Interview: Australian rally champ Molly Taylor on joining Nico Rosberg’s electric off-road race team
The first Extreme E electric off-road racing season will kick off in 2021, with rally champion Molly Taylor in hot contention.
Fresh from her stint on television show SAS Australia, rally champion Molly Taylor has announced she will be joining Nico Rosberg's team for the inaugural 'Extreme E' electric off-road racing season.
The Extreme E series is designed to highlight the impacts of climate change by racing standardised electric off-road buggies in locations across the world which are most impacted from a warming climate.
Former Formula One champion Nico Rosberg's team, named Rosberg Xtreme Racing (RXR), picked Molly Taylor and Swedish driver Johan Kristoffersson for the 2021 season.
"To welcome a driver of Molly’s talent is extremely exciting for RXR," Nico Rosberg said on the announcement.
"Her experience and success in off-road racing speaks for itself, however Molly’s determination to be proactive in addressing climate change, and support our mission to promote and implement equality are also key factors in Molly joining the team."
Among others, Rosberg's team will be competing against the team of former Mercedes rival and 2020 F1 champion Lewis Hamilton.
Speaking to CarAdvice, Taylor said she was looking forward to the new series: "I'm really excited to be working with and learning from Nico Rosberg and the RXR team. Someone like Nico doesn't start a team with the intention of coming second," Taylor said.
"As a team we are committed to winning on the track and also driving awareness of the fight against climate change."
Taylor won the Australian Rally Championship (ARC) in 2016, becoming both the youngest driver to win the championship, as well as the first and only female driver to ever do so.
Rallying has always played a big part in Taylor's life, with both her parents heavily involved in the motorsport – particularly her mother, rally legend Coral Taylor, who has won four of her own ARC titles as co-driver to Neal Bates.
Despite only ever having driven "just a few kilometres in a Tesla before", Molly Taylor says she's excited about the new challenge.
"This is obviously something completely new and unique, so in many ways we don't really know what to expect.
"Electric is key to the future of mobility and Extreme E is a great platform to further develop electric technology for both on- and off-road use. In addition, it's exciting to help develop other sustainable technologies, such as the hydrogen fuel cell that will charge the cars at each race."
Earlier this year, Taylor was one of the front-runners in the television show SAS Australia, which had celebrities compete against each other in extreme environmental, physical, and mental challenges.
"It certainly was extreme to say the least! I learned a lot about myself, my mental strength and resilience on the course. Coming into a big challenge like Extreme E, I think these factors will become important components of on track performance."
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