22-year-old Chelsea Angelo has been confirmed in an Opel Astra TCR run by Kelly Racing for the inaugural TCR Australia series, becoming the third female racer to join the grid.
Angelo will be part of a four-car line-up at Kelly Racing, joining Alex Rullo in one of the team’s Opel Astra cars, whilst team-mates Molly Taylor and another driver yet-to-be-confirmed will race Subaru WRX STi cars.
Angelo will join Taylor and Alexandra Whitley as the third female racer on the grid, and the 14th confirmed thus far, for the new touring car series.
She has previously raced in Formula Ford, Super2 Supercars and in Porsche racing, making her one of Australia’s most experienced female drivers.
“It’s incredible to confirm that I will race in TCR this year,” said Angelo. “I wasn’t sure what my racing options were at the start of the season, but when I saw that TCR was coming here, I always felt that it was a great category for myself.
“There’s a lot of ex-Supercars drivers in there, plus Porsche drivers, rally car drivers, a few females. It’s a real mixed bag.
“I’ve never raced a front wheel drive car before, and I’ll be trying to get my head around it as fast as I can. It will be interesting.
“When I tested at Winton last week, one of the things I found tricky was trying to get the temperature of the rear tyres up. I’ve been speaking to a lot of people to learn as much as I can before we get to Sydney.
“I’m confident of getting my head around it all, but I love a challenge. I’m excited. I have absolutely no expectations, so it’s nice to go there with an open mind set.
“TCR is a great category. It’s known worldwide and it can open up doors to overseas racing, so to be able to bring that here is a great thing. And it will be an even playing field. I’m excited and can’t wait to get my bum back in seat.”
Todd Kelly, owner of Kelly Racing, admits that the team has been keeping an eye on Angelo’s career progression to-date.
“We have been speaking with Chelsea for some time and it’s great to have her locked in with our team,” said Kelly.
“Chelsea is still very young, but she has been racing at the top level of Australia’s national categories for some time. We have been keeping an eye on her so it’s great to see here progress her career into TCR with us.
“The Opel performed extremely well at the test and we really feel that it is going to be a strong contender in the series with Alex and Chelsea as the drivers.”