Autosport – 22 August 2019

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Massa’s Monaco podium
was one of the season’s
highlights for Venturi

Dare to be Diff erent
inspires girls to look to
motorsport as a career

Wolff relishes out-of-the-
comfort-zone challenge
of team management

I was racing, and I wanted to make sure it was easier for the
next generation than it was for me. Certainly we’ve made big
progress, not just in the events that we do, but also that we do
our community network events, where young girls, whether it
be racers or engineers or journalists, have a support network.
Where we’ve really created opportunity, we get these girls into
work experience in motorsport teams from Formula 1 down to
a national level in the British Touring Car Championship. We’re
really helping to drive female talent in every aspect of the sport. It’s
always diffi cult to quantify in numbers where we are, what numbers
we’re producing, and that’s something that won’t happen overnight.
That’s something that is going to happen more in the longer
term. Motorsport UK, with its new chairman David Richards, has
been incredibly supportive of what we’re doing. And now we’ve
joined forces with the FIA, and become a global organisation,
there is the possibility to go even one step further and really
make sure that the momentum we have is creating change,

that in the medium to long term will create more women
in motorsport, doing great work.

TE You mention the global organisation. What role
does Dare to be Diff erent play in it now?
SW It no longer stands on its own; we’ve become one
organisation with Girls on Track. Everything has come together,
because having these two initiatives running alongside each
other, it was much stronger to join forces. So now, Girls on
Track globally run by the FIA is showcasing what’s possible, but
there is obviously the regional aspect – we’ve got a fantastic
initiative running in Australia already, in the UK, Germany.
Now on a more global scale, it’s making sure other countries
are picking that up because regionally that’s where we can
really have the impact. Going into the schools, getting the girls
to race tracks, going into headquarters of companies who want to
show the diversity and show that they’re supporting change.

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22 AUGUST 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 23

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT
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