More Female Racers Season 4 delivered top tier entertainment coupled with Oscar award-winning worthy action and drama. It encapsulated exactly what this series is all about. Bringing rockstar female drivers to the forefront of sim racing!
This season saw the ladies tackle the tracks in style with the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo. A big step up in speed and downforce compared to the Lamborghini Super Trofeo from last season. With 6 power packed rounds to cover in this review let’s get stuck in.
Round 1 – Monza
The Italian Temple of Speed hosted the opening round of the season 4 championship. There’s no better way to kick it off than at Monza with 28 Ferrari’s whizzing past at full tilt.
GTWR R8G Female Racing #1 were primed and ready for the start of the season, coming out the gates with some serious intent. Sara Dove took a commanding victory after pole-sitter, Intruder Racing Team driver Mia Swensen received a controversial drive-through penalty after a lap 1 collision.
Victoria Thomson capitalized on the lap 1 chaos and managed to finish a lofty P2 after qualifying in 4th. Unfortunately, this would be the only race in which we would see her compete as The Cardashians dressed by G991 team stepped down and was eventually disqualified from the championship. Rounding off the podium was Aloo Gobi with her new team Griphax Engineering. Gobi was the victim of the lap 1 incident but did well to fight her way back up the order.
It was an all-out GTWR affair for Round 1 in the Silver Class. These ladies started with a bang as Sophie Aeronwen and Esmeralda Van Der Naald threw the kitchen sink at it. A little sneak peeks of the battles to come. Aeronwen took the win with Van Der Naald hot on her tail. Laura Valenza did well under pressure and crossed the line in 3rd for her GTWR R8G Female Racing #5 team.
Round 2 – Spa Francorchamps
The Belgium countryside hosted round 2 at the iconic and world-famous Spa Francorchamps. 7.004km of pure bliss. Notorious for its fast flowing sections completed with elevation changes and a technical middle sector, this track was a true challenge and lived up to its revered name.
Qualifying had us on the edge of our seats as Sara Dove put in a last gasp effort to take P2 lining up just behind the Griphax Engineering car who took pole. Mia Swenson put herself in 3rd get this, in car number 3, splitting the top 3 by only 0.321 tenths. Wow, that’s a lot of 3’s!
It was a slow start for the top 3 who all stayed in order for the first stint. The action heated up after the first round of pit stops when Dove went for an undercut on Aloo Gobi who got caught out. Dove emerged the leader and didn’t look back taking the win. Dove had some serious ice in her veins as she showed tremendous control to hold off Gobi who finished just over 1 second behind her. Swenson held on for a terrific and well earned 3rd place.
Silver Class saw Sophie Aeronwen completely blow her competition out the water taking a commanding victory of over 12 seconds. She put on a masterclass and kept it all together for a great win. Natalie Lee turned up in a big way and put it on the 2nd step of the podium for Turn1 – Grazie Kimi. It was Alethea Boucq who continued the strong showing of GTWR finishing P3.
Round 3 – Imola
What a treat to be in Italy once again. Not many tracks have the same prestige as Imola, a proper old school circuit.
Aloo Gobi definitely found her rhythm early on and set the gauntlet from the get-go. It was the perfect weekend for the Griphax Engineering driver who got pole position, a race win and the fastest lap. Her first win in her new colours was a special one and she did it in some style. In the end, she crossed the line some 22 seconds ahead of 2nd.
Sara Dove did some damage control and managed to bring it home in P2 maintaining her 100% podium record in the season. Fellow GTWR R8G Female Racing driver Yvonne Houffelaar took her first podium finish of the season in 3rd with a much-improved performance.
The Silver Class was all about madam Sophie Aeronwen who took her 3rd win in a row. She was not messing about, even managing to finish ahead of one of the Pro cars. It was true perfection in motion as she caressed her car around Imola. Alethea Boucq backed up her great performance at Spa with another podium in P2. Esmeralda Van Der Naald fought tooth and nail for the last spot on the podium and crossed the line to take her 2nd podium finish of the season. These ladies really showcased how competitive this class is with 14 teams all gunning for the top step.
Round 4 – Silverstone
Past the halfway mark now in the championship but Silvertone really sprung some surprises. The stage was set for an epic battle between the 2 championship protagonists lined up 1 and 2 on the grid after qualifying. But the fight was over before it even began.
Coming out of T1 there was slight contact between Aloo Gobi and Sara Dove, sending the pole sitter in the Griphax Engineering car spinning off into the gravel. The live stewards deemed it a racing incident allowing Dove to speed off into the distance and heavily influencing the championship momentum.
There were definitely flashbacks of Verstappen and Hamilton after their incident in the very same corner. But racing is racing and they kept their determination up. All credit to Gobi for putting her head down, after dropping to last, to fight her way back up to 3rd. It was an inspiring drive from the young lady who along with her teammate Harry Phillips put in arguably the best recovery drive we have ever seen in More Female Racers history. Dove all the while took another commanding victory and extended her championship lead. Yvonne Houffelaar did well once again to take P2 on the day.
