After a huge disappointment last year, Laura O’Connell is back in the driving seat. The racing car driver is so far the only woman to be representing Ireland in the Radical Cup UK Championship at Silverstone this year.
Laura, a biochemist from Broadford in Co Clare, is racing on the hallowed track of Silverstone this year for the first time.
Last year she was due to take place in the Formula Woman’s Nations Cup but the company organising ran into financial difficulties.
‘Just the week before we found out that the whole event was going to be cancelled and that we weren’t going to be racing in Dubai, unfortunately,’ Laura says.
‘But my family and I still had all our flights and everything paid for, so we decided to take the trip anyway, and I ended up getting to drive the F1 track in Abu Dhabi, so that was a little bit of sweetness against the bad news that week.’
Laura spoke with her sports psychologist to work through the disappointment but then started to look at what she could do next. ‘Luckily for me the opportunity to race in the Article Cup championship for the last few rounds last year came up and I took it and I’m lucky that it wasn’t game over for me because of that event.’
And yesterday she took time out to join Kit Kat for the unveiling of a life-sized, hand-crafted chocolate car at legendary racetrack, Silverstone.
The reveal kicks off KitKat’s Formula 1 partnership in Britain and Ireland for 2026, bringing fans the “ultimate break” throughout the season, as miniature limited-edition KitKat F1 chocolate cars are available now. The giant car spans five metres, weighs 350kg, and took an incredible 1,254 hours to create.
Laura is excited to be hitting the tarmac later this year.
‘I did two rounds of the championship last year as part of a team.
‘So I raced one round with Jordan Delika from Austria and then the second round with Hannah Selsey from Dublin, and then I decided this year to venture out as a solo driver so that I can get more time in the car, more time with the teams, and just to make as much improvement as possible,’ she says.
‘I’ll be out as a solo driver this year with RJ Motorsport as my team, so at the moment I am trying to secure enough sponsorship to finish out the season.’
At the minute she is the only woman registered in the championship.
‘It’s a first for me as there’s always been at least one woman with me, but at the moment I am the only one.
‘I’m sure a few will pop up throughout the season, but it’s a weird feeling right now to be the only one registered.
‘Hopefully getting my name out there will inspire the younger generation, so that there will be a lot more women in the coming years.’
Laura is working full-time as a biochemist as well as making sure she is in tip top condition for the track.
‘I love it,’ she says. ‘I love competing. I love everything about the sport, the people that are involved in it.
It’s just a really good community that we have. And I love the adrenaline that I get from it and. I really enjoy being one of the few women to represent Ireland around the world in racing.’
When Laura was growing up, she had the likes of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher on her walls but there were no women visible at that time, despite the fact that it was all she ever wanted to be.
‘I didn’t really have any female role models – there was no one on the TV racing,’ she says.
‘I think the lack of support and the lack of visibility for women in the sport was something that held me back.’
Laura thinks this is still the case that not enough women are visible in motor racing.
‘Hopefully by me doing this, I’ll be able to show the younger generation of Irish girls and other girls around the world that motor racing is possible and that they can do it too.’
Laura has a very disciplined life as she is up every morning and in the gym at 6am before heading to work as a biochemist. Then she comes home and goes on the simulator each night.
The gym helps with controlling the car.
‘You have to be quite strong, like you have to be able to hold the car when it’s going around corners at fast speeds, and your neck has to be able to withstand those speeds as well. I do a lot of neck training, a lot of making sure my arms are strong, my legs are strong.
‘And then you also have to be physically fit – some of our races are 50 minutes long, so you have to be able to endure driving at speeds of over 200 kilometres an hour for that length of time.’
But as with KitKat’s famous slogan, she feels it’s important to have a break too.
‘I do make sure that I take breaks and have time to spend with my friends as well.’
And so for the Radical Cup and Silverstone, Laura simply wants to do better than she did last year.
‘To be able to finish in the top 10 every week would be really, really nice. To finish on the podium would be even better, but if I can improve from last year, I’ll be happy, and if I can build partnerships with sponsors to bring me along the whole way to my goal, which is the 24 hour Le Mons race, then I’ll be happy.
‘It’s probably the most prestigious race that there is in motor sport. It’s a 24 hour long endurance race which is shared with four drivers, so you each do about six hours of driving, over the 24 hours. It’s my ultimate goal, and hopefully we’ll get there.
‘I need to get into GT cars because that’s the type of car that races in Le Mons so hoping to get some testing in those this year and then be in the Le Mons series next year.’
Meanwhile the Radical Cup will take place in Silverstone on the same weekend as the as the British Formula 3 and Formula 4 races.
‘It’s going to be quite a big weekend -there should be a lot of, a big crowd at Silverstone. So I’m excited to get out. It’s my first time actually getting to race at Silverstone. I’ve been here for F1 races before, but I’ve never actually got onto the track myself, so I’m looking forward to getting out there.’
For more information on the KitKat x F1® partnership and upcoming activations, click here.
