Gilmour has experience on her side and scores of familiar fans lining the roads for the Drivesouth Rally of Otago over the next three days.
Already this season she has become the first woman to win a leg of a New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) round, at April's International Rally of Whangarei, and she is determined to go one better.
"I want it [to win the whole event] really, really badly."
When Gilmour and her Subaru Impreza STi roar across the start line tonight as the fourth-seeded driver in the Otago rally's opening three stages, it will be her 10th year competing in her local event.
Otago was where it all began for the woman who has achieved a multitude of international rally podiums, was recently made a member of world motorsport's Women and Motorsport Commission, and was named the Motorsport New Zealand media personality of the year last weekend.
She was driving the "zero car" - used in rallying to open the road for the competing cars - and had her now-fiance Glenn Macneall in the co-driver's seat.
"He said, 'If you want to do this as a career, you've got the potential'," she recalled.
Macneall's job as an Asia-Pacific Rally Championship navigator means a conflicting event will take him away from Gilmour this weekend. A fellow Australian, Anthony McLoughlin, has been doing a fine job co-driving for Gilmour this season.
His "very, very professional" approach has helped the pair to hold third place behind two other Subaru drivers in the championship, going into this third round of five events.
Gilmour is a mere point behind Masterton's Richard Mason, who took advantage of his home rally, winning at Wairarapa last month, and only a further four points adrift of Coromandel teen Alex Kelsey, in his open class Impreza.
Now it is Gilmour's turn to return to her rally roots, where Otago's roads suit her style, and the familiarity of competing in her home town boosts her boldness, she said.
"I always like the Otago Rally because I like the high-speed stages and the commitment over the crests.
"The home support is great and there's always lots of well-known faces on the sidelines."
A mostly Dunedin-based crew will provide the mechanical support for the hatchback Subaru she is campaigning for the third season.
Niggling mechanical issues from last year have been ironed out with the help of Palmerston North-based Geof Argyle, who has taken charge of Gilmour's car between events.
"He been a really great addition to the team because of his experience preparing cars and as a rally driver."
