Emma Gilmour is well acquainted with both, recently returning from Extreme E’s opening round in the Middle East and jumping back in the driver’s seat at her home event, the Otago Rally.
There is added incentive for Gilmour at this weekend’s rally, after being left gutted last year when time penalties dropped her from third to fifth and she walked away without a podium finish.
"I’d absolutely love to get on to the podium — last year we should have been on the podium," Gilmour said.
The Dunedin driver has plenty to be excited about this year, debuting her new Citroen C3 Rally2 and having good friend Claire Mole, of Scotland, as her co-driver.
Gilmour tested the Citroen last year but at some stage tomorrow, she will rack up the most mileage she has done on the vehicle.
"[Mole] hasn’t sat in it yet, so it’s going to be a big learning weekend for us.
"Just looking forward to it — should be good fun."
"It sort of gave that opportunity for her to come and do the one event with me — it’s very cool.
"The Otago Rally’s pretty special in terms of the countryside we cover and I thought it would be an amazing event for her to do and it would be a great event for us to do together."
Otago Rally had varied terrain with smooth and fast roads, making it a "really special" event.
"It gets a lot of local support as well.
"There’s lots of people out on the stages and it really is sort of the closest you can get to competing an international-style event in terms of the hype around it."
It would be a nice change from fighting five other cars for the first corner at Extreme E, and she expected things to go smoother than in Saudi Arabia.
She had a frustrating start for McLaren, unable to make the grand final in either round, instead winning the consolation race in the first round and finishing P2 in the second.
"It was sort of a battle but I think we learnt from that weekend and I’m sure we’ll come back stronger at the next event in Scotland."
Gilmour is also working with Hayden Paddon’s team, Paddon Rallysport, to run her car.
"It was really exciting because it makes sense.
"He lives just up in Cromwell, the car was kind of based locally and just the expertise and the level of professionalism that they bring — it’s world class, so it’s very exciting."
