WRC women’s driver development programme winner selected

Claire Schonborn has claimed a fully funded drive in the Junior World Rally Championship after winning the Beyond Rally Women’s Driver Development Programme shootout at Rally Sweden.

The WRC conducted a global search to unearth the next female rally star last year with the programme reaching its culmination in Sweden.

A group of 15 finalists were whittled down to three, featuring Schonborn (Germany), Lyssia Baudet (Belgium) and Suvi Jyrkiainen (Finland) that contested the Central European Rally last October, driving JWRC-spec Ford Fiesta Rally3 cars.

A jury was unable to separate Schonborn and Baudet, which prompted the pair to contest a shootout on Sweden’s snow stages.

Competing on snow for the first time, hillclimb racer Schonborn managed to edge her rival Baudet to finish seventh in the JWRC class, finishing 2m56.3s ahead of the Belgian.

Schonborn’s success came despite suffering intercom failure on the opening stage that required a fix on a road section during Friday’s leg.

“It is unbelievable and at the moment I cannot realise what we have done, so I need to sleep for a day to understand what happened,” said Schonborn.

“To be honest until the last stage it was not that clear for me because we had a gap, but it only takes one puncture and the gap is done. After the last stage we were cheering but until that moment it was hard competition.

“The first stage on Friday morning, the grip level changed so much and nearly every corner was a new grip level. It was really confusing at the beginning but we got comfortable with every metre that we drove and now I’m happy.

“It was a big pleasure to be part of Rally Sweden and we are so happy we finished without any damage, that was the main goal, but now the hard work starts, to participate in the rest of the season for the Junior WRC.”

Schonborn and co-driver Jara Hain will now begin to prepare for a first rally on gravel in Portugal (15-18 May) before subsequent visits to Greece, Finland and Central Europe.

“I have never really driven on gravel before, only one kilometre in one stage but that is a new challenge I have and I can’t wait,” Schonborn added.