Talented Australian driver Molly Taylor has confirmed that her highly decorated mother, Coral Taylor, will be her co-driver for the Junior World Rally Championship this year.
Molly Taylor is competing in the JWRC as part of the Italian-based D-Max Racing which prepares customer Citroen rally cars.
Coral Taylor, who has called the notes for champion driver Neal Bates and for many years netting the pair numerous wins including four Australian titles, will replace Molly’s regular co-driver Sebastian Marshall.
“It has been a very busy four months to get us to this position and I’m really grateful to Michèle Mouton and Fabrizia Pons from the FIA Women In Motorsport Commission and my advisor, Piercarlo Capolongo, who have been instrumental in getting my 2014 program together,” Molly said.
“ He (Sebastian) is a first-class co-driver and I will miss having him in the co-driver’s seat.
“I wouldn’t be where I am without him, but I’m also mindful that to take the next step in my career. I need to be in a position to attract the commercial partners to make this happen.
“Equally I’m excited to share this next stage of my professional development with my mother, who has had my back since I first stepped into a car.
“She is arguably the best co-driver in Australia, plus she has had World Rally Championship experience – and no-one knows me better.”
The 25-year-old Taylor will handle Citroën DS3 R3T, a similar model that helped her to victory in the inaugural European Rally Championship Ladies Trophy in 2013.
D-Max Racing team boss Max Beltrami is confident Taylor and Taylor will produce some strong results this season.
“We want to be ready to fight together with Molly and Coral to achieve the best possible result,” Beltrami said.
“We’ve already had a test session with Molly and she immediately found the support of the whole team. I hope she will feel at home with us during this season.”
Taylor took the plunge and moved to Europe in 2009 with her career building from 2011 after she became one of six young drivers to win a scholarship in an international shootout between 18 international drivers.
The six-round JWRC kicks off at Rally de Portugal, the fourth round of the WRC which runs from April 3-6.
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Current entry list for the 6-round JWRC
#52 Simone Tempestini / Pulpea Dorin (Romania)
53 Aron Domzala / Przemek Zawada (Poland)
54 Christian Riedemann / Lara Vanneste (Germany)
55 Quentin Giordano / Guillaume Duval (France)
56 Martin Koci / Lukas Kostka (Slovakia)
57 Stephane Lefebvre / Thomas Dubois (France)
58 Molly Taylor / Coral Taylor (Australia)
59 Panikos Polykarpou / Gerald Winter (Cyprus)
60 Sylvain Michel / Gwenola Marie (France)
61 Frederico Della Casa / Domenico Pozzi (Switzerland)
62 Alastair Fisher / Gordon Noble (Northern Ireland)
63 Lukas Kornel / Mark Mesterhazi (Hungary)
