The World Rally Championship has announced that two of its Women’s Driver Development finalists will now go head-to-head at Rally Sweden next year to win a Junior WRC prize drive.
Lyssia Baudet and Claire Schonborn will head to the snow and ice of Sweden in February after impressing on their WRC debuts at this weekend’s Central European Rally.
The WRC this year launched a new initiative designed to increase female driver involvement in the championship, resulting in a group of 15 finalists being selected to conduct a three-day training camp in Poland last month.
From this pool, a jury selected Baudet (Belgium), Schonborn (Germany) and Suvi Jyrkiainen (Finland) to contest the Central European Rally driving identical Ford Fiesta Rally3 cars. The jury had planned to select a winner that would receive a fully funded season in the Junior WRC next year.
Schonborn, a hillclimb driver competing in only her third rally, finished the event ninth in the Rally3 class after a fuel pressure issue on Friday.
Opel e-Rally Cup regular, Baudet, reached the finish of the 18 asphalt stage event 12th in class after suffering suspension damage on Saturday. The pair were locked in an intense fight across Sunday’s four stages with 1.1s separating the duo.
In what was a first rally on asphalt, Jyrkiainen showed potential but was forced to retire from the event with a coolant issue.
The jury, including Peter Thul (WRC Promoter Sporting Director), Burcu Cetinkaya (rally driver and FIA women in motorsport chairperson), Pernilla Solberg (FIA WRC Commission president, former rally driver), Maciej Woda (M-Sport Poland managing director) and Reeta Hamalainen (2022 WRC2 co-driver champion), were unable to reach a clear decision for one candidate judging Baudet and Schonborn’s performances equally as impressive.
The WRC has therefore decided to select Baudet and Schonborn to contest a head-to-head at Rally Sweden next year to determine an outright winner.
“Both Lyssia and Claire delivered exceptional performances in extremely challenging conditions, making it incredibly difficult to choose between them,” said Thul.
“That’s why we’ve decided to give them both the chance to compete again at Rally Sweden. Given how evenly matched they were, we feel this is the fairest approach.
"Suvi also showed tremendous potential, and despite the setbacks she faced, we’re proud of her efforts. We hope she gained valuable experience from this event and we’re confident it will strengthen her as a driver as she progresses in her career.”
Reacting to the decision, Baudet said: “I am completely speechless. It was just an amazing event for me it was our first rally in a Fiesta Rally3 and our first WRC rally,” Baudet told Autosport.
“Yesterday we went off the road but we have come back stronger and we did some fastest times. I just want to work now and prepare for this opportunity."
Schonborn, added: “I am so grateful for this big chance that I have been given. I've learned so many new things and I'm so grateful for all these events."