Tipperary’s Nicole Drought Wins At Donington Park
Nicole Drought and Justin Roberts took on two different races at Donington Park last weekend. They entered the EBC Brakes Honda Civic in the Trackdays Championship race on Saturday and managed to qualify third of the 35 entries. In the race itself, Justin started the race and handed over to Nicole at the half way mark still in third place. Nicole held off a prolonged attack from a BMW 130i for the duration to claim a podium position for the delighted duo in their first UK race of 2024.
On Sunday morning, they returned to the track to qualify for the Trackday Trophy race and they posted the fourth fastest time of the 34 strong field to earn themselves a position on row two for the start of the race.
Nicole started the race, and despite being pushed wide on the first corner and briefly dropping to seventh, scythed back up through the cars ahead. She had climbed to fourth and was challenging for third when an incident brought out the safety car. The Motion Motorsport team acted swiftly and called Nicole in for an early driver change. Justin charged back out on track but, with overtaking not allowed behind the safety car, was held up badly by a slow car, and was unable to catch the train of cars circulating behind the safety car. Even so, once the pack was released, they were in fourth, albeit in heavy traffic. Justin though, was on a a charge, and quickly despatched the two cars ahead to climb to second. The leader was some six seconds ahead but the red Civic was on a charge and, when the BMW faltered, was past and away.
At the chequered flag then, it was an impressive victory for Nicole and Justin, the gap almost eight seconds to their nearest challenger
Nicole Drought “That was a good start to the 2024 season, but it wasn’t easy. It was great to get a podium in the Trackday Championship race, but we still need to work with he team to get some more from the control tyre. The Trophy race was great. I would have preferred a longer first stint to climb closer to the front, but the pitstop call was definitely the right one. Justin, as ever, was fantastic and it is great to open our account with a win in 2024! Big thanks, as ever, to Siltex Safety, Gem Oils and ITM Digital for their much valued support. It was great to have Neil from Siltex Safety with us at the weekend and I look forward to welcoming more guests to UK races during the season!”
Nicole Drought, from Roscrea in Tipperary, is Ireland’s top female racing driver. She has won in Circuit Racing, Endurance Racing, Rallycross, Stage Rallying, Endurance Trials and Autotesting.
She is double, and reigning, Open Clubman Rallycross Champion, a former double Endurance Trial Champion and has won races in a variety of different cars. She was the first woman to win in Irish Touring Cars, the UK Citroen C1 Challenge and the UK EnduroKA series. She has also won in Clubsport Enduro, Trackday Trophy and scored a class win in the Uk Race odf Remembrance.
She has also driven two F1 cars, three Group C Endurance cars and a variety of Historic race cars such as a Lola T70, Lancia LC1 and March 83G
Nicole is an Ambassador for Joe Mallon Motors, Gem Oils, ITM and Siltex Safety Solutions. She is an Accountant by trade and currently works as the Finance Manager at Mondello Park Racing Circuit.
Image from Michael Chester