Grid girls will be a thing of the past in the FIA World Endurance Championship, with the globe-trotting sports car championship set to do away with the eye-catching, scantily clad women beginning this year.
Speaking to Reuters during Thursday’s launch of the Silverstone round in London, CEO Gerard Neveu confirmed the championship’s proactive new direction.
“From Silverstone next week, you will see that for any race we will do, no grid girls like in the past,” Neveu told Reuters.
“For me that is the past. The condition of women is a little bit different now.”
The move comes in part in support of women working in motorsport. The championship regularly features female drivers, such as Keiko Ihara, while also mechanics and crew including multi-time Le Mans-winning engineer Leena Gade of Audi Sport.
The FIA WEC is the first major series to take such an action.
In addition to the doing away of grid girls, Neveu confirmed another change to the grid process, which will see the cars lined up in echelon formation, a format commonly used in American sports car racing.
Our thoughts about no more grid girls for all the #WEC races.WEC garages, paddocks, grandstands, hospitality & media...
Posted by FIA WEC on Friday, April 3, 2015
