13-year-old Ximena Labastida is