After years of international travel, she’s settled in Dunedin, with a good man by her side. Her Suzuki dealership is ticking along, and she has a proven rally car in her garage and a world-class team to run it.
The contrast to this time last year is stark. In April 2024, Gilmour was still recovering from a head injury received while she was racing for McLaren in the Extreme E series. She was teaming up for the first time with her new co-driver and was embarking on her first full rally season in her Citroen WRC2 C3 rally car.
As he was then, her partner Gary Dawkins will be in her corner next weekend, assisting with the physical and mental preparation needed to be confident hurtling along gravel roads at up to 200kmh. With a background in high performance, exercise physiology and neurological programming, Dawkins travels to every rally with Gilmour.
"It’s great to have Gary’s support, especially coming back from the injury and also on event. He helps me with getting race ready on the day and having him in my corner is just a really nice thing," she said.
They most recently paired up at the Southern Lights Rally last June but their working relationship goes back to 2019, when Searcy navigated for her in her previous Suzuki rally car.
"He is an absolute professional and has a huge amount of experience. I know having that consistency for the whole year will be great," Gilmour said.
Consistency is Gilmour’s goal for the year, which will see her contest three NZRC South Island rallies, followed by three in the North Island.
"The focus is on consistency this year and getting the points. It’s all about doing the best we can at every event — that’s the aim for this season," she said.
"When you come and work with Hayden’s team, it’s one of the best teams you could run with in the world. Hayden is amazing to work with and he really is trying to help me get the most out of the car. Ollie’s been consistently on my car for the past few years and due to having now had the Citroen for a year and a-half, it needed a pretty good birthday this off season. So, the Paddon Rallysport team and Ollie have done a lot of work over the summer to have it ready for the first round," she said.
Traditionally the national championship opener, Otago remains an elusive rally for Gilmour to conquer. Of course, she’d absolutely love to win her home event, and no-one piles the pressure on to do so more than she does.
"I love Otago because I have the local support and it’s the best event in New Zealand with how well it’s run and the stages. I’m looking forward to it, but I can only do my best and I’ll be happy at the end of the day if I’ve done my best and hopefully get a good result."
Gilmour and Otago have history. It was the first event she ever contested — driving the zero car — over 20 years ago. As much as she enjoys the well-lauded gravel stages and eagerly anticipates pitting herself against them every year, this gruelling, two-day stamina-tester has always exacted a harsh price.
There have also been some strong Otago results for Gilmour over the years, with several finishes inside the top six, including taking runner-up honours in 2007 and 2010, and third place in 2012.
Contributing to 2025 perhaps being Gilmour’s best shot, is 10-time Otago Rally-winner Paddon’s decision to drive a Ford Escort in the Otago Classic Rally.
But nothing is guaranteed.
"You know, motorsport’s a cruel mistress and it doesn’t matter how great everything looks on paper. It’s a tough event and I really just want to enjoy it."
