Caitlin Wood (born 15 January 1997 in Maitland, New South Wales) is an Australian female racing driver who last competed in the 2021 W Series.[1]
| Caitlin Wood | |
|---|---|
 Wood at Brands Hatch in 2019 | |
| Nationality |  Australian |
| Born | 15 January 1997 Maitland, New South Wales |
| W Series | |
| Racing licence |  FIA Silver |
| Years active | 2019, 2021 |
| Teams | Hitech GP Puma W Series Team W Series Academy |
| Starts | 10 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Best finish | 13th in 2019 |
| Previous series | |
| 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2017 2018 | New South Wales Formula Ford Championship Australian Formula Ford Championship Formula 4 Australia GT4 European Series Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe |
Biography
editHailing from Tenambit in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, Wood began her professional motorsport career in 2013 in a state-level Formula Ford championship. She ended her debut in car racing 5th out of 7 in the championship. She subsequently moved up to the inaugural Australian Formula Ford Championship in 2015, however she struggled to 21st in the championship with only three points finishes. The Australian Formula 4 Championship would become the new national feeder series in Australia, and Wood contested a three-event part-time schedule – eventually finishing 13th in the championship before setting her sights on Europe.[2]
Wood was accepted into Reiter Engineering's Young Stars program in early 2016, and was entered into the GT4 European Series.[3] She finished 17th in the championship despite missing the round at Silverstone.[4] Reiter promoted Wood to their Blancpain Sprint Series program for 2017 alongside Finnish driver Marko Helistekangas, although the duo only contested the first round before being promoted again to the Blancpain Endurance Series where they were joined by Tomáš Enge.[5][6] Due to budget constraints, the team only contested the 1000km of Paul Ricard and 3 Hours of Barcelona, and failed to score any points. Wood then switched to Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe for 2018, joining British team MTech.[7] She contested the opening two rounds at Monza and Silverstone, before missing the next two events after she broke her ankle in training. She returned for the fifth round at the Nürburgring, scoring a best result of sixth before running out of funding; she then remained in the United Kingdom for the rest of the year working as a driver coach.[8]
Wood applied for the W Series evaluation in 2019, and qualified as one of the seasons' 18 permanent drivers.[9] She scored a point with a 10th place in the season opener at the Hockenheim round, before suffering a run of misfortune in the following races; having gone off-track in a points-scoring position at Zolder, damaging her suspension in qualifying at Misano that put her at the back of the grid for the race, and a comeback drive from clutch issues at the Norisring saw her only finish 11th. Wood finished 5th place at the Assen round, scoring her best result for the series.[10] Despite this, she missed the automatic invitation to the 2020 season by a single point after another 11th-place finish at Brands Hatch.[11] Wood was retained as a reserve driver for the 2020 season prior to its' cancellation, and made four starts in this role in 2021 – highlighted by a top-five finish in torrential rain at Spa-Francorchamps.[12][13]
Wood left W Series after the 2021 season and struggled to find a seat with a lack of budget, returning to driver coaching both privately and with PalmerSport.[14] Following a handful of Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie appearances, she was announced as a Barbie Sports Ambassador in 2024 – a deal which only lasted a single round of the 2024 Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain.[15][16] Wood was then hired to contest the Indian Racing League for the Bangalore Speedsters franchise alongside local driver Rishon Rajeev; a gamut of technical failures meant 5th in the first race around Chennai's Island Grounds was her best finish, but a pair of podiums for Rajeev resulted in 7th in the standings.[14]
Racing record
editKarting career summary
edit| Season | Series | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Australian Rotax Nationals - Rotax Junior | 30th |
Racing career summary
edit| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | New South Wales Formula Ford Championship | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 184 | 5th | |
| 2014 | New South Wales Formula Ford Championship | Synergy Motorsport | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 106 | 3rd |
| Australian Formula Ford Championship | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 21st | ||
| 2015 | New South Wales Formula Ford Championship | Synergy Motorsport | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 9th |
| Australian Formula Ford Series | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 11th | ||
| Australian Formula 4 Championship | AGI Sport | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 13th | |
| Dream Motorsport | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2016 | GT4 European Series - Pro | Reiter Young Stars | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 17th |
| 2017 | Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup | Reiter Young Stars | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | ||
| 24H Series - SP3-GT4 | Reiter Engineering | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16th | |
| 2018 | Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe - Pro-Am | MTech | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2019 | W Series | Hitech GP | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 13th |
| 2021 | W Series | Puma W Series Team | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 16th |
| W Series Academy | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2022 | Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie - VT2 | Adrenalin Motorsport | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2024 | Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain - Clubsport Pro[17] | Clean Racing | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 22 | 4th |
| Indian Racing League | Bangalore Speedsters | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 79‡ | 7th‡ |
* Season still in progress.
