Dunedin rally driver Emma Gilmour was the ideal person to create some motorsport history yesterday.
Gilmour became the first female driver to stand on a podium for the McLaren team in any form of racing when she and American co-driver Tanner Foust finished second at the Uruguay round of the Extreme E series.
Gilmour was at the wheel for the second half of the final of the all-electric off-road series near Punta del Este.
It was also a first podium in two years of Extreme E action for McLaren, and given the team’s link to New Zealand motorsport great Bruce McLaren, it was appropriate a Kiwi played a role.
"Ending on the podium today was amazing," Gilmour told the McLaren website.
"It wasn’t the easiest weekend for us, but from a roll in free practice 1 to being on the podium, it’s an amazing way to finish our first season.
"It’s been a huge team effort. This team is simply amazing. It was a lot of fun out there this weekend even though it was really challenging."
The ABT Cupra XE team of Klara Andersson and Nasser Al-Attiyah won their first race this season in Uruguay.
Gilmour and Foust, who were just sixth in the first qualifying time trial but improved to third in the qualifying race heat and second in the semifinal, were 3.427sec behind in second place to clinch fifth overall in the 10-team championship.
Overall champions Sebastien Loeb and Cristina Gutierrez, representing the Lewis Hamilton-backed X44 Vida Carbon Racing, were third in the final race.
— Cromwell-based Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard won the title-deciding Asia Pacific Rally Championship event around Australia’s Coffs Harbour at the weekend.
It was a winner-takes-all end to the season with Paddon’s one of six teams vying for the title.
Tackling the 14-stage course threaded through some sections previously used by the World Rally Championship event, it was far from a straightforward result for the Kiwi pairing.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing team cars of brothers Harry and Lewis Bates were hot-footing it with Paddon right from the start, while chasing double glory to secure the Australian Rally Championship title at the same event.
A damaged turbo hose and broken driveshaft softened Paddon’s early lead, and a penalty for extra time taken to repair the car dropped him down the order.
He regained the lead after the 11th stage and did not let it go.
"This is exactly what we came here to do, so it is pretty cool," Paddon said.
"There was a lot of pressure when it is all on the line. There is a lot of history with the championship and some big names that have won it previously.
"Given the last New Zealand champion was Possum Bourne, it is pretty humbling to be the next name on the list.
"For a time on Saturday, we thought we lost our grasp on the title, but we got there in the end."
Paddon finished just over 4min ahead of Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin, who secured the Australian title.
Paddon and Kennard, the first APRC champions to be crowned since 2019, will be formally recognised at the FIA prize giving.
