Autosport – 22 August 2019

From novice, to multi-
discipline racer, to
operations manager of an
international racing team

• all in barely 11 years.
  Michela Cerruti’s career
  is anything but ordinary.
  She only started racing
  aged 21 in 2008, yet two
  years later was competing
  in the Superstars
  International Series. The
  following season she
  became the first (and only)
  woman to win a race in the
  series, achieving a similar
  feat in Auto GP in 2014.
  Her biggest break was a
  short spell in the fledgling
  world of Formula E with
  Jarno Trulli’s team, which
  preceded sportscar and TCR
  forays. Cerruti’s next step
  eff ectively brought her

career full circle, as a move

to head up Romeo Ferraris

(overseeing its racing and

commercial interests),

for which she had been

racing, meant she joined

its management alongside

Mario Ferraris – her first

team-mate, and the man

who’d spotted her potential.

Her journey was far from

straightforward – “at the

beginning I jumped in a car

and drove, but I didn’t know

anything about technique”

• and included what she
  calls “episodes” where she

felt she was being treated

unfavourably, but she

is proud of her part

in inspiring the next

generation. “Even if in some

moments I didn’t feel so

special, there were many

wonderful girls or women

writing to me, to thank me

because I was a role model

for them,” says Cerruti.

Cerruti gave birth to

her first child this year.

But that hasn’t stopped

her essentially working full-

time since. “To be a mum is

the most diff icult thing that

I’ve done in my life – that’s

for sure,” she says. “It’s two

amazing experiences, but I

can do both. I’m really lucky

and happy because I have

a job that I really love.”

JC

Cerruti celebrates

with tin-top ace

Kevin Ceccon

Michela Cerruti

For Betty Klimenko, the
journey to Supercars team
ownership started when
her husband bought a
road-going Porsche. A
high-performance driver
training day that came with
the car whet their collective
appetite for motor racing,
ultimately leading to
the formation of Erebus
Motorsport and forays into
Formula 3 and GT racing.
Propelled by immense
personal wealth from her
late father, retail tycoon
John Saunders, Klimenko
arrived in Supercars at
the end of 2012 with a
sensational buyout of the
Stone Brothers Racing
operation. Right now, the
self-proclaimed ‘team of
rejects’ is one of the best
squads in the category.
Outspoken and

unapologetic, Klimenko

admits that breaking new

ground as a female owner

in the series has come with

its challenges. “Owing a

Supercars team as a female

is totally diff erent to just

working in the sport,” she

says, “because [the other

team owners] aren’t used

to having a woman there.

They are used to PR girls

and promo girls, but

they had to get used to a

diff erent type of thinking.

Women think diff erently to

men. I’d go to an owners’

meeting and they would

all be thinking off to the

left , and I’d throw an

idea out to the right. 

“It was just being able to

accept that a woman does

understand what they are

talking about. You need

to be a bit tougher as a

woman, and a little bit

more aware. You can’t

just get lost in a sea of

men – you stick out.”

While a keen promoter

of women in motorsport,

“It’s never worried

me whether it’s a

male or female. If

they can do the job,

they get the job”

“At the beginning I

jumped in a car and

drove, but I didn’t

know anything

about technique”

Role Operations manager, Romeo Ferraris

Series World Touring Car Cup

Role Team owner, Erebus Motorsport

Series Australian Supercars

Betty Klimenko

including an involvement

in the local arm of the

Dare to be Diff erent

programme, Klimenko

is adamant that nothing

trumps performance in

what is a competitive

team environment.

“I have found there are

more women coming to

races with their husbands,

and more girls coming and

asking me for autographs,”

she says. “That side of

things, that’s great. The

other side doesn’t bother

me. I’ve never seen these

people as boys or girls –

they’re my team.

“It’s never worried

me whether it’s a male

or female. If they can do

the job, they get the job. If

they aren’t good at the job,

they’ll get chucked out.”

AV L

Team boss Klimenko

is involved in Dare

to be Diff erent

FL

AM

AN

D/

DP

PI

22 AUGUST 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 35

A WOMAN’S WORLD