Way to go Gabriella!

ROOKIE RACER Gabriella Wimmer has the hottest wheels in town ... and now has a trophy to prove it.

The stunning 27-year-old from Juffair has taken the Circuit Racing Club (CRC) by storm by becoming the fastest female race driver in the C2 category of the National Sprint Championships for season 2007/2008.

Gabriella drove her run-around black Porsche Carrera 4S (996) in successive races and won points eventually securing the fastest time for the season.

The Bahamas-born Austrian national was awarded a trophy by CRC BMF (Bahrain Motor Federation) for securing first position at the recent end-of-season awards ceremony held at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).

Gabriella, a business consultant for CRA International, said: "It was my first time ever to participate in a race and to emerge as a winner is very exciting!

"I bought my car in October 2007 as my birthday present. I wanted a car that I could use as a racing vehicle and a daily driving car."

CRC National Sprint Championships has completed its fourth competitive season and the event offers motor sports enthusiasts, who are not professional race drivers, the opportunity to participate in a competitive event in their private vehicles.

Participants are normally slotted in various categories depending on their vehicle specifications and Gabriella fitted in the C2 category which included cars over 2000cc with un-modified 8, 10 or 12 cylinder engines.

"The C2 event is actually the driver against the clock. No aspect of wheel to wheel racing comes in this category and drivers are sent individually and timed on the two laps of the inner circuit at BIC.

"The National Sprint Championships are unique to Bahrain and nowhere else in the world do races like these take place," explained Ahmed Baqer, executive director of Arabco Group, treasurer of CRC and director of National Racing Committee.

Gabriella's fastest time out of all her races for the season was one minute and 25 seconds. After this season's victory, Gabriella is tempted to buy a vehicle purely for racing and plans to compete in the Batelco 2000 CC Challenge next season. "I'm also planning to get a pair of slick tyres for my Porsche for the race next season as that improves the time achieved," she said.

Gabriella was introduced to racing when she moved to Bahrain last year. She became a member of the Porsche Club after buying her own set of wheels and became the club's treasurer. But Gabriella is no stranger to competitive events. She has been a successful young athlete and ran 400 metres track for 13 years at school in Florida and later at Wellesley College in Boston.

"So it was actually my competitive side that emerged when I took my vehicle on the race track. I received some instruction initially to acquaint myself with the race line. I was nervous when I put my helmet before the first race but then it gets very technical on the track and the adrenaline rush is awesome. With a fast car like mine I get the speed and thrill out of my system on the track so I'm really not tempted to accelerate on the roads of Bahrain."