Female driver Zupanc wants more IRC appearances

Leading female driver Asja Zupanc, who scored points on her Intercontinental Rally Challenge debut on the Sibiu Rally in Romania last month, would relish the opportunity to tackle more rounds of the series.

Zupanc and co-driver Spela Trcek, who is also from Slovenia, scored eighth-place points on the gravel event in their Gassner Motorsport-prepared Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.

“It was a hard rally for me because it was the first time racing on gravel,” said Zupanc, a former karter and hillclimb competitor who switched to rallying in 2009. “I’m not that young anymore but I still like to learn. Of course I would like to do more [rounds of the IRC] but I am doing some other rallies already and the sponsorship can be a problem.”

Zupanc follows in the footsteps of Burcu Çetinkaya, who became the first female driver to score IRC points, a feat she achieved on RACMSA Rally of Scotland in 2010 alongside co-driver Çiçek Güney.