Motorsport is one of the few sports around the globe where males and females can compete equally. In Australia female participation in motorsports is becoming more prominent in the modern era.
Heading into the final round of the 2024 SP Tools Australian Kart Championship presented Castrol later this month, Oceane Colangelo and Lana Flack are head-to-head in the contest for the 2024 Ladies Trophy – an award that showcases Australia’s best young female karting drivers.
Flack is the reigning Ladies Trophy winner, last year becoming the first female driver to win a round of the Australian Kart Championship since Leanne Tander in 1997. On the back of this achievement, earlier this year Flack was one of six young female drivers selected for the inaugural More than Equal Driver Development Program with the goal of becoming the first Female Formula 1 World Champion.
“I hope I win (the Ladies Trophy) for the third year in a row, it would be a real honour,” said Flack.
Colangelo is currently leading Ladies Trophy the points ladder, having demonstrated exceptional skill and determination throughout the season. Colangelo also holds fierce and motivated aspirations of one day racing in Formula 1.
“When I first started go-karting, I was the only girl in my class, and there were only five of us in total throughout the race meeting,” said Colangelo.
The aim of the Ladies Trophy is to highlight female talent within karting, recognising these young women and providing them with the support to continue competing at the highest levels of karting in Australia.
The Ladies Trophy winner will receive free entry for the 2025 Australian Kart Championship and complimentary race tyres for the Championship. All female competitors are eligible, with the overall standings based on the total championship points scored in their respective class. In 2024, there have been 25 female participants competing over the four rounds of the Championship.
Young girls getting started in karting can look up to young women like these two teenagers currently battling it out atop the Ladies Trophy standings, knowing that they too can compete on track and do it well.
“It’s great to see the girls can be up there with the boys” said Colangelo.
Flack will head overseas towards the end of the year for testing with the More Than Equal Driver Development Program, learning more race craft for the future while Colangelo has her sights set on the next step in her career into Formula 4.
The final round of the 2024 SP Tools Australian Kart Championship will be contested at the Oakleigh Go-Kart Racing Club in Melbourne on the weekend of August 31/September 1.
Previous winners of the Ladies Trophy:
2023 – Lana Flack
2022 – Lana Flack
2021 – Aiva Anagnostiadis
2019 – Beck Connell
2018 – Taylah Agius