Talented New Zealand Female For Bathurst 12 Hour

Fans at this years WPS Bathurst 12 Hour Race will see a talented young New Zealander Christina Orr, and that’s a name they want to remember, for they are going to hear a lot more about this young lady.

At Bathurst, she will be driving for Jim Hunter Motorsport, with Heather Spurle MBE and Molly Taylor in the all girl team #66 Subaru RS.

The confident and talented Orr started racing at 6 years of age in karts, and by the time she was 12 had started in Formula First (Vee) and beating the men.

Beating the males at their own game is something she has done a lot of, and it doesn’t perturb her at all.

"I am Driver Racer first and female second. I have raced with boys all my racing life since I was 6, that was in Karting

“But as soon as I put my helmet on and pull down my visor I am a driver not a female I am their equal. I have no problems with the Guys I race with as they do respect me as an equal.

“It some times is the Father's that get upset when I beat their sons. You hear them say on the grid afterward Why did you let that girl beat you. It's sad really, she said.

After her stint in Formula Vee when she was the youngest female in the world to be competing in a National open wheel race car, she moved to Formula Ford. Her best season there being 2005, when she finished 5th outright in the New Zealand Championship, scoring many podium finishes along the way.

New Zealand’s premier single seat category Formula Toyota was the next to beckon, and in 2007, just her second year in the series, was 5th in the New Zealand Championship.

It was midway through the 2008 season she headed to the United States, and had an extremely successful test of an Indy Lights single seater at Putnam Park near, and received kudos from many.

The recipient of the Bruce McLaren Memorial Trophy for New Zealand Driver of the Year then picked up a drive in the #24 car for Alliance Motorsport, and contested the last three rounds of the hotly contested Firestone Indy Lights Series, one of America’s top single seat categories.

For 2009 and beyond, Orr’s future in the sport is dependant a lot on the world economic crisis. A team in America has invited her to compete in the Firestone Indy Lights Series, but at present sponsorship is unavailable.
If sponsorship is not forthcoming, she will stay in New Zealand, and hopefully compete in the New Zealand V8 series. She loves racing and would race anything given the opportunity..

Orr’s appointment with the mountain on February 20/22 will be her second start at Bathurst, as she competed there in 2007 in the Holden all girl team Astra, and acquitted herself well.

“As for The Bathurst Track I absolutely love racing there, and cant wait to get back. It is all you hear about but more," she said.

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