Aoife Raftery’s fellow finalists in Beyond Rally Women’s Driver

Development Programme

Aoife Raftery’s fellow finalists in Beyond Rally Women’s Driver

Development Programme

• 15 candidates from 13 different countries advance to the next stage.

• Training Camp will take place at M-Sport Poland headquarters in

Krakow from 16 – 18 September.

• Three seats available for WRC 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 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.”

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