Louise is First Female to gain FIA Rally Championship title

excluding FIA Ladies Cup

 Louise Cook, from Maidstone in Kent has forged a little history in motorsport by becoming the first female in the world to gain an FIA Rally Championship Title outside the FIA Ladies Cup. Louise gained the FIA Production car Cup for Drivers of 2WD and is in good company with her female idols. Michelle Mouton who gained individual FIA WRC rally wins in 1981 and 1982 in Italy, Portugal, Greece and Brazil and her British namesake and idol Louise Aitken-Walker who became FIA Ladies World Rally Champion in 1990.

"It is a nice small step towards the main goal to become the first female ever to become World Rally Champion. I feel the 2WD Cup is a good step towards the goal and shows how serious I am about this.

"I would like to thank everyone that supported me to make this happen I would not have achieved anything without them. It was a huge step. The consequences for not gaining enough sponsors and getting to each round  was pretty scary. I knew if I did not get to any one of the rounds my career would end. I also knew that I had to be in the WRC to get closer to the overall goal of becoming the first female to be FIA World Rally Champion."

It was clear failure was never an option for Miss Cook. Louise narrowly raised the massive sponsorship support required to contest the season and to avoid the career ending consequences of massive fines and having her license revoked if she did not make a championship round.

Louise made her World Rally Championship debut in 2012 and an incredible debut it was. The 2012 season commenced under unforeseeable glory. Louise's goal for her first WRC round, Rallye Monte-Carlo, was gain experience and finish the rally. Louise keeping a clean rally saw her become the first female ever to gain a podium place in the Production World Rally Championship when she took second place in the PWRC in front of the 300,000 rally fans.

"It would be great to see more and more females take part in rallying and if what I am doing encourages even a few it will be fantastic. The car is a great leveler so it is a place where men and women can compete on an equal footing."


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