Racer Gianna Pascoal in South Africa moves up to Formula 4 — Daily Maverick

Sixteen-year-old South African racer Gianna Pascoal has moved from karting to Formula 4 racing and aims to compete in Formula 1 in the future. She joined the Investchem MSA4 series, which in South Africa is considered the first significant step in the transition from karts to single-seaters, Daily Maverick reports.

From karting to a single-seater

Pascoal first got behind the wheel of a racing kart at the age of 11 at the Formula K circuit in Benoni, where her father took her. Before that, she practised diving and tried to qualify for the Junior Olympic Games. Three months after being introduced to karting, she took part in her first race.

According to Pascoal, at the beginning her rivals already had around eight years of experience, while she had only been training for eight weeks. Together with her father, she trained at the circuit five days a week and completed 150 laps each day. Her coach became four-time karting world champion Wesley Orr of Worr Motorsport.

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International development programmes

The racer became the first South African female driver selected for the senior category of the FIA Karting Academy, as well as one of six female drivers worldwide chosen for the More than Equal Driver Development Programme. This non-profit initiative, co-founded by former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard, is aimed at identifying and developing female talent in motorsport.

The programme includes physical assessment camps in Manchester every three months, simulator sessions and driving programmes in Europe. Pascoal named competing in Formula 4 and gaining entry to F1 Academy — a women’s series created to develop young female drivers — as her next goals. According to the publication, the last woman to start and compete in a Formula 1 race was Lella Lombardi in 1976.