Argentine all-female motor team strives for equality in male-dominated sport

Buenos Aires, Sep 23 (EFE).- Argentine motor racing just picked up a gear. Traditionally a male dominated sport, this season has a new team player, and it involves women.

Vitarti Girl’s Team is the first all-female team to compete in the Argentine national motor race since entering the Top Race Junior category.

“The idea came up last year during the pandemic, more or less in the month of April. I had the opportunity to contact the mechanics and the drivers so that they could be part of the team. Although there are many women working at the zonal level, only few reach the professional level,” Vitarti team leader, Tamara Vital, told Efe.

The all women team is made up of two drivers, four mechanics, an engineer and Vital, the sports director.

“We want to be able to add many more women to the sport,” Vital said during a team practice at the Oscar y Juan Galvez car racing track in Buenos Aires.

The sports director said other teams reacted positively to the newcomers because machismo surrounding the sport belongs to society rather than the sportsmen themselves.

Despite the gender difference, racers in the Top Race Junior category all drive the same cars, making it an egalitarian race.

“It allows us to fight peer to peer when it comes to going out on the track and also in the mechanical part, we chose Top Race for that reason. There is always going to be someone who will throw out a negative comment, which can happen in any job, but in general we are very happy to be able to be here,” she said.

Valentina Funes, one of the team’s drivers, is proud to be driving for the first all-female team in Argentina.

“I decided to join the Vitarti Girl’s Team because women have an open road as drivers, but not so much as mechanics and engineers,” she told Efe.