Third-Place Finish for Mann and ‘Girls Only’ Team at Nurburgring 24 Hours

Pippa Mann and her WS Racing ‘Girls Only’ Giti Tire team earned a third-place finish in their class on Sunday, May 29, 2022 in the ADAC Total Energies 24 Hour race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Driving a BMW M4 GT4, Mann and teammates Carrie Schreiner, Fabienne Wohlwend and Celia Martin, the event schedule meant there were no practice sessions outside of the official qualifying sessions to set the grid.

The weather was sunny and dry for the first, 90-minute qualifying session on Thursday morning, however the team encountered an electronic fuel pump issue, and were unable to run laps. The second session was three hours in length on Thursday evening, into the night and track conditions cooled considerably as the sun set. All drivers completed two laps while it was still light out, then one once darkness fell.

For Mann, these laps were her first on the Nordschleife in 2022, her first ever in the BMW M4 GT4 and after the red flag stoppage for fog overnight in 2021, her first ever lap on the track in complete darkness.

After using the final short 45 minute qualifying session on Friday morning to bed in brakes for the race, Mann took 5 laps on the Nurburgring Grand Prix of the Nurburgring during morning warm-up on Saturday morning to continue to learn the car before the start of the race.

Saturday’s 24-hour race began at 4:00 p.m. and welcomed back fans for the first time since 2019. An estimated 250,000 race fans were in attendance around the 15.8-mile racetrack and more than 130 cars participated, including 38 GT3 cars.

It was dry and cool for the race start. Martin was behind the wheel first, starting from P4 in class. The formation lap left at 3.40 for the long lap around the Nordschleife before the green flag. Martin advanced to P3 during her stint and handed the wheel to Wohlwend for her seven-lap stint.

Mann took the wheel third for seven dry laps in the daylight. Then Schreiner was the first to drive a double stint just before nightfall, followed by double stints from Martin, Wohlwend and Mann, running flawless laps and carrying them through the night. As dawn broke, the WS ‘Girls Only’ Giti Tire team was running second in their class, but dropped back to third once the sun rose, and their closest competitors found their pace again in the day-light.

With approximately four hours to go, as the “Eiffel weather” the region is known for started to play a part in the race. Conditions were extremely wet in parts of the race track, almost dry in others, and constantly changing with the rain fall moving weather across different areas of the race track at different times. Mann and Schreiner handled the two difficult stints of the race with the constantly changing conditions on slicks, and “cut slick” tires, and kept the car in third place, with no mistakes, for Martin to take over for the final stint.

The team took the checkered flag in third place in their class, and 35th overall.

“I was thrilled to be asked to rejoin the WS Racing ‘Girls Only’ team for this event, and to have the opportunity to return to the Nordschleife for the 50th anniversary of their first 24 Hour race,” said Mann. “After the weather impacted the race so severely the past couple of years with long red flags, we were all hoping for a full 24 hour race this year, and our wish was granted.

“This is definitely a tough event to turn up to with no seat time at the track since the race the previous year, and no experience previously driving an M4 GT4, but the ‘Girls Only’ crew and engineering team worked with me to help me get comfortable in the car. Overall I’m very happy with how I drove in the race, especially in the extremely tricky wet/dry stint I had on Sunday.

“The night laps here were also a real experience. This track is so very dark at night, and the headlights of the GT3 cars coming up fast are extreme. There was also a lot of code 60 and code 120 during my first stint at night, but during the second stint I was able to really find the rhythm and run comparable lap times to daylight."

She added, “Overall, our entire driving lineup was strong and we all contributed to this result. The WS Racing ‘Girls Only’ pit crew was amazing. As a team, we ran a great 24 Hour race and maximized our result. We worked hard, made no mistakes and were rewarded with a result that we can be proud of.”

Mann plans to return to action on June 10-11, 2022 at the Daytona 14-Hour endurance race with TLM Racing in the World Racing League, driving the Monoflo Porsche Cayman GT4.

Pippa Returns to WS Racing Girls Only Team for ADAC TOTAL 24 Hour Race

Pippa Mann is returning to Germany this May to re-join the WS Racing Girls Only team for the 2022 edition of the ADAC Total Energies 24 Hour race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany.

Featuring an all female driving line up, crew and engineers, the “Girls Only” project was founded by Nicole Willems in 2018 to prove that men and women perform at the same level in professional motorsports.

