Caitlin Wood (born 15 January 1997 in

Maitland, New South Wales Maitland () is a city in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River, New South Wales, Hunter River approximately by road north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle, New S ...

) is a

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. She last competed in the

Indian Racing League The Indian Racing League (formerly known as the X1 Racing League) is an auto racing championship based in India. It is unrelated to the proposed i1 Super Series that was based on a similar idea. History It is co-founded by Indian professional ...

, and previously competed in the W Series.

Biography

Hailing from Tenambit in the New South Wales

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its ...

, Wood began her professional motorsport career in 2013 in a state-level

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single-seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world have historically been an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

championship. She ended her debut in car racing 5th out of 7 in the championship. She subsequently moved up to the inaugural Australian Formula Ford Championship in 2015, however she struggled to 21st in the championship with only three points finishes. The Australian Formula 4 Championship would become the new national feeder series in Australia, and Wood contested a three-event part-time schedule – eventually finishing 13th in the championship before setting her sights on Europe. Wood was accepted into Reiter Engineering's Young Stars program in early 2016, and was entered into the

GT4 European Series The GT4 European Series is a sports car championship created and organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It is a pro/am championship which utilizes SRO GT4 class cars, and runs alongside the GT World Challenge Europe as a support series. History ...

. She finished 17th in the championship despite missing the round at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. The village is about south-southwest of Towcester and northeast of Brackley, both accessed via the A43 road, A43 main ...

. Reiter promoted Wood to their

Blancpain Sprint Series The GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup is a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) with the approval of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Born as the FIA GT Series in 2013, it was spo ...

program for

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

alongside Finnish driver Marko Helistekangas, although the duo only contested the first round before being promoted again to the

Blancpain Endurance Series The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports G ...

where they were joined by

Tomáš Enge Tomáš Enge (; born 11 September 1976) is a Czech former professional racing driver who has competed in many classes of motorsport, including three races in Formula One. Career Born in Liberec, Enge started his career at the age of 16, entering ...

. Due to budget constraints, the team only contested the 1000km of Paul Ricard and 3 Hours of Barcelona, and failed to score any points. Wood then switched to

Lamborghini Super Trofeo The Lamborghini Super Trofeo is an international motor racing series. The Lamborghini Super Trofeo is the one-make championship organized by Lamborghini Squadra Corse. The series involves exclusively Huracán Super Trofeo Evo model cars in 3 co ...

Europe for 2018, joining British team MTech. She contested the opening two rounds at

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

and Silverstone, before missing the next two events after she broke her ankle in training. She returned for the fifth round at the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

, scoring a best result of sixth before running out of funding; she then remained in the United Kingdom for the rest of the year working as a driver coach. Wood applied for the W Series evaluation in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, and qualified as one of the seasons' 18 permanent drivers. She scored a point with a 10th place in the season opener at the Hockenheim round, before suffering a run of misfortune in the following races; having gone off-track in a points-scoring position at

Zolder The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. History Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, a ...

, damaging her suspension in qualifying at Misano that put her at the back of the grid for the race, and a comeback drive from clutch issues at the

Norisring The Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as a motorcycle racing venue in 1947 and named in a 1950 competition to win a light motorcycle, the track became known as a sports car racing venue in the 19 ...

saw her only finish 11th. Wood finished 5th place at the Assen round, scoring her best result for the series. Despite this, she missed the automatic invitation to the 2020 season by a single point after another 11th-place finish at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

. Wood was retained as a reserve driver for the 2020 season prior to its' cancellation, and made four starts in this role in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

– highlighted by a top-five finish in torrential rain at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), informally referred to as Spa, is a motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, ho ...

. Wood left W Series after the 2021 season and struggled to find a seat with a lack of budget, returning to driver coaching both privately and with PalmerSport. Following a handful of Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie appearances, she was announced as a Barbie Sports Ambassador in 2024 – a deal which only lasted a single round of the

2024 Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain The 2024 Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2024 Cayman Islands Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain) was a multi-event, One-Design, one-make Motorsport, motor racing championship held across England and ...

. Wood was then hired to contest the

for the Bangalore Speedsters franchise alongside local driver Rishon Rajeev; a gamut of technical failures meant 5th in the first race around Chennai's Island Grounds was her best finish, but a pair of podiums for Rajeev resulted in 7th in the standings.

Racing record

Karting career summary

Racing career summary

* Season still in progress. ‡ Standings based on entry points, not individual drivers.

Bathurst 12 Hours results

Complete W Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Indian Racing League results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ‡ Standings based on entry points, not individual drivers. * Season in progress.

References

External links

* Profile a
Driver Database

Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Caitlin Australian female racing drivers Racing drivers from the Hunter Region Sportspeople from Maitland, New South Wales 1997 births Living people W Series drivers Australian F4 Championship drivers 24H Series drivers GT4 European Series drivers Lamborghini Super Trofeo drivers Indian Racing League drivers