FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars: Four Junior and four Senior drivers race through to the decisive Ferrari Driver Academy final in Italy
What is the girls on track - Karting challenge?
Introduction
The FIA, together with nine partners, have implemented in 2018 and 2019 a competition model for the promotion and development of young women in motor sport at grassroots level.
The FIA European Young Women Programme will contribute to the advancement of the FIA’s educational and social roles, and support its national sporting authorities (ASNs) with their motor sport growth as each strive to raise aware of gender equality and increase the participation of women in the sport.
Partners
The eight ASN partners involved in the project were:
Royal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB)
AKK-Motorsport (Finland)
Deutscher Motor Sport Bund E.V. (DMSB, Germany)
Knac Nationale Autosport Federatie (KNAF, Netherlands)
Polski Zwiazek Motorowy (PZM, Poland)
Federação Portuguesa de Automobilismo e Karting (FPAK, Portugal)
Slovenska asociacia motoristickeho sportu (SAMŠ, Slovakia)
Svenska Bilsportförbundet (SBF, Sweden)
In addition, the project was academically partnered by CDES-PROGESPORT at the University of Limoges (the Centre for the Law and Economics of Sport), which will deliver a crucial aspect of the project. The aim of the sociological analysis of the project was initially to monitor the project and make recommendations to the sport's stakeholders and public institutions on how to increase the level of female participation and help fight against stereotypes. This report was presented during the closing conference of the project on 2 October 2019 in Brussels and published in March 2020 on the FIA website.
The project FIA European Young Women Programme was supported by the European Union through the Erasmus + Programme. The European Union supports sport related projects since 2014 in various areas including societal aspects and gender equality.
Objectives
A TWO YEAR PROGRAMME
2018 : The « Girls On Track Karting Challenge »
The FIA European Young Women Programme is launched on 7 March 2018 during the Geneva Motor Show. During the first year the karting slalom events will be promoted to young females between 13 and 18 years at a national level within eight European ASN partner countries. This two year project is based on a cost-effective, arrive and drive karting slalom format : The Girls on Track – Karting Challenge, a new concept currently being developed by the FIA whereby a small tarmac area in a central urban location will be set up with marker cones to create a slalom course.
This format of event, with identical regulations and track layout set up in highly frequented locations, meets those objectives and hopefully hundreds of girls will be inspired to come along and give it a try during these karting slalom weekends. Aside from providing an experience in a kart, the events will also highlight road safety initiatives, open up the work of the FIA, our ASNs and motor sport in general to a new and young audience, and potentially encourage females to get involved in any number of different areas.
2019 : The « Karting Challenge European Final » and the « European Team Drivers Training Camps
At the beginning of 2019, the three fastest girls from each country’s events (24 in total) will then pit themselves against each other at the European Final (Le Mans, 7-10 March 2019) for the chance to be among the six drivers selected for the European Team, who will attend two FIA Drivers Training Camps, where they will be supported through a sporting and educational programme.
On October 2, 2019, the partners will organise the Closing Conference, report on the outcomes of the project to the European Institutions’ officials in Brussels, and host a spectacular karting demonstration involving the European Team selected during the project.
The girls on track ambassadors
Michèle Mouton
Rally Vice World Champion
Tom Kristensen
Susie Wolff
Founder of D2BD
Tatiana Calderón
Development Driver
Launching press conference
The FIA European Young Women Programme was officially launched on 7 March 2018 during the Geneva Motorshow.
During the Geneva Motorshow, the FIA presented the project in the presence of Jean Todt, President of the FIA and Michèle Mouton, President of Women In Motorsport Commission.
Programme ambassadors Susie Wolff and Tatiana Calderón also participated in the event, along with Ambassador Peter Sørensen, Head of the European Union Delegation to the United Nations in Geneva and Mr Nakayama, Global Motorsports Manager of Yokohama.
All the partners involved in the project were also present:
Royal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB)
AKK-Motorsport (Finland)
Deutscher Motor Sport Bund E.V. (DMSB, Germany)
Knac Nationale Autosport Federatie (KNAF, Netherlands)
Polski Zwiazek Motorowy (PZM, Poland)
Federação Portuguesa de Automobilismo e Karting (FPAK, Portugal)
Slovenska asociacia motoristickeho sportu (SAMŠ, Slovakia)
Svenska Bilsportförbundet (SBF, Sweden)
CDES-PROGESPORT (Academic partner- Limoges, France)
NATIONAL SELECTIONS
Each country involved in the project will organise karting slalom events between March and October 2018, inviting all girls from 13 to 18 years old. The events will be set in highly frequented locations, follow identical regulations and track layout.
