• Latest
  • Trending

Gilmour initially didn’t think email from Zak Brown was real

March 16, 2022

Respect and Rivalry: Zilisch vs. Van Gisbergen on NASCAR’s road courses

July 18, 2025

Cassidy backs Lawson: “People in motorsport have short memories”

July 18, 2025

Douglas heads to Toronto for penultimate round of USF Pro 2000 season

July 18, 2025
#88: Shane Van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing, Red Bull Chevrolet

Motorsport Diary: Kiwis racing overseas this weekend

July 18, 2025

Ben Stewart impresses in debut Australian Toyota GR Cup weekend at Townsville

July 17, 2025

McElrea denied podium in rollercoaster IMSA race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

July 17, 2025

Liam Lawson beats WRC Champions in impressive rally debut at Goodwood

July 16, 2025

Bamber back on the podium as Toyota endures tough São Paulo return

July 15, 2025
#88: Shane Van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing, Red Bull Chevrolet

“Nobody Can Run With Him”: Denny Hamlin and Co. hail SVG’s road course dominance after Sonoma victory

July 15, 2025

Consistent Hedge claims third-straight P6 at Iowa Speedway

July 15, 2025

Chaos and heartbreak for Kiwis in Porsche Sprint Challenge in Townsville

July 15, 2025
Saturday, July 19, 2025
VelocityNews
Subscribe
  • International
    • Formula 1
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • Formula E
    • Esports
    • Super GT
    • Super Formula
    • TCR
    • WEC
    • GT
    • Porsche Carrera Cup
    • BTCC
    • DTM
    • IMSA
    • IndyCar
    • Road to Indy
    • NASCAR
    • WRC
    • MotoGP
    • Motorcycle Racing
    • Historic Racing
  • New Zealand
    • Toyota Formula Regional
    • Toyota GR86 Championship
    • Rally
    • Speedway
    • Drifting
    • Formula Ford
    • Formula First
    • TCR NZ
    • TransTasman V8 Series
    • V8 Utes
    • GT New Zealand Championship
    • GTRNZ
    • Central Muscle Cars
    • Pirelli Porsche
    • Mazda Racing Series
    • NZ Endurance Championship
    • NIERDC
    • SIERDC
    • Pro8 South Island Series
    • SsangYong Utes
    • Kartsport
    • NZ Historic Racing
    • NZ General
  • Australia
    • Supercars
    • Super2
    • Australian V8 Touring Car Series
    • Porsche Carrera Cup Australia
    • Porsche Sprint Challenge
    • S5000
    • Australian GT
    • TCR AU
  • Features
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Profile
    • Race Cars
  • Circuit News
  • Velocity TV
  • Performance Cars
  • Jobs
    • Jobs
    • Post a Job
    • Job Dashboard
No Result
View All Result
VelocityNews
No Result
View All Result

Gilmour initially didn’t think email from Zak Brown was real

by Samantha Hine
March 16, 2022
in International, News
0

Emma Gilmour became the first woman to drive for McLaren when she made her debut in the Extreme E series alongside co-driver Tanner Foust. 

The Kiwi is the first woman to drive for the team since its inception almost 60 years ago, though she has admitted that she didn’t think the initial email from Zak Brown was real. 

Despite being the team’s debut in the series they were on for a good result in the first round of the championship until a crash for Foust took them out of the final race. 

Gilmour recently spoke to Gulf Business about the series and how her drive came about. 

“I’ll never forget the moment [when they contacted me]. It was an email from [the CEO of McLaren Racing] Zak Brown saying he wanted to speak with me. Initially, I thought it was just a scam email, but then I looked at the footer and realised it was not,” Gilmour said.

“At the time I didn’t quite recognise that I would be the first female [driver signed onto McLaren]. Because I never dreamed of being an F1 driver, I never dreamed of driving for McLaren.”

Extreme E has seen a number of big names in motorsport involved, including Niko Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, who both own teams in the series, while the McLaren team also joined the championship this season. 

The series sees two drivers to each car, one male and one female, in each car, putting equality as well as sustainability at the centre of the championship.  

“It’s a brand-new kind of motorsport. They haven’t taken an existing form of motorsport, electrified it and made it 50- 50 male and female driving ratio,” Gilmour said. 

“F1 is an incredibly tough sport to get into, regardless of gender. There are so many other things that come into play including money, opportunity and timing. There is a lot of female talent out there and that talent pool is growing. We just need to keep feeding that talent pool so that the odds of [women competing] increases,” Gilmour said.

“In no other sport do you have women and men competing in the same equipment and on the same platform. That’s gives the next generation of girls something to aim for. It’s an amazing buzz to be representing a brand like McLaren in a series like Extreme E where you’re flying the flag for women in sport and being the role model for what is possible through never giving up on a dream.”

The second round of the championship will be held in Italy May 7-8.

Main image: Emma Gilmour social media

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact Us

© 2022 VelocityNews - Independent New Zealand and International Motorsport news.

No Result
View All Result
  • International
    • Formula 1
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • Formula E
    • Esports
    • Super GT
    • Super Formula
    • TCR
    • WEC
    • GT
    • Porsche Carrera Cup
    • BTCC
    • DTM
    • IMSA
    • IndyCar
    • Road to Indy
    • NASCAR
    • WRC
    • MotoGP
    • Motorcycle Racing
    • Historic Racing
  • New Zealand
    • Toyota Formula Regional
    • Toyota GR86 Championship
    • Rally
    • Speedway
    • Drifting
    • Formula Ford
    • Formula First
    • TCR NZ
    • TransTasman V8 Series
    • V8 Utes
    • GT New Zealand Championship
    • GTRNZ
    • Central Muscle Cars
    • Pirelli Porsche
    • Mazda Racing Series
    • NZ Endurance Championship
    • NIERDC
    • SIERDC
    • Pro8 South Island Series
    • SsangYong Utes
    • Kartsport
    • NZ Historic Racing
    • NZ General
  • Australia
    • Supercars
    • Super2
    • Australian V8 Touring Car Series
    • Porsche Carrera Cup Australia
    • Porsche Sprint Challenge
    • S5000
    • Australian GT
    • TCR AU
  • Features
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Profile
    • Race Cars
  • Circuit News
  • Velocity TV
  • Performance Cars
  • Jobs
    • Jobs
    • Post a Job
    • Job Dashboard

© 2022 VelocityNews - Independent New Zealand and International Motorsport news.