In 2021 Mann and her co-drivers won their class in the Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing “Girls Only” entry, and in 2022 she joins Celia Martin, Carrie Schreiner and Fabienne Wohlwend behind the wheel of a BMW M4 GT4 as the team tries to take back to back victories two years in a row.

“I’m really looking forward to driving with Celia and Carrie again, and with Fabienne for the first time”, said Mann, “and I can’t wait to get back to Germany to re-join WS Racing for our defense of last year’s win. Racing at the Nordschleife is incredibly tough, but also incredibly rewarding, and I’m very thankful to have the opportunity to return to compete in 2022.

“As well as all of the team partners who make this program happen, I want to thank Bell Techlogix for their support of Shift Up Now, which has helped me cover the travel costs associated with traveling to Europe to compete in a race.”

Testing starts for the 50^th Edition of the ADAC Total 24 hour race on Thursday May 26^th, and the green flag will fly for 24 hours off racing at 4pm local time (10am ET) on Satursday May 28^th.

Podium Finish for Mann at Sebring 24 Hour Race

Seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor Pippa Mann was part of the four-driver lineup for ProSport Competition, and helped earn a podium finish for the team in their first-ever, World Racing League 24 Hour race held at Sebring International Raceway on October 31, 2021.

Mann normally competes in the Championship with customers in her own BMW M2 with TLM Racing. When the team decided not to enter their cars in what would prove to be a grueling test of endurance for both drivers and cars, the British driver became available to join ProSport Competition.

With several of her 2019 Indianapolis 500 crew involved in leading the ProSport Competition entry, Mann transferred into a car she normally races against. She joined the driver line-up of Dwayne Moses, Zach Arnold and Jim Cox for the historic event.

Mann turned her first laps in the No. 143 RP Aston Martin Vantage GT4 during Friday’s practice and qualifying sessions. Her lap time from the first session placed the team eighth on the starting grid for the following day’s race.

With Moses at the wheel for the start on Saturday, and Cox driving second, the team picked up places in the opening stints. The team ran as high as third place before a flash fire from a fuel overfill forced Mann to park at a marshal station. Once she ensured the flames were out, a trip back to the garage area confirmed there was no permanent damage to the car. Now several laps down, the team returned to track with a goal of making up ground.

All of the teammates bested their practice and qualifying times during the race, working together to climb the order overall and taking back laps from the leading cars.

At 2:00 a.m., Mann was in the car for a double stint and took the final two laps back from the second-place entry by passing for position before the end of her stint. Arnold then took the wheel and continued the charge, putting two laps of safety between the Aston Martin GT4 and the third place competitor during his double stint.

As the sun rose on Sunday morning, the team was holding down second place with a two-lap lead. Mechanical issues from the brutal pounding of an endurance race at Sebring were starting to take their toll on the car. The last four hours of the race, from 8:00 a.m. to noon, were tense as the team took turns in single stints, nursing their ailing race car home without giving up the podium.

As the checked flag flew on the first-ever 24 Hour race at Sebring, and after 2000 racing miles at one of the bumpiest race tracks in America, ProSport Competition secured second place both in the GT0 class, and overall, in its first-ever World Racing League podium finish.

“It was so much fun to be invited to join this team for the first ever Sebring 24,” said Mann. “Having the opportunity to race such a great car, with team-mates who were so incredibly fast in every single stint of the race, and then coming away with second place overall. It was so great to be here with Race for RP and ProSport Competition for this race.”

Mann resumes her coaching and co-driving duties with client Jody Miller and his Porsche Cup Car for TLM Racing on November 5-7, 2021 at Circuit of the Americas for the penultimate IGT Championship event of the season.

Top Ten Finish for Mann in IMS Return

Seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor Pippa Mann earned a ninth-place finish with teammates Sean Gibbons and Sam Owen in the Intercontinental GT Challenge Indianapolis 8 Hour race on October 17^that Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Driving the No. 7 Valkyrie Porsche Cayman GT4 for OGH Motosports with NOLA Sport, Mann made her debut in SRO competition and her second International GT4 appearance of the season, after a successful ADAC Total 24-hour race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in June.

Mann’s first time driving the car was Friday, in rainy conditions. Saturday’s qualifying session brought completely different conditions – bright and cold – and lots of traffic. More than 40 cars on track in every 15-minute segment made for a busy and chaotic session.

Mann encountered a red flag after her first flying lap, then was unable to get another representative lap due to the GT3 traffic. Gibbons experienced similar issues, and with a lower average lap time from all 3 drivers than expected, the trio qualified 11^th in a stacked field of 13 GT4 cars. It was clear that managing traffic would be key in the race.

