Twelve years on from the inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship race back in 2012, so much has changed. The prototypes and GT cars look and sound different and there are more major brands throwing resources at it than ever before.
But you could argue that one of the most impactful changes concerns the personalities in the paddock. At the end of the 2023 season, when the Iron Dames Porsche won the last ever GTE race with an all-female crewed 911 RSR 19, there was, quite rightly, plenty of buzz about the significance of the result. It wasn’t just the first time that an all-female crewed car had won a WEC race, it was the first time the feat was achieved in a WEC circuit race too.
Reflecting on that result as I toured the paddock in Qatar at the outset of what is recognized as Women’s History Month in the United States, it got me thinking in a wider sense about the level of female representation in the WEC, because it stretches far beyond the drivers listed on the entry. There are women in race control, on marshal posts, in the press room and in the garages, working at every level. This wasn’t always the case.
Crucially, this is a change that has occurred naturally. It hasn’t happened via regulation, or in response to protests or outside pressure. Instead, this has happened because the paddock is a meritocracy and everyone in it has earned their place. It’s a significantly more diverse place of work than it was 12 years ago and it continues to evolve by the season.
Yes, the grid is the healthiest it’s ever been, with awesome machinery and a calendar full of world-class circuits. But the WEC — which, like most motorsport championships worldwide, is male-dominated behind the scenes — has matured on a human level, and that’s something that should be celebrated.
So with that in mind, it feels like the right time to tell some of the incredible background stories from a selection of the prominent women in the paddock.
But before I do, I’ll say this: This is a topic that for better or worse hasn’t been easy to write about in 2024. In fact, this story has been written, scrapped, and written again, then pulled apart and written a third time. In the world we now live in, many see it as a sensitive topic. It wouldn’t be difficult to stray into fanning the flames of a culture war that none of us need in motorsport or come across as patronizing. Finding the correct tone to do this justice is vital.
Of the five women I spoke to while gathering content for the story, there were differences in opinion and a level of skepticism in places. But to me, this is a subject that deserves to be written about, because genuinely, the World Endurance Championship is a better place to be because of its diverse cast of characters. These stories are worth telling not simply because they are from women, but because their routes to the WEC are fascinating.
So, as a very real example, let’s take a look at General Motors’ effort, with three cars across both 2024 classes and two operations representing Cadillac (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Corvette (TF Sport). Within this group, there are 10 key women, working across a variety of roles and they all have a story to tell.
Among them, Laura Wontrop Klauser (pictured in light blue at top of page), the GM sports car racing program manager who grew up on a farm in Maryland, is perhaps the most recognizable face to the WEC’s fan base. She leads the way, having worked her way up GM’s corporate ladder.
“I’m a mechanical engineer by education and when I was in college I had the really cool opportunity to be part of my team’s Formula SAE team, which is what got me interested in motorsports,” she tells RACER. “Before that, I just knew I wanted to work as an engineer and work with cars. Growing up in Maryland, I knew that my life was going to take me to Michigan, so I chased it. And Formula SAE was something I fell in love with, building a car and competing. I loved the process of building the car and being a part of the competition, getting instant feedback. It’s the highlight of my college time.”
After her studies concluded, she got the call from GM in 2008 to become an engineer, where she spent eight years on the production side, working on the Corvette C7 among other things before finding her way into the motorsports division.
“It was a small group when I came into it. It was just the program management positions available. And since I became a part of it my love for it has grown.
“I’ve always been fascinated by how things work,” she explains. “Everyone in America needs a car unless you live in a place like New York with good public transport. So it’s a symbol of freedom to own a car and your own destiny.”
After joining the motorsport division, Wontrop Klauser started on the Cadillac ATS V.R GT3 World Challenge program before moving into endurance racing with the Cadillac DPi effort. Now, as we move into this new GTP/Hypercar era, she’s pushing to take GM to new heights in sports car racing, winning IMSA titles, targeting WEC titles and looking to score Cadillac its first overall win at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
“I started growing the program. I added the Camaro GT4 program and then in 2021 added Corvette to my role, and from there we began working on LMDh, the GT3 program. There has been huge growth.
“I’ve been lucky in my position. I sit in an area of authority with the budget, working with teams. I’ve loved everyone that I’ve worked with. The respect is given and received.”
Meanwhile, in Cadillac’s garage, Bianca Janas holds the position of fueler. Remarkably, she joins the WEC having served as a truckie for Ferrari’s Formula 1 team and a caterer at race events.
“I actually started in motorsport doing catering in DTM, and I did that for a decade before moving to do catering in WEC and Formula E for a few years,” she relates. “But I wanted more than that, so I found a job doing the tires last year and I obtained a truck license, which led me to pursue driving trucks in Formula 1. That gave me lots of opportunities.
“I did the European F1 races, but I was there for setup and packup, so I missed the race days, which I didn’t like. I always liked the logistics, though, and being part of a team is so different.
“That’s when I found a way to the Cadillac program. I’m new to the team but I have plenty of responsibilities. I am a garage technician as well as a refueller and do a little bit of everything. I enjoy the high level of performance and pressure.”
Janas works alongside Elise Moury, who is the No. 2 car’s strategy engineer and brings a wealth of motorsport experience to the program. Her route to the WEC began in GT racing, working with Team WRT in Blancpain GT, before moving to single-seaters, where she spent the bulk of my time in GP2 with Russian Time and Prema.
“But after a while,” she tells RACER, “I had a crazy idea with my husband to start a race team. We started that journey in 2018 with a team in Formula Renault. That’s stopped now, as I’ve moved into working at the Nurburgring around the 24 Hours, working as a data engineer, performance engineer, and team manager.
“But now my job has changed and I do the strategy for Cadillac, through previous experience working with Earl Bamber (who drives for Cadillac in the WEC). It’s been quite a journey, as initially when I was young I wanted to be a chemist, but I was really good at mechanical engineering and I had a teacher who motivated me to pursue an internship, which I did with Sebastien Loeb Racing in the ELMS. It’s an illness — once you’re in you can’t escape.”
As a strategist, her work now sees her prepare for each race ahead of travelling and working up reports after each session.
“A lot of my work is analysis before a race weekend — on pace, tire degradation, fuel consumption — before validating it when we get on track. It requires a lot of communication with key members of the team.
“During the race, it’s more exciting, as I’m working under pressure and I need to be prepared for any situation so we can react quickly. It’s all about experience and working out what we can do to improve.”
