Courtesy of Sofi Dawalibi (@sofimakesfilms)
The 2024 season of the Stock Car Pro Series came to an end in Interlagos on the 15th of December, with the reigning champion being Gabriel Casagrande – who won his third championship. – A dramatic race with major overtakes and a great finish was exhilarating to watch, however as I was wandering around the track, what really caught my attention was the number of women working to make it all happen.
To be in a space where women were filling important roles was extremely motivating. Whether it be on the track like Bruna Tomaselli, who took the wheel after a late call made on the eve of the race, or behind the scenes like Patricia Alencar, the first female mechanic of Stock Car, it was abundantly clear their roles were deservedly theirs. Not to mention the women who were covering the race as reporters, the DJ who claimed the track beforehand and the many fans who were present.
There are plenty of movements in Brazil that fight to incorporate more women into motorsports; the one that takes the lead is FIA Girls on Track. Its representative is Bia Figueiredo, a Brazilian race car driver who took center stage as the first woman to win a race in the Indy Lights Series in Nashville in 2008. Not only was she a trailblazer for women in motorsports everywhere, but she’s also now making sure that women have the same opportunities – like Rachel Loh, the first female engineer of Brazilian automobilism, who now works hand in hand with Figueiredo.
Bia Figueiredo at her first Copa Truck win, courtesy of Copa Truck/Luis França
“I started racing with karts at 8 years of age, even though my family didn’t have any history with racing, I was very lucky they were so supportive of me as a girl in a sport where it is mostly male-dominated,” Figueiredo said, as I had the honor of speaking with her. “Through my kart trainer, ‘Nô’, I met André Ribeiro and Augusto Cesário, and we started making a plan for my career in motorsports. I realized I had to dedicate 100% of my time to that, and that’s exactly what I was going to do to become a great pilot.” Both Ribeiro – a former Indy Lights and Indy racer who unfortunately passed away in 2021 – and Cesário were Figueiredo’s managers in Brazil’s Formula Renault.
When asked about her childhood, Figueiredo said the impact of being so focused on racing was never something she regretted. “I think life is made by choices. A lot of my friends would party or travel, but I’d had to stay in so I could wake up early to train. I’m happy that I made that choice ever since I was little, it was my dream. It being truly what I wanted made it not so painful [to not have an ordinary childhood].”
Figueiredo being the first woman to win a race in the Indy Lights Series, and now the first-ever woman to win the Copa Truck, her range in racing is astounding. “Really, I have raced in every car, the only one missing is Formula 1. Every change in category was significant, though I remember from kart to formula cars was very hard, mainly because of the driving position and how much you’re able to see. The truck in Copa Truck was very different since it’s so tall you have to climb to get in, it’s so heavy as well,” she elaborated on Copa Truck, a Brazilian auto racing series, which she won this past year, alongside Rachel Loh as her engineer.
Bia Figueiredo and Rachel Loh, courtesy of motorsport.com
“Rachel is an amazing partner in automobilism, a great friend. Having won this championship with her as my engineer and Paula Mascari as my mechanic, with a team that’s 75% composed of women, it’s something so huge for us.” She praised her colleagues who led her to a win in Race 2. “When we brought in this number of women, they doubted us a bit. This project is so gratifying for me, not only for being a Copa Truck champion but also for doing it with amazing women on my team.”
FIA Girls on Track aims to cement the fact that motorsport is one of the only sports where men and women can compete as equals by inviting young girls to discover the different aspects of racing. Figueiredo's backing of that project mainly stems from not being supported by other women in her own journey. “A lot of times that I met other women in my pursuit, I was never assisted by them. Usually, it came from the fact that they wanted to be the only ones there.” Sometimes, due to the pervasive nature of sexism and how women have been pitted against each other, they internalize that misogyny, and it may take a while to overcome. “When I went to Formula Indy in the United States, I joined a group named Red Shoe Movement, made up of women who helped other women in the corporate sense. I thought that was so incredible that it dawned on me: if I continue on and don’t help other girls, it’ll be hard for the world to see great female talent in the future. I must change this tradition.
Courtesy of: Sofi Dawalibi (@sofimakesfilms)
“When I came back to Brazil, I met Rachel Loh, my engineer at Stock Car. We started working little by little to help other girls, until 2021 when the opportunity arose – an invitation from Giovanni Guerra, the president of Brazilian Automobile Confederation (BAC) – to represent Brazil in the FIA Girls on Track [...] In the beginning of 2023 it was created the Female Commission of Automobilism in Brazil, and with that we’re able to create many projects to incentivize girls in that path. To me, it was so gratifying because I started to feel like I won whenever they’d win, whenever they’d get a role in motorsports. I hold this project very close to my heart. I think it can do great, it already is, to make a difference for women in this sport.”
Being a mother to two adorable boys, Figueiredo aims to create a long-term change in the sport, reducing the disparity between men and women and the opportunities they’re given from the start so her kids get to grow up in an equal environment. “When I got pregnant, I’ve never had a reference in racing, I had never seen women that became mothers and still went back to high-level racing. There was a certain insecurity of course, because there was no one I could talk to.
Bia Figueiredo with her kids, courtesy of Copa Truck/Globo
“There’s this joke that when a man becomes a father, he loses two-tenths of a second [on the track]. As a mother then… Everyone was already joking that I’d lose a lot. A lot of people thought that I wouldn’t be able to handle it, that I’d stop racing once I got pregnant. I think it was truly a deconstruction of that way of thinking for me to go back in such a great category.
“Of course, I’m very blessed to have a support system that helps me take care of my kids so I can race, otherwise I don’t know if I’d be able to – which I know is a difficulty in many women’s lives.”
Reflecting on the preconceptions men hold about women in motorsports, Figueiredo said “People usually doubt that women are capable of being competitive enough. There’s no more separations in categories, men and women race together – though sometimes there are some categories where only women race. So there’s this competence issue, even though we already have great examples of amazing women in high-level racing – while I’ve raced in Indy Lights and Copa Truck, Danica Patrick also competed in Indy and Simone Silvestro also achieved a podium finish at Indy.
“We’re more than capable of succeeding in automobilism, so I really believe it’s a quantity thing. We need to have way more women in racing so the great ones can succeed.”
Though critiques and doubts were made towards Figueiredo and other female drivers, she always stayed positive and focused. “My advice for girls who want to pursue a career in automobilism or any sports that are dominated by men, it’s to focus on just being great professionals, don’t be beat down by critiques. A lot of work, dedication and discipline is needed to stand out.”
When asked about the most gratifying part of her career, Figueiredo pondered on all the experiences she’s had, not only as a pilot but as a person. “Automobilism gave me the opportunity to meet outstanding people, see incredible places and travel the entire world for work. This baggage I’ve created for my life, personal and professional, it’s something priceless.”
Without a doubt, Figueiredo has paved the way for many more women to come and have the courage to take on the challenge of being one of few women amongst a multitude of men.
Courtesy of Sofi Dawalibi (@sofimakesfilms)
Edited by Reese Dlabach
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