opportunities being provided to female participants in motorsport, but there will always be critics who deride it as a case of artificial positive discrimination. Surely, according to their logic, if a woman was good enough to be selected on merit then a team would do so without being forced to. But the reason for Extreme E taking this bold stance for equality is a simple one: lack of funding and visibility of female drivers is creating a vicious circle that means the talent pool is far smaller. This will take time to resolve but, as Agag reasons, “it’s a task that’s worth it”. THE PROBLEM In three of the four years between 2010 and 2013, there were four female drivers on the starting grid for the Indianapolis 500. But in 2020 there were none, for the first time in two decades. The impact of COVID-19 certainly played its part in Pippa Mann being unable to continue her run of seven consecutive appearances at America’s biggest race, but hardly explains why the Indianapolisbased Brit was the only one in a position to continue the streak started by Lyn St James in 2000. Mann has become a specialist in one-off deals at the 500 since graduating from Indy Lights in 2011, and found most success with sponsors based near to the Speedway, having discovered larger companies to be a closed door unless “they have a vested interest in potentially supporting women, which narrows my field significantly”. It shows that things have changed little since the start of St James’s own Indy foray – the long-time IMSA racer famously had 150 sponsorship proposals rejected over a four-year spell before snaring JC Penney and becoming rookie of the year in 1992. “The biggest hurdle still in my opinion for any racing driver, whether male or female, is the sponsorship side and literally being able to find the money to keep competing,” says Mann, who recently announced that she will contest the 2021 Nurburgring 24 Hours as Mann’s run of seven successive Indy 500 entries was curtailed by COVID MILLER
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Floersch contested FIA Formula 3 last season for Campos Racing HONE EXTREME E INSIGHT “EXTREME E HAS TAKEN A CONCRETE ACTION THAT HIGHLIGHTS FEMALE RACERS’ COMPETENCE” part of the Girls Only TCR team that, as well as drivers, is staffed by an all-female crew of mechanics and engineers. “But for women in motorsports specifically, that presents additional hurdles, because we’re effectively pitching still to a mostly male audience who’s controlling the money. And with all human beings, let’s be honest, it’s much easier to relate to someone who is more like you. “Plus, you still have the lingering stereotypes that may not be directly affecting the person who is making the decision, but the person deciding whether to award this sponsorship money and who is going to get it has to do so based on what’s best for their brand. And there’s still that small but relatively vocal portion of the population who certainly make themselves heard when female race car drivers are involved. It’s different if I am involved in a crash, whether it’s my fault or not, than if a male driver is 90% of the time. That’s just a fact.” “It’s no secret that motorsport is really expensive,” agrees Formula 3 racer Sophia Floersch, who broke into sportscars last year with the all-female Richard Mille Racing LMP2 team. “If your parents don’t have the money every single year to pay €1-2million, or partners or sponsors or people like Richard Mille believing in your story, that’s where it gets more diffi cult for women because there is never a really performing woman in top motorsport ranks where sponsors see that women are actually able to do it. “So sponsors are like, ‘Yeah, but first you have to prove it’, and you don’t just have to prove it once, you have to prove it five times that you’re actually as quick as the men. And it’s like a circle, because you are not able to win a race if you don’t have the same test days as the others. Even if you have testing bans in F3 or F2 or whatever, people can still find a way to go around those things. So I think that’s the biggest issue, that women are not getting the same sponsorship deals.” Sportscar stalwart Katherine Legge says that she’s “been around long enough and bullied enough people into believing me” that she can match her male counterparts, but struggled all the way through her Champ Car, DTM and Indycar careers to open doors with teams that could give her a chance of winning. And that, she agrees, is part of the problem. “We would all get opportunities, but it wouldn’t be with the Ganassis and the Penskes of this world,” she says of her time with PKV, Dale Coyne Racing and Dragon in Indycars. Mann, a member of US-based female collective Shift Up Now, which aims to help more women get opportunities in motorsport, 7 JANUARY 2021 AUTOSPORT.COM 41

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Floersch contested FIA Formula 3 last season for Campos Racing

HONE

EXTREME E INSIGHT

“EXTREME E HAS TAKEN A CONCRETE ACTION THAT HIGHLIGHTS FEMALE RACERS’ COMPETENCE”

part of the Girls Only TCR team that, as well as drivers, is staffed by an all-female crew of mechanics and engineers. “But for women in motorsports specifically, that presents additional hurdles, because we’re effectively pitching still to a mostly male audience who’s controlling the money. And with all human beings, let’s be honest, it’s much easier to relate to someone who is more like you.

“Plus, you still have the lingering stereotypes that may not be directly affecting the person who is making the decision, but the person deciding whether to award this sponsorship money and who is going to get it has to do so based on what’s best for their brand. And there’s still that small but relatively vocal portion of the population who certainly make themselves heard when female race car drivers are involved. It’s different if I am involved in a crash, whether it’s my fault or not, than if a male driver is 90% of the time. That’s just a fact.”

“It’s no secret that motorsport is really expensive,” agrees Formula 3 racer Sophia Floersch, who broke into sportscars last year with the all-female Richard Mille Racing LMP2 team. “If your parents don’t have the money every single year to pay €1-2million, or partners or sponsors or people like Richard Mille believing in your story, that’s where it gets more diffi cult for women because there is never a really performing woman in top motorsport ranks where sponsors see that women are actually able to do it.

“So sponsors are like, ‘Yeah, but first you have to prove it’, and you don’t just have to prove it once, you have to prove it five times that you’re actually as quick as the men. And it’s like a circle, because you are not able to win a race if you don’t have the same test days as the others. Even if you have testing bans in F3 or F2 or whatever, people can still find a way to go around those things. So I think that’s the biggest issue, that women are not getting the same sponsorship deals.”

Sportscar stalwart Katherine Legge says that she’s “been around long enough and bullied enough people into believing me” that she can match her male counterparts, but struggled all the way through her Champ Car, DTM and Indycar careers to open doors with teams that could give her a chance of winning. And that, she agrees, is part of the problem. “We would all get opportunities, but it wouldn’t be with the Ganassis and the Penskes of this world,” she says of her time with PKV, Dale Coyne Racing and Dragon in Indycars.

Mann, a member of US-based female collective Shift Up Now, which aims to help more women get opportunities in motorsport,

7 JANUARY 2021 AUTOSPORT.COM 41

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