What is karting slalom?
Karting slalom is a popular sport variant of karting where participants complete obstacle challenges built of cones in a small tarmac area. The slalom can be successfully completed by beginners and focuses on the driver’s dexterity and ability to react.
The national selection events will include three phases:
Phase 1 One practice run
Phase 2 Two timed runs
Phase 3 A motivation interview
To ensure fairness and impartiality, sport coordinators will be present on site.
Our three sport coordinators are Nicolas Klinger, Jutta Kleinschmidt and Tiina Lehmonen.
Aside from providing an experience in a kart, the events will also highlight road safety initiatives, open up the work of the FIA, our ASNs and motor sport in general to a new and young audience, and potentially encourage females to get involved in any number of different areas.
European final at Le Mans
On 7-10 March 2019, the three selected girls from each country’s events (24 drivers in total) will pit themselves against each other at the The Girls On Track Karting Challenge European Final, for the chance to be among the six drivers selected for the European Team.
This event will be an exciting challenge for the participants.
The European Final will take place at Le Mans (FFSA Academy, France), a unique and prestigious location for motorsport.
The Girls On Track Finalists:
Anna Glaerum (Sweden)
Maja Hallén Fellenius (Sweden)
Matilde Fidalgo (Portugal)
Michalina Sabaj (Poland)
Milija Kukkonen (Finland)
Nina Pothof (Netherlands)
Full stories and video here:
Drivers training camp
Following the European Final, the six drivers selected for the European Team attended the FIA Drivers Training Camps, where they received a complete sporting and educational programme.
The aim of the two training camps was to help the young finalists to discover the world of motor sport in its various aspects. The first training camp was organised around the careers available in motor sport, whereas the second one focused on sporting performance.
- The first training camp took place at the World Touring Car Cup in Budapest on 26-28 April 2019
It was structured around the various different careers available in motor sport, in collaboration with the FIA teams present on site, the promoter Eurosport and 5 teams. For 3 days, the finalists were part of a “discovery internship” with an official team, in which one of the racing drivers played the role of mentor over the weekend. In order to complete the training camp, workshops/activities were implemented focusing on different careers accessible in motor sport.
Read the full story here.
- Held over 4 days, the second training camp took place on 3 different sites on 22-25 July 2019 :
- Genk Karting Circuit, Genk (Belgium)
-Adrenaline XPerience, Kekrade (Netherlands)
-Veldhoven Karting Circuit, Eindhoven (Netherlands)
The activities were organised around driving performance and physical aptitude. Given that most of the young finalists had little or no experience of karting, the aim of this training camp was to assess the finalists’ general level and to observe their progress and their potential. In addition, the six finalists attended a workshop led by CDES-PROGESPORT, focused on integrity.
Read the full story here.
Closing Conference
The Closing Conference held in Brussels (Bibliothèque Solvay) on October 2, 2019, presented the numerous events and key outcomes of the project:
• During the project, 22 events were implemented, involving more than 1200 participants across 9 countries during the national selections’ phase; the European final was organised at the iconic location of Le Mans in March 2019; 6 girls selected in the European team participated in the two Drivers Training Camps in 2019: they will be present in Brussels and show their driving skills during a karting demonstration.
• One of the key outcome of the project presented in Brussels was the sociological survey, conducted by the CDES-PROGESPORT (Limoges-France), the academic partner, including a set of recommendations on how to overcome gender stereotypes around sport and better promote gender equality.
The conference started with an opening speeches from Michele Mouton, FIA Women in Motor Sport Commission President, and Jean Todt, FIA President.
They were both very grateful to have the confirmation of distinguished guests and speakers, notably high level representatives from the European Institutions :
- Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Transport
- Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport
Two panel discussions, involving a wide range of sport stakeholders, further explored crucial topics: “making motor sport more accessible at grassroots level” and “how can sport foster gender equality.
Please find here the access to :
- The agenda of the event
- The photos of the event
- The full story of the event
- The sociological survey of the FIA European Young Women Programme
