Two young female drivers have been awarded Motorsport UK Girls Karting Academy scholarships funded by Motorsport UK and Charlotte Tilbury in collaboration with TeamSport under an initiative set up to increase female participation in motorsport. Due to lack of opportunity, visibility, access and confidence, girls often drop out of sport twice as fast as boys and as a result currently only 5% of UK licenced racing drivers are female.
The Girls Karting Academy programme is designed to help girls see themselves in motorsport and feel supported from the moment they arrive in order to build confidence, resilience and self-belief. Through this many will discover a lifelong passion and maybe even a future career. The scholarships are designed to help the most promising drivers maintain this momentum.
Applicants for the scholarship attended introductory days during school holidays in 2025 at ten TeamSport venues. These included sessions in TeamSport’s arrive and drive karts, plus several fun activities, designed by Motorsport UK’s Academy coaches and experts in sports science to test the girls’ competency and skill levels both on and off the track.
Once drivers completed a taster day and expressed a desire to compete, they received a Motorsport UK Licence, and a TeamSport membership to be able to compete in the TeamSport Race Academy; a program designed to help drivers get ready for the British Indoor Karting Championship at the end of the year.
Further support for the Girls Karting Academy was provided by Charlotte Tilbury, the award-winning global luxury makeup, skincare and fragrance brand, with free funded karting sessions at TeamSport Karting venues. This aligned with their commitment and partnership with F1 ACADEMYTM as part of their mission to support female drivers in progressing to the highest levels of motorsport competition. The initiative was powered by sales of Charlotte’s award-winning Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray 100ml made on International Women’s Day 2025.
Following the success of the programme, two scholarship places have been awarded for 2026 to help establish the careers of two promising female karters. For the first, Motorsport UK, in collaboration with Club100 will fund Ellena Santhosh, who was the highest-placed female driver in the British Indoor Karting Championship Cadet class for drivers aged 8-12 years. Ellena will receive a fully-funded season in the Club100 Karting Championship Cadet class.
In addition to this, the Charlotte Tilbury Scholarship has been awarded following an assessment at Whilton Mill karting circuit of the top three drivers from their funded sessions. The winning driver, Mia Gualtieri has also been awarded a fully-funded season in the Club100 Karting Championship Cadet class.
Hugh Chambers, Chief Executive Officer at Motorsport UK, said, “Congratulations to Ellena and Mia and my very best wishes to both for the season ahead. The Girls Karting Academy has proven to be a popular initiative and has further encouraged female participation in motorsport, which will be consolidated by these scholarships. Together with Girls on Track and our other initiatives such as Level Up: Women In Sports we are seeing a rise in participation across all areas of the sport from entry-level upwards. I’m delighted to have Charlotte Tilbury, TeamSport and Club100 on board and thank them for their continued collaboration.”
Click here for more details on the Girls Karting Academy or here to book onto an event and here for details of Motorsport UK’s inclusion programmes.