Female Focus: Born into the Sport

Janina Gonzalez has been around motorsport all of her life, and after fulfilling a variety of roles from co-driving to timekeeping, she was a key figure in 2021 in ensuring the success of the inaugural FIA RX2e Championship campaign.

Born into a family of motorcyclists, Gonzalez followed her father to motocross circuits as a child and accompanied him on the legendary Dakar Rally, even navigating for him in rally-raid competitions after he switched from two wheels to four.

“My dad was the one who introduced me to the world of motorsport and gave me the passion for it,” she acknowledges. “I spent my childhood at motocross circuits and then on rallies or in front of the television when the Dakar was on, following his adventures.”

Bitten by the bug, her first job in the sport was as a timekeeper at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, since when, the Spaniard has been involved in championships including A1GP, the World Series by Renault and FIA Formula E.

For the past four years, she has been employed by Spanish electro-mobility specialist QEV Technologies – one half of the pioneering partnership behind RX2e. As series co-ordinator, Janina is responsible for overseeing the smooth running of the championship – a task that she describes as extremely rewarding.

“Working on so many projects here at QEV Tech, we never get bored!” she laughs. “I had always experienced motorsport from an organiser’s perspective but when I joined QEV, I decided to look at it from a team perspective, with the company running two Formula E teams at the time.

“The first season of RX2e was a great experience supported by a wonderful team. It’s always an exciting challenge to launch something new, but it would not have been the same without such a great group of people and drivers.

“It’s fantastic to see an increasing number of women at the circuits in all areas, but we are still missing many more! For me, joining rallycross has been a good fusion between my passion for off-road competition and my background in circuit racing. I encourage everyone to strive to work in an area that they enjoy.”