With New Zealand more famous for its male than female motorsport stars, the backing of environmentally conscious and family owned fuel company Gull New Zealand may just be the thing that changes this in 2012 for Tauranga’s Jodie Verhulst. As she makes her name on the circuit and in motorsport this year Jodie (24) will drive in the 2012 NZ Drift Cross and D1NZ National Drifting Championships supported by the NZ operated companies Gull Force 10 fuel brand.
In only her second season of competitive Drifting at a national level, Jodie is a favourite to achieve in 2012 through the Pro Am leagues of both championships, based on her talented performances and previous battles throughout the 2011 season.
Dedicated with a motivation to show her talent is on par with male competitors, Jodie looks forward to the start of the 2012 season at next weekend’s NAC Drift Nationals being held at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park behind the wheel of her impressively engineered 320kw JZA80 Toyota Supra.
“We can feel the momentum stepping up this year, and driving with the Supra at a level where I’m consistently competitive is a huge buzz. To be recognised by new supporter’s means everything’s slowly falling into place, and concentrating on getting the results over getting to the track is the ultimate goal for me. I’ve been a big fan of Gull now because of its high power output and the way it looks after our engines – so to be representing and promoting the product now is great. I’m here to win – and with the support from Gull, now I’m just itching to get out on track” says Jodie.
After an inter-season break, and re-build Jodie showed-off her impressive talents to the crowd of thousands at the recent Fathers Day 400 V8SuperTourer event at Taupo Motorsport Park. “There are always the blokes who seem to be surprised that driving at this level can be done with a girl behind the wheel” says Jodie “but for me that’s part of the buzz and something I will always happily claim over the other boys.”
Gull New Zealand Business Development Manager Ulrik Olsen says “supporting Jodie is part of our wider promotion in helping to develop motorsport at the grass roots in New Zealand. Jodie has massive potential to make an amazing career for herself in this sport – she’s talented, she’s committed and she’s the underdog. We’re very proud to support Jodie in her dreams of making it to the top and we’re glad that along the way we can show it’s possible on a fuel which can be bought at the pump.”
