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Oct
15th

Keiko Ihara becomes 1st female driver to stand on WEC podium

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From wec.com

Keiko Ihara participated in the 6 Hours of Fuji, Round 5 of FIA World Endurance Championship on October 12, where she finished in 3rd position and climbed the podium at the Fuji Speedway as the first woman driver in the World Championship race.

Ihara has raced in European Le Mans series (ELMS) and Asian Le Mans series (AsLMS) as well as the World Endurance Championship series (WEC) including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The No. 35 Morgan-Judd car run by the OAK Racing started the race from the 27th grid due to a mistake using a non-approved component.

The car crossed the line in third place in LMP2 class, and 9th overall.

Ihara commented about her dream to climb the podium of the World Championship race: “It is fantastic to be on podium in my home country! It's quite tough for a woman to drive a race car in one of the top categories. Thanks to great support by OAK Racing and supporters in Japan, however, I finally arrived here. I really appreciate to all for their help so far. I got 2 podium finishes in a row from the AsLMS race in August. So, I will try to get on the top of the podium at my next WEC race in Bahrain.”

WEC Keiko Ihara podium Fuji
Keiko Ihara standing on the podium in Fuji (Photo: John Rourke/AdrenalMedia.com)



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