Roscrea’s Nicole Drought Wins at Donington Park

Nicole Drought travelled to Donington Park last weekend to tackle the BRSCC 3 hour C1 Challenge race, as part of the WRC Developments team. In the days running up to the event though, a late deal was done for her to drive a MINI Cooper S in the two driver Clubsport Trophy race on the same day.
Nicole is familiar with Donington Park, having raced there once before so opted not to test the C1 there before the weekend. This meant she would also be jumping in the MINI for the first time in official qualifying. She managed to qualify the car second in class and was happy that she could improve enough to challenge for the win in the race.

After a quick change to the car setup, the team decided that Nicole’s team mate Matt Mills would start the race, before handing over to her once the pitstop window had opened. The plan was that Matt could try to stay in touch with the leader so that Nicole could chase him down in the latter part of the race. Matt drove well, despite his lack of experience, handing over to Nicole just six seconds behind the class leading BMW. Nicole set the fastest lap on her first lap out of the pits and continued to improve her times as she closed the gap to the leader. With three laps to run she sliced down the inside of the leader on the Melbourne Loop to take the lead and by the chequered flag had opened the gap to over five seconds, such was her pace. Not only did Nicole take the class win, she was classified 16th overall, of 42 starters, despite being in the lowest power class of the race. She didn’t have quite as much luck in the 3 hour C1 race as a number of ill timed Safety Car interventions scuppered the team strategy, dropping them from third at half distance to seventh at the flag, of 46 finishers.

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, Historics, C1 Endurance Series, Clubsport Enduro 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 alsoa double 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.
In January 2023 Nicole became the first woman to win in Open Clubman in the Irish Rallycross Championship, when she took her Clio 172 to victory, also clinching second in the Championship too.She currently leads the 2023/2024 Championship
Nicole is an Ambassador for Joe Mallon Motors, Motorsport Ireland, WISP, and Siltex Safety Solutions..
Image from Michael Chester

Nicole Drought: “I really enjoyed that! The MINI is a great little car and definitely has potential to go even faster. Matt was great too, he drove a strong first stint and didn’t get the leader get too far away, making my job a little bit easier. it is always great to take a win, but especially first time out in a new series. If the opportunity comes up again, I will definitely be back for more. As ever, a big thanks to my sponsors who make all this possible. Gem Oils, ITM Digital and Siltex Safety.”

Nicole and Matt Mills celebrate on the Donington Park podium after their Clubsport Trophy Class win..