News

Monday 26 June 2006

Hayley puts her foot down in championship bid

The names Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso are all familiar names in the glamorous world of Formula 1. But rapidly closing in on them is a racing-driver determined to turn the testosterone-fuelled sport on its head and prove that women too have just what it takes to become a household name behind the wheel.

Nottingham Trent University student Hayley Cross (20) has already beaten off stiff competition from thousands of female racing-drivers in her quest to join the grid of the Formula Woman Championship – the female equivalent of Formula 1. On June 29 she will compete with the final 100 during a three-day elimination camp, after which the 16 Formula Women drivers will be known.

The Championship will run from July to September and take place at Pembrey, Mallory Park, Brands Hatch and Snetterton. Hayley has already taken part in a series of assessments and test days across the UK, where she has impressed instructors with her natural ability and potential.

Now she must pass through the elimination camp at Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire, where she will face fitness, racing and personality tests to ensure she is equipped with the right tools to become a first-class racing-driver. She will be driving Honda Civic Type Rs and Caterhams over the three day event.

Hayley, who has just completed a BA Joint Honours in Media and Cultural Studies with Sociology and Psychology degree at Nottingham Trent University, has been racing for about two years. She got interested through her father, Dave, who was involved in the first series of Formula Woman.

She said: “Motor-racing is a very male-dominated sport, but with the help of the Formula Woman series women are exceeding expectations and proving they are just as capable as men of getting out on the track and racing. Women racers are breaking the mould and I can’t wait to get out there and race.”

ENDS

Notes for editors: Hayley’s website can be viewed at www.hayleyracing.co.uk.

The competition to find the 2007 drivers will open in September – anyone interested can register at www.formulawoman.com.

For more information please contact:

Dave Rogers, Press Officer, on telephone +44 (0)115 848 8782 or via email: dave.rogers@ntu.ac.uk.

Or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, on telephone +44 (0)115 848 8774 or via email: therese.easom@ntu.ac.uk.