Gold Coast-based Rintoule, 17, was last week announced as a Triple Eight driver in the Supercars powerhouse’s new GT4 Australia program.
The milestone move comes less than three years after she first experienced a racetrack.
“It all started out of the blue after COVID,” she said of her career.
“My dad kind of just went… there was no contact sport, couldn’t play basketball or anything, so he said, ‘let’s go and jump into a race car’.
“I was 14 so I just qualified for a licence, and it just went straight from there, no background karting experience or anything and jumped straight into a car.”
Rintoule says she was hooked from that first drive.
“For me it was awesome,” she said. “For my dad, I can’t answer the same thing. I think he was quite nervous, but I had a blast, it was great.”
Rintoule started racing Hyundai Excels in 2022 and by the end of the following year moved up to Toyota 86 competition.
She raced in three Toyota series in 2024, kicking off the year in New Zealand before progressing through the Australian second-tier Scholarship and flagship GR Cup classes.
Now she moves into the Monochrome GT4 Australia class with Triple Eight, sharing a Mercedes-AMG with Erebus Academy Super2 Series driver Jarrod Hughes.
“I believe this is the best move for my development as a driver, and I can’t wait to hit the track and start the season with an awesome team and co-driver,” she said.
“It is going to be a great year full of learning opportunities, and I believe I have the best people surrounding me to maximise them.”
Triple Eight team manager Mark Dutton described signing Rintoule as a proud moment for the squad.
Women have filled a variety of roles at Triple Eight over the years, including mechanic, engineer and even co-owner, but never driver.
“Summer has been in and around the team for several months now, showing a real desire to learn,” added Dutton.
“I have always said this is one of the most important things as a driver, you have to work at it.”
Rintoule documents her racing journey on social media and picked up a ‘Publicity Star’ award from Toyota for her efforts during last year’s GR Cup season.
News of Rintoule’s Triple Eight deal came on the same day that Supercars announced a new partnership with Griffith University aimed at encouraging young girls into motorsport careers.
Named SuperGEMs, the program will connect 50 Year 9 and 10 students from across South-East Queensland with industry professionals and involve mentorships and real-world projects.
Rintoule says encouraging girls into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) subjects can help increase female participation throughout the industry.
“I think it’s an awesome experience, especially driving those girls who want to get into STEM and not even just racing, but more behind the scenes of media and engineering and science,” she said.
“I think it’s a really great opportunity for everyone.”
Those to attend the SuperGEMs announcement included Triple Eight driver Craig Lowndes, who will play a role in mentoring Rintoule and Hughes this year.
“We will make sure that both Summer and Jarrod are supported from every driver at Triple Eight meaning will have the full repertoire of skills to call upon,” said Dutton.
“Whether that’s Craig, Jamie [Whincup], Broc [Feeney] or Will [Brown], everyone will be there to help them along the way.
“With a well-run program and constant progression, the sky’s the limit.”
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