GTWR R8G Female Racing – Emerald racing took their first win in the Silver class managing to end the winning streak of Sophie Aeronwen and Matt Muirhead. The GTWR ladies, Esmeralda Van Der Naald and Stephane Greffet drove fantastically to take their first win of the season. It was a hard-fought race and they did enough to fend off fellow GTWR drivers Alethea Boucq and Mark Lewis. Aeronwen had a tough outing after suffering a few spins but still managed to bring home a P5.
Round 5 – Zolder
The penultimate round and an important race for the championship standings. With the challenge mounting it was once again Sare Dove who shone brighter than the rest. She smashed it out of the park for another perfect result, taking the fastest lap and another win to add to her already impressive trophy cabinet, and most importantly 25 of those ever precious championship points.
It was all Aloo Gobi’s to lose and unfortunately, the pressure forced her into a mistake. She needed a good result and from the lead of the race, she made an error going into the first chicane and had a spin that allowed Dove to cruise on by. The kerbs are unforgiving at the Zolder and even the slightest misjudgment can lead to an off-track moment. It was a heartbreaking moment for Gobi who had been the star of the show until that moment.
An incident with a backmarker compounded the frustration for the Griphax Engineering driver as there was nothing she could have done to avoid being hit from behind. Yvonne Houffelaar showed her consistency with her 3rd podium in a row.
Drama struck once again in the Silver class as championship leader Sophie Aeronwen got tangled in a lap 1 incident that saw her drop into a different timezone. She never gave up though and limped her way home to P12 in class. It would prove to be a big twist as Esmeralda Van Der Naald who took the win at Zolder now led the championship for the first time in the season with only 1 round left. Talk about pressure for both teams going into the last round!
Special mentions must go to Turn 1 Magnum driver Selene Witcher who took 2nd and GTWR R8G Female Racing #5 Laura Valenza who crossed the line in 3rd. Both ladies took their 2nd podium of the season and did fantastically in the wake of the championship drama.
Round 6 – Donington Park (Public Voted Track)
Let’s face it, we were robbed of a good fight at the last round with the absence of Aloo Gobi, but let’s not discount what an epic season Sara Dove has had. 5 out of 6 wins and her worst finish was 2nd place! Unreal stuff from the record-breaking lady driver. And all done to claim her first More Female Racers Championship. As always, endurance racing is a team sport so let’s not forget about the efforts of her co-drivers Andrea Cappocia and Mira Evergarden who played their role perfectly as well. A huge congratulations must be said to the GTWR R8G Female Racing #1 outfit for pulling off such a dominant season with the competitive field we had in season 4.
In terms of the race at Donington Park, Dove was in a class of her own and charged on to another emphatic win. Yvonne Houffelaar had arguably her best performance with an unmatched 2nd place finish and the fastest lap of the race making it a GTWR 1 and 2. Intruder Racing Team wrapped up a solid campaign in the Pro class with a podium, also clinching 3rd in the championship at the last round.
Bring out the popcorn because the Silver class was an absolute cracker of a finale. GTWR R8G Female Racing #2 and GTWR R8G Female Racing – Emerald battled it out till the very end finishing 1 and 2 in the last race. It was a tense battle and with Sophie Aeronwen taking the win she was able to score 25 points which gave her the exact same total as Esmeralda Van Der Naald who scored 21 points. This meant that both ladies finished a gruelling season on a total of 113 points! What are the chances… After some deliberation, Aeronwen would be crowned the Silver class champion because of her more victories throughout the season. A crazy end to an already chaotic and drama-filled championship.
Season 4 Champion Sara Dove speaks about her season and title
‘It feels amazing! More than I could have hoped for before the start of the season. I’d made it to the podium in the first three seasons and I thought maybe I’d repeat that, but didn’t think I could do so well!’
‘I definitely enjoyed my championship-long battle with Aloo Gobi most, every race I was pushing myself to match her, and it was great fun. I think I managed to achieve a better level of driving because of it.’
‘I will definitely be returning for the next season when it comes about, but as for Andrea Cappocia and Mira Evergarden I don’t know yet. I think we will have to wait and see!’
‘I’d just like to say a huge thanks to the SimGrid staff, broadcast team, Andrea, Mira, my teammates and all of the drivers for making this a great season! It’s been a blast, and I hope everyone who can, will return, and that new faces will continue to be inspired.’
Closing of another chapter of More Female Racers
I think we can all be in agreement that Season 4 was something special and it definitely improved upon previous seasons. More Female Racers continues to inspire and to bring lady drivers to the forefront of sim racing. A huge thank you must be said to all the organisers from The SimGrid for putting on a fantastic and well-organised championship once again.
A thank you must also be said to sponsors Thrustmaster and SimHound for supporting the series. And of course, our broadcasting team, live stewards and our commentary duo of David Christie and Laura Luft.
