Tamara Molinaro

Tamara Molinaro (born 10 October 1997) is an Italian rally driver who currently serves as the official championship reserve driver for the Extreme E. She won the FIA European Rally Championship Ladies' Trophy in 2017 before moving on to World Rally Championship-2, TitansRX and the Italian Gravel Championship, where she is a double ladies' champion.[1] She has also occasionally competed as a co-driver, most notably partnering Craig Breen in selected Italian and Sammarinese rounds.[2][3]

Tamara Molinaro
NationalityItaly Italian
Born (1997-10-10) 10 October 1997
Como, Italy
Extreme E career
Debut season2022
Current teamMcLaren XE
Car number58
Co-driverTanner Foust
Former teamsXite Energy Racing
Starts3
Wins0
Podiums0
Poles0
Best finish11th in 2022
Championship titles
2017FIA European Rally Championship Ladies' Trophy

Biography

Molinaro began rallying in 2008 at the age of 11 under the mentorship of long-time family friend Gigi Galli, and started her career as a co-driver for Galli and Swiss driver Luca Maspoli. She was picked up by Red Bull early on in her career as one of their sponsored athletes.[4][5]

Molinaro progressed into driving in 2013, competing in several regional rallies in Italy, aboard a Citroën C2. In 2016 she switched the Citroën for an Opel Adam R2, taking part in a series of Austrian and German events alongside Ilka Minor.[6] The following year she entered the FIA European Rally Championship in the same car, coming seventh in the Junior U27 and winning the title in the Ladies' Trophy.[7][8]

2017 would also see Molinaro make her World Rally Championship debut, coming 49th at the Rallye Deutschland alongside Veronica Gulbæk Engan.[9] She also co-drove for Craig Breen for the first time, at the Monza Rally Show in December.[2] In 2018 she entered a single ERC event at the Rallye Açores, and made a further WRC appearance at the Rally Sweden, both in a Ford Fiesta R5 co-driven by Martijn Wydaeghe. She repeated at the Rally Sweden the following season in a Citroën C3 R5 together with Lorenzo Granai, achieving her best championship result with 28th place overall and 11th place in WRC-2.[6]

Molinaro's main programme for 2019 though was a rallycross debut in the newly rebranded TitansRX International Europe Series, where she finished fifth in a Hyundai i30, in a championship won by WRX event-winner Kevin Hansen.[10] In 2020 and 2021 Molinaro contested the Italian Gravel Championship, where she finished tenth and seventh respectively, winning the ladies' trophy in both cases.[6]

In July 2021, Molinaro joined the new electric off-road racing series Extreme E as the championship's female reserve driver after her predecessor, Jutta Kleinschmidt, was signed by Abt Cupra XE for the remainder of the season.[11] Molinaro remained in the championship into 2022, where she got her debut at the season-opening Desert X-Prix in Saudi Arabia, replacing Xite Energy Racing's Klara Andersson who had tested positive for COVID-19.[12] She impressed, outpacing teammate Oliver Bennett and almost qualifying for the final race.[13][14] She was retained as the championship reserve driver for the 2023 season.[15] In September 2023, Molinaro became McLaren's second female driver in history when she substituted Emma Gilmour for Round 7 at the 2023 Island X-Prix II after Gilmour suffered a fractured rib and a concussion following a crash during the first free practice session.[16] In her debut race start for McLaren in Round 7's redemption race, Molinaro colided with JBXE's Hedda Hosås on the run down to the first jump at the start of the race and rolled the car. Molinaro was uninjured but McLaren had to withdraw from Round 8 due to the extensive damage to the spare car.[17][18]

Racing record

Complete WRC results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDC Points
2017 Tamara Molinaro Opel Adam R2 MON SWE MEX FRA ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER
49		 ESP GBR AUS NC 0
2018 Tamara Molinaro Ford Fiesta R5 MON SWE
35		 MEX FRA ARG POR ITA FIN GER TUR GBR ESP AUS NC 0
2019 Tamara Molinaro Citroën C3 R5 MON SWE
28		 MEX FRA ARG CHL POR ITA FIN GER TUR GBR ESP AUS
C		 NC 0

Complete WRC-2 results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDC Points
2019 Tamara Molinaro Citroën C3 R5 MON SWE
11		 MEX FRA ARG CHL POR ITA FIN GER TUR GBR ESP AUS
C		 NC 0

Complete Extreme E results

(key)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pos. Points
2022 Xite Energy Racing Spark ODYSSEY 21 DES
6		 ISL1
2		 ISL2
10		 COP
9		 ENE
8		 11th 32
2023 NEOM McLaren Extreme E Spark ODYSSEY 21 DES1 DES2 HYD1 HYD2 ISL-I1 ISL-I2 ISL-II1
10		 ISL-II2
DNS		 COP1 COP1 18th* 1*

* Season still in progress.


References
  1. "Molinaro targets WRC after Italian title double". World Rally Championship. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  2. Gago, Martín (30 November 2017). "Craig Breen y Tamara Molinaro, juntos en el Monza Rally Show". revistascratch.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  3. "Tamara Molinaro - rally codriver profile". eWRC-results.com. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  4. Villarín, Nacho (1 April 2018). "Tamara Molinaro: "Quiero ser como Ogier"". Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  5. "Tamara Molinaro". speedqueens.blogspot.com. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  6. "Tamara Molinaro - rally driver profile". eWRC-results.com. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  7. "L'ERC Junior Tamara Molinaro veut faire de bonnes recos". Eurosport.fr (in French). 2 August 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  8. Alessandrini, Alex (17 September 2017). "Tamara Molinaro vince a Roma e si laurea campionessa FIA ERC Ladies". rallyssimo.it (in Italian). Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  9. Hoffmann, Toni (15 August 2017). "Tamara Molinaro zeigt sich vor der Weltelite". Speedweek.com (in German). Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  10. "Tamara Molinaro postala prvi ženski pilot Titans-RX-a". autopress.hr (in Croatian). 10 May 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  11. "Tamara Molinaro joins Extreme E as Championship Driver". Extreme E. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  12. Nguyen, Justin (18 February 2022). "Tamara Molinaro subbing for Andersson in Desert X Prix". thecheckeredflag.co.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  13. "07 - Continental Traction Challenge Classification - After Final Race" (PDF). Al Kamel Systems. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  14. Whitfield, Steve (20 February 2022). "Desert X-Prix: Rosberg X Racing triumph in red-flagged final". Autosport. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  15. "Andreas Bakkerud and Tamara Molinaro announced as 2023 Championship Drivers". Extreme E - The Electric Odyssey. 6 March 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  16. Wilde, Dominik (15 September 2023). "McLaren's Gilmour suffers broken rib, concussion in Extreme E spill". RACER. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  17. Wilde, Dominik (16 September 2023). "Acciona Sainz team wins opening Island X Prix". RACER. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  18. Wilde, Dominik (16 September 2023). "McLaren withdraws from Island X Prix II after second roll". RACER. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
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