‡ Standings based on entry points, not individual drivers.
Bathurst 12 Hours results
edit| Year | Team | Co-drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Ovr. pos. |
Class pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | M Motorsport
|
David Crampton Tim Macrow Justin McMillan
|
KTM X-Bow GT4 | C | 31 | DNF | DNF |
| 2019 | M Motorsport
|
David Crampton Trent Harrison Tim Macrow
|
KTM X-Bow GT4 | C | 262 | DNF | DNF |
Complete W Series results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Hitech GP | HOC 10 |
ZOL 11 |
MIS 14 |
NOR 11 |
ASS 5 |
BRH 11 |
13th | 11 | ||
| 2021 | Puma W Series Team | RBR1 | RBR2 | SIL | HUN 17 |
SPA 5 |
ZAN | 16th | 11 | ||
| W Series Academy | COA1 13 |
COA2 10 | |||||||||
Indian Racing League results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Franchise | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024‡ | Bangalore Speedsters | IRU1 1 |
IRU1 2 Ret |
IGR 1 5 |
IGR 2 |
IRU2 1 8 |
IRU2 2 |
KAR1 1 9 |
KAR1 2 |
KAR2 1 Ret |
KAR2 2 |
7th | 77 |
‡ Standings based on entry points, not individual drivers.
* Season in progress.
References
edit- ^ "Caitlin Wood – W Series". W Series. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
- ^ "Caitlin Wood set for Formula 4 debut". Speedcafe. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
- ^ "Wood impresses in European GT4". Speedcafe. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
- ^ "Tenambit car racer Caitlin Wood competing in European GT4 Championship in the Reiter Young Stars Series for Reiter Engineering". Maitland Mercury. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
- ^ "Newcastle Supercars: Caitlin Wood enjoys bumpy ride in first GT series". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
- ^ "Caitlin Wood switches to Blancpain Endurance Series". Speedcafe. Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
- ^ "CAITLIN WOOD TO DEBUT IN LAMBORGHINI SUPER TROFEO". Velocity Magazine. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
- ^ "Wood 'needed' W Series opportunity". Speedcafe. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
- ^ "W Series announces its driver line-up". W Series. Archived from the original on 2 September 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
- ^ "Caitlin Wood scores her best W Series result at Assen". Driven Women Magazine. 20 July 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
- ^ "Chadwick wins inaugural W Series title". Speedcafe. 12 August 2019.
- ^ "Drive to survive - Aussie Wood fighting for permanent W-Series seat at Spa". SBS Sport. 26 August 2021.
- ^ "WOOD FIFTH IN W SERIES AT SPA". Auto Action. 30 August 2021.
- ^ a b "Caitlin Wood on life, racing, and the future". Driven Women Magazine. 9 December 2024.
- ^ "Caitlin Wood shines in her bright pink Barbie car". NBN News. 7 June 2024.
- ^ ""Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, I won't be able to compete in the next round of..."". @caitlinwoodracing on Facebook. 21 June 2024.
- ^ "AUSSIE WOOD MAKING AN IMPACT ON AND OFF THE TRACK". Auto Action. 12 April 2024.
External links
edit
- Profile at Driver Database
- Website Archived 2019-04-19 at the Wayback Machine