Driving the first stint on Sunday, Mann advanced to P10 before handing the car over. By the halfway point of the race, the team was quietly climbing up the order, and she was closing in on sixth place when the ABS failed in turn one, causing the tire to delaminate and taking out the right-front radiator.

Instead of retiring the car, the Nolasport crew went to work, preparing the Valkyrie OGH Motorsports car to finish the eight-hour race. With continued attrition, the team was classified at P9 at the checkered flag.

“This was by far the toughest endurance race I’ve ever competed in,” said Mann. “The speed difference between us and the GT3 cars felt massive on this race track and there were just so many of them.

“When one of your primary goals for your team coming into the race is not to get hit by a GT3 car, that tells you something of what we were all dealing with out there - for them trying to navigate their way around us, and for us trying to compete in our race within their race. While speed and class differences are very normal in endurance racing, at this track, this weekend, it was certainly a major factor for all of the teams and drivers.

“I’m gutted we had the ABS issue, but it was just a freak thing where some pick-up that had accumulated inside our wheel well over the course of the race broke free and attacked our wheel speed sensor. I’m thankful it happened on a safe part of the racetrack, and that there wasn’t any further damage to car beyond that caused by the tire delamination. I’m very grateful to the hard work from the Nolasport crew for getting us back out on track to finish out the race, but I'm still gutted our chance for a better result ended this way.

“Sean and Sam both drove great stints out there, and we were quietly sticking to our plan, ticking off the laps and moving forward. I would like to thank them both again for the invitation to join them for this race. Also, thank you to Bell Techlogix and Indy Women in Tech for coming along on this eight hour adventure with me.”

Mann returns to action in just under two weeks when she resumes her coaching and co-driving duties at Sebring International Raceway for the 24-Hour World Racing League event on October 29-31, 2021.

Mann Returning to IMS in Latest Stop in busy Driving, Coaching Career

Story by Curt Cavin for IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.com.

To read the original article, please click here.

As Pippa Mann describes it, competing in this weekend’s Indianapolis 8 Hour Presented by AWS sports car race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course will be “slightly” different than her seven previous starts at the facility in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

She is joking, of course. This will be a lot different. However, the task at hand is similar.

“Go fast, don’t hurt the car,” she said.

England native Mann, who has lived in Indianapolis for more than a decade, has largely been out of the public racing eye since finishing a career-best 16th in the 2019 “500.” Her day job involves serving as a coach and co-driver in various U.S. road racing series, and she recently became a part owner of a BMW M2 CS team in the World Racing League, a collection of endurance races which will complete its season Dec. 3-5 at Circuit of The Americas. She serves as the team’s resident coach and co-driver.

In June, Mann was part of the driving quartet for the Giti Tire WS Racing Girls’ Only team which won the SP8 Class at the 49th ADAC Total 24 Hour race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife. That’s the 12.9-mile, historic track in Germany that Jackie Stewart nicknamed “The Green Hell.”

A year ago, one of Mann’s former “500” crew members introduced her to Sean Gibbons, a Bronze-level sports car driver competing in the SRO GT4 America Sprint X Am Championship. Gibbons and OGH Motorsports teammate Sam Owen were seeking a professional driver to join them in endurance races such as this weekend’s Intercontinental GT Challenge event at IMS, and they struck a deal to make this a Pro-Am entry. Thus, Mann will make her official IMS road course debut in the No. 7 Valkyrie Porsche 718 Cayman GT4.

Mann will bring backing from Bell Techlogix, which she introduced to the “500” several years ago, and she will have Indy Women in Tech featured on her helmet for the first time. The Indianapolis-based initiative helps women enter, re-enter or transition their careers to tech and STEM roles by providing financial support, mentoring, training and education.

“That’s really cool to have them on my helmet for the first time,” Mann said.

Valkyrie is an artificial intelligence and machine learning firm based in Austin, Texas.

Mann said the variety of cars she has been driving is good preparation for this weekend’s event. For example, one of her clients races a Porsche Cup car in the International GT Series. She helps set up the car, provides the data laps and spends most of the weekend helping him go faster.

“Then on Sunday I get to hop back in and share the driving with him in a slightly longer endurance race,” she said.

Gibbons and Owen will get most of the team’s laps this weekend as they are full-season Sprint X drivers. Mann hopes to get a few laps in Friday’s 90-minute practice open to all competitors.

“They’re making me feel very welcome, but I’m certainly the guest driver in the program,” she said. “But this is what I do: I show up, I drive a variety of different cars, I go fast, don’t hurt the car. That’s what I do.

“For me, it’s really cool to get to take part in a high-level race like the 8 Hour right here in my (adopted) hometown, in my backyard and racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, even if it’s in a slightly different car in a slightly different direction. It also will be my first time on this road course on slick tires, which will be fun.”

Mann isn’t the only one facing a unique challenge this weekend. Normally, Gibbons and Owen compete in GT4 categories based on driver rankings. But this weekend, GT4 is a class of its own, which means they will be competing against what Mann calls “some pretty stout driver lineups that they wouldn’t normally be up against.” There will be 13 entrants in the class.

“We’re here and hopefully going to have a good day on Sunday,” Mann said.

Pippa Mann to join OGH Motorsports with Nolasport for the Indianapolis 8 Hour

Seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor Pippa Mann will join OGH Motorsports with Nolasport to compete in the Intercontinental GT Challenge Indianapolis 8 Hour race this October at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

OGH Motorsports with Nolasport are currently campaigning their Valkyrie Porsche Cayman GT4 in the SRO GT4 America SprintX Championship with drivers Sean Gibbons and Sam Owen. Mann will team up with the season-long driving duo as their third driver for the blue riband event of the SRO America season, and the second event of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season.

The event will mark Mann’s debut in SRO American competition, and her second International GT4 appearance of the season, after a successful ADAC Total 24 hour race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in June.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to join Sean and Sam in their car for this event, and to be returning to action at Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” said Mann. “While traveling the opposite direction down the front straight might take a little getting used to, I’m stoked to be back on the track for another major sports car event this season, this time in my adopted home town.”

Race fans that followed Mann at the Indianapolis 500 will also see a familiar logo on the OGH Motorsports with Nolasport Valkyrie Porsche Cayman GT4 at this event.

“The Indianapolis 8 Hour has also provided a fantastic opportunity for my friends at Bell Techlogix to step into the GT Racing world. Several years ago, we introduced them to the Indy 500, and now I can’t wait to introduce them to sports car racing.”

“I am looking forward to racing the Indianapolis 8 Hour with Pippa and Sam,” said Gibbons. “The first time I raced in a GT Intercontinental Challenge was at Laguna Seca in 2018 where we finished second. Our goal is one step higher on the podium.”

Owens added, “To have the opportunity to finish the season at such an iconic track and to race with Pippa and Sean is somewhat surreal. Pippa has been such a great ambassador and competitor in motorsports. Sean and I are honored to have her team with OGH in the Indianapolis 8 Hour.”

The Intercontinental GT Challenge Indianapolis 8 Hour race will take place on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 17^th, 2021.

For more information about the event, please visit www.IntercontinentalGTchallenge.com.

For more information about OGH Motorsports please visit www.OGHmotorsports.com.

Mann, Martin, Schreiner and Nielsen Win Their Class in ADAC Total 24 Hour Race

On June 6^th, 2021, Pippa Mann was one of the driving quartet for the Giti Tire WS Racing Girls’s Only team who won the SP8 Class at the 49^th ADAC Total 24 Hour race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife.

Competing for the first time in the Audi GT4 at the Nurburgring, Mann and Christina Nielsen joined the NLS diver line-up of Celia Martin, Carrie Schreiner, and the all female crew, for the infamous 24 hour race which took place on the notorious 13 mile race track, nick-named The Green Hell.

With limited testing ahead of the event, both Mann and Nielsen completed roughly six laps each before the green flag flew at 3:30 on Saturday June 5^th, while Schreiner made the most of one almost completely dry lap during qualifying to put the Giti Tire Audi on the pole in the SP8 class. However the Eifel Weather, as infamous as the track itself for difficult driving conditions, played a role from the very first laps of the race, with rain falling on parts of the circuit, while other areas remained dry, even on the formation lap.

Schreiner and Martin took the first two stints of the race, dealing with almost deluge-like conditions in certain areas of the race track, and then just lightly damp pavement in others. Mann took over in the third stint, on a drying race track on cut slicks rather than wet tires, as the fog started to roll in. Nielsen took over the car on full slick tires for the fourth stint as the surface dried, but the fog worsened.

Due to the ever changing, exceedingly difficult and slippery track conditions, all of the drivers experienced many “Code 60” zones during their laps; where the pace was controlled to 60kph through certain areas of the race track to clear cars that had been involved in accidents and to repair barriers. As the driver rotation returned to Schreiner, the fog continued to worsen, and the race was red-flagged due to bad visibility at 10:30pm on Saturday evening.

Hopes for a re-start were continually rebuffed by the incredibly thick fog that coated areas of the circuit, and even after the light at the end of pit-lane turned green to allow cars to head to the grid, the thick fog remained as everyone waited for the visibility to improve enough to allow the medical helicopter to fly, and for the marshals to see from one post to the next.

The race was finally re-started at 12:00 noon on Sunday afternoon, making it a three-and-a-half hour sprint race to the finish. Martin would take the re-start for a short stint as refueling was not allowed during the red flag. She then moved the Audi GT4 back to the lead of the class on her first lap and then proceeded to set an impressive gap with her first dry, daylight running of the entire event. Schreiner followed Martin, and had to deal with rain on half of the track while on slick tires, and the decision was made to follow Schreiner again with Martin to the end. With the weight of the race on her shoulders, Martin buckled back into the Giti Tire Audi GT4, and proceeded to put down a dominating performance where after six lead changes throughout the race, she increased the gap to over five minutes by the time she took the checkered flag.

“Our entire crew, and my co-drivers were fantastic over the past 24 hours”, said Mann. “I know it was a shortened race, but the Eifel certainly threw some of it’s trickiest conditions at us, and we never had a bad tire choice, or a bad pit-stop. Then, at the end when we needed to lock down the victory, Celia was incredible. I was only here for this year, but this win was three years in the making, and three years of hard work by the Giti Tire WS Racing Girls Only team, and I’m very thankful I had the opportunity to be part of it. I’m so proud of all of my team-mates—not just my driving team-mates, but also of all the women who worked together this weekend to take our all female entry to Victory Lane.”

"We are so proud of winning that legendary race in our class,” said team owner Nicole Willems. "It was a great work of the whole team and the drivers. Well done. Since 2019 we tried to win that race but now we finally did it. Thanks to all fans, partners and Audi Customer Racing for their support. Now we will initiate the next steps with the Girls Only Team."

As part of a special promotion with watch maker Omologato, five LM Black Edition watches also rode in the car with Mann, and her team-mates as they drove to victory.

“This was a cool promotion from the very beginning, but everyone, including myself, was a little nervous about the reality of having the five watches race with us in the car in case we somehow damaged them! However now we have five watches which WON the race with us, and that’s even cooler. We’ll be creating the certificates of authenticity, and sending the watches out to the five race fans who purchased them this week.”

Race fans in Indianapolis can also find a line of (non-raced!) Omologato watches at Master Jewelers in Indianapolis, and on their website at www.masterjewelersin.com

Omologato Set to Race the ADAC Total 24 Hour Race with Pippa Mann, WS Racing Girls Only Team

This June, at the 49^th running of the ADAC Total 24 Hour race at the Nurburgring Norschleife, five LM Black Edition Omologato watches will also be competing in the race alongside Mann, and her co-drivers in the WS Racing Girl’s Only Giti Tire Audi GT4 entry.

The watches will travel to Germany with Mann, be bubble wrapped, and carefully placed in her racing gloves bag, which will then be taped to the inside of the Audi GT4. The process of wrapping, and placing the watches in the car will be documented on social media, and five race fans will have the opportunity to own one of these unique pieces that will compete with Mann, and the rest of the team, in the 24 hour race.

The LM Black Edition watches will become available from 1pm UK time/8am Eastern on Tuesday May 25^th, and will be sold on a first come, first serve basis via the omologatwowatches.com website. Each watch listing will also include the unique edition number specific to that watch, and all watches will be sent out post-race with a certificate of authenticity.

“We’re not just about a logo on a car,” said Shami Kalra, founder of Omologato, “we believe in authenticity and having partnered with Pippa last fall, we felt it was time we went racing with her. The idea of having our watches literally compete with her, and her team-mates in the event, and of creating five unique pieces of racing memorabilia that fans can own after the event was something we felt really connected to the spirit of what we call #TeamOmologato.”

“I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to activate with Omologato at such a famous event, and to have the opportunity to create these five collectible items for race fans to own,” said Mann. “Having these watches race with us inside the WS Racing Girls Only Giti Tire Audi GT4 is going to be very cool, and I hope race fans are as excited by this idea as we are.”

The 2021 ADAC Total 24 Hour Race takes place on June 5^th/6^th, on the 170 corner, 13 mile Nurburgring Nordschleife in the Eifel Mountains of Germany. Nicknamed “The Green Hell”, the race track is as famous as it is infamous, and is notorious for difficult driving conditions, making the ADAC 24 Hour Race one of the toughest circuit races in the world for racers to conquer.

Race fans can purchase one of the five watches here: https://www.omologatowatches.com/Pippa

Omologato also have a range of their time pieces available from Master Jewelers in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Pippa Mann Drives Change for Women In Motorsports

Seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor Pippa Mann is on a mission. In December 2020, Mann took on one of her biggest challenges yet: heading the leadership team for Shift Up Now, a collective of female racers working together to provide more opportunity for the industry’s trailblazers.

The British racer is a trailblazer herself: In addition to seven starts at the Indianapolis 500 and winning an Indy Lights race, she was the first female to score points in the World Series by Renault and the only female to run a 230+ mph lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

With the re-launch of Shift Up Now – formerly owned by founder Lynn Kehoe – racers and race fans are able to unite in their support of the cause, through a membership format. Members have unique access to online fan forums, educational online webinars, meet-and-greets with drivers, garage tours at designated racing events and premiere access to limited-edition merchandise.

In only the first six months of being at the helm, Mann and her fellow racers have gained the support of almost 200 members and worked to secure partnership with several significant partners, including Hagerty, Cooper Tires, Sabelt, Bell Helmets, Sampson Racing Communications, PitFit Training and Callies Performance Products.

In addition to heading Shift Up Now, Mann has enthusiastically embraced the role of driver coach for emerging talents like Emily Linscott, and continues to expand her coaching and co-driving business in the sports car paddocks. She is hoping to make her debut in the Intercontinental GT World Challenge 8 hour race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this fall.

"It's important to me to leave behind a legacy, that helps racers who come after me," said Mann. "I want to use my experience to help the next generation of talented female racers overcome some of the hurdles we still encounter in this sport, and I want to continue to help more talented female racers have the opportunity to stay behind the wheel, and rise up through the ranks."

To learn more about Shift Up Now, please visit www.shiftupnow.com, and for partnership inquiries please email: Info@ShiftUpNow.com.

Pippa to join WS Racing Girls Only

Pippa Mann is set to join Carrie Schreiner (Germany) and Célia Martin (France) as one of the drivers for the WS Racing Giti Tire “Girls Only” team for the 2021 season, including the ADAC TOTAL 24 Hour race at the infamous Nordschleife circuit in Germany.

The “Girls Only” project was started by husband and wife team owners, Nicole and Thorsten Willems, in 2018 to prove that men and women perform at the same level in professional motorsports. While Thorsten Willems is the Team Manager of WS Racing, Nicole is the Team Manager of the Girls Only team—a separate team within WS Racing.

With an all-female driving crew, mechanics and engineers, the Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing “Girls Only” program has competed at the 24 Hour race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit twice with a Golf GTI TCR. In 2021 they will compete for the first time in the GT4 class with an Audi R8 LMS GT4.

Nicknamed “The Green Hell”, the Nordschleife itself is a circuit with a famed and formidable reputation. Originally opened on the 19^thof June 1927, the circuit is 20.8km in length, and comprises more than 70 turns. To be eligible to compete at the event, and in the Audi GT4, Pippa must first undergo a special licensing process unique to the race track she will be competing on, and she and team are hoping to start that process as early in 2021 as the weather in the Eiffel region of Germany, and restrictions surrounding the Coronavirus allow.

The 24 hour race and several of the build up events will also use the Nurburgring GP circuit, in addition to the original Nordschleife, creating a full circuit length of 25 km.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to join the Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing “Girls Only” program”, said Pippa. “The goals of this program back up everything I believe in as a woman in motorsport, and I was thrilled when Thorsten and Nicole reached out to me this fall. I’m doing my best to learn the race track as best I can on a simulator here in Indy, and then hopefully we can start the licensing process in March, and I will be ready to race, and Rock the Green Hell with Carrie and Célia this summer.”

For the first time, race fans will also have the opportunity to become personally involved with the Girls Only team. While the Audi GT4 program is already fully funded, WS Racing is also looking to expand to a Girls Only LMP3 team, and are hoping to crowd-fund their way to their first races with the new project in 2021. The campaign launches on December 18th, 2020.