Crawford Times 60 ONLINE

You were born in Belgium and grew up in SA, what
was that like?
I don’t know anything else so it’s tough to compare
it to possibly having stayed in one country, but I
consider myself a world citizen today and have
parts of my heart in Belgium, South Africa and
Germany! It’s something that can be challenging but
it is also a blessing. When I race I feel as though I’m
representing several different countries.
Tell us about how your racing career started.
I was invited to an indoor karting birthday party of
a family friend when I was 11. Going there I had
no idea of the passion I had in me for motorsport
(besides having always dreamed of having an
electric toy car which I could drive myself as a kid).
I thoroughly enjoyed that day and begged my dad
every day after that to take me back. He did, and the
rest is history really.
I ended up racing in the Karting World Championship
from 2008 to 2011. From there I moved on to road
racing and eventually spent a year and a half in Asia
racing an EVO III in the Clio Cup China Series, and
in 2014 I took the championship win for it.
Who do you race for now and what are you driving?
In 2015 I signed a contract with a German racing
team called Reiter Engineering. Together with
them I have been a part of the development of the
KTM X-Bow GT4 race car and have been driving
predominantly in the European GT4 Championship.
This year I hope to be adding to that a seat in the
new revolutionary W Series in the latest spec
Formula 3 racing cars!
We heard that before racing stole your heart, you
did some modelling. Do you think there are any
parallels between the two?
I did do a couple of modelling jobs when I was
younger, but I was by no means a model. I have
a lot of respect for women in that industry. On
some levels it is similar, in terms of the nature of
competition and how you are criticised often as an
individual – both industries will certainly give you a
thick skin.
Essentially, you are a woman competing in a man’s
world. What’s that like?
In general, it’s something I try not to focus on. At the
end of the day, when you’re on the track and you’ve
got your helmet on, no one sees the difference. We
race as equals, not as women against men. Having
said that, as a woman in this sport you definitely
have to fight twice as hard for the respect of certain
people and constantly have to prove that you too
have what it takes to go places.
Do you drive full-time, or do you juggle another job
with it?
Right now, I’m juggling a couple of things besides
my racing contract with Reiter Engineering. I am
also the team manager for their race team, which
covers a variety of responsibilities. I also host a
German TV show on cars and racing called PS-Profis
Fahrschule.
It’s certainly a lot to do all at once and this year
will by no means be an easy one, but one thing I’ve
learned over time is that sacrifice will see you reach
your goals.
Naomi driving at the Formula 2.0 on the
Motorland Aragón circuit in Spain in 2014.
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