10 Jan Nicole Takes Rallycross Win at Mondello Park.
Nicole Drought added another string to her bow at Mondello Park on Sunday when the Tipperary lady crossed the line to take her first win in Irish Rallycross.
Having joined the series late, Nicole has been right at the front all season long in her Joe Mallon Motors Renault Clio 172, but despite a string of heat wins and fastest laps, hadn’t quite managed to take the win in the all important final.
Before last weekend’s IRX meeting at Mondello, Straffan based POB Racing did a complete checkover and set up on the little Clio and the team were confident of a strong result. Despite a few issues early on, Damen and Loughlin Farrell, who were running the car on the day, made a few setup changes and by the third heat, Nicole was the pace of the class. When the lights went out in the final, Nicole made the perfect start to grab the lead into the first corner and was never headed on the way to a dominant win, crossing the line almost seven seconds ahead of her closest challenger, and claiming fastest lap too. This was the final round of the 2022/23 Irish Rallycross Championship and despite missing the opening round, due to a clashing UK commitment, Nicole finished second in the championship.
Nicole Drought: “I really enjoyed that. We have developed the car all season long and now it is absolutely flying. A big thanks to POB Racing and to Damien and Loughlin Farrell, and Leo Nulty Promotions for putting it all together- it has been a great season and this was the perfect start to 2023! As ever, a big thanks to Gem Oils, ITM Digital and Siltex Safety, without whom none of this would be possible.”
Nicole and her team are currently working on her 2023 plans, details of which will be announced soon.
About Nicole Drought
Nicole Drought, from Roscrea in Tipperary, is Ireland’s top female racing driver. In 2016, she became the first woman to take a win in the Irish Touring Car Championship. She has subsequently raced in Global GT Lights, Stryker Sportscars and the Britcar Endurance Championship. Nicole is the only Irish Ambassador for the International Sean Edwards Foundation, with whom she tested a Porsche Supercup in Le Castellet in 2016. She is also the reigning Class 1A Endurance Trial Champion, having taken the title in 2018 and successfully defended it in 2019, with six wins from six starts. In May 2019, Nicole became the first woman to win in the UK C1 Endurance series, when she partnered Colin Lewis to victory in a 4 hour race at Anglesey in Wales. In 2020, she became a three time class winner in the Britcar Endurance Series, and scored another win on her return to the series in July 2021, when she took the flag at the Silverstone Grand Prix track for the Motus One team.
In August 2019, Nicole drove a Formula 1 car at the Mondello Park Historic Festival, demonstrating John Campion’s ex Derek Daly March 811 for CJJ Motorsports (above) and in February 2020 she travelled to Palm Beach in Florida to drive the team’s Jordan 192 F1 car. in November 2021, Nicole made her rally debut. taking a class win in the Killarney Historic Rally in a Mini Cooper S.
Nicole is also an Ambassador for Formula Female, the initiative set up by Irish Hockey Star Nicci Daly to attract more females into Motorsport, Joe Mallon Motors, Motorsport Ireland, WISP, and Siltex Safety Solutions..
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