Gilmour makes podium history

Emma Gilmour has become the first woman driver to podium for the McLaren Racing team after she and American teammate Tanner Foust finished second in the final of the Energy X Prix.

The event in Uruguay concluded this year’s five-round Extreme E campaign in which the NEOM McLaren pairing finished fifth overall.

It was the team’s debut season and taking out second in the South America final on November 28 (NZT) capped a memorable weekend after Gilmour had rolled the car during practice.

“Ending on the podium today was amazing,” she says. “It wasn’t the easiest weekend for us, but from a roll in free practice one to being on the podium, it’s an amazing way to finish our first season. 

“It’s been a huge team effort. This team is simply amazing. It was a lot of fun out there this weekend even though it was really challenging.”

Gilmour, who is dealer principal and manager of Gilmour Suzuki Motors in Dunedin, also made history a year ago when she became McLaren Racing’s first female driver.

Mark Grain, sporting director of NEOM McLaren, reflected on the team’s progress in the space of just 12 months since the race team was put together.

“We’ve been in three finals, we’ve had two Crazy Race wins and today, after all that hard work, we finished on the podium. 

“We’ve had some incidents and accidents in our final race of the year, but we finished on the podium, and all credit for that goes to everybody involved and is a reward for everyone’s hard work.”

Gilmour and Foust were pipped in Uruguay by Klara Andersson and Nasser Al-Attiyah from ABT Cupra XE, while the overall 2022 championship was won by the pairing of Sebastien Loeb and Cristina Gutierrez for the X44 Vida Carbon Racing.