Swedish rally driver Ramona Karlsson and co-driver Miriam Walfridsson announced that they will take part in the Production Car World Rally Championship PWRC class.
PWRC (Production World Rally Championship) is a companion rally series to the World Rally Championships and is limited to production-based cars.
Karlsson will be driving a black and hot pink Mitsubishi Evo X, a winning car in this class where fellow Swede Patrik Flodin won the silver last year.
Their first race will be held in Mexico on March 8-11, the first gravel event of the season.
Karlsson, who has been driving with Walfridsson for the past five years, said this was what she had been aiming for all through her career.
"Rally is the most fun there is in life and we've been driving together for five years and I've been rally driving for ten years and this has always been a dream for me that I've worked for from the beginning. I have to pinch my arm, that it has finally come true," she said at the launch in a car showroom near Stockholm.
Walfridsson was equally enthusiastic.
"This is a dream I've had ever since I started rally driving and it's incredibly cool that we are where we are today, it's really cool," she said.
All female teams are rare in rally. Karlsson said that although she had always wanted to drive with a woman, it was not until she met Walfridsson that the thought became a reality.
"When I started rally driving I was looking for a female co-driver but of course it's difficult. Firstly to find a girl - which isn't that common - and secondly a good girl of course, so when I had the luck to meet Miriam I immediately decided that I wanted to work with her and that's what's so cool - that we are two women against mostly male teams and as far as I know we're the only women-only team in the World Championships at the moment. That is both fun and unique," she said.
Karlsson and Walfridsson, who spent last year getting sponsors and the required money for the project, said they would take part in six of the eight races and that they were aiming to be among the top five.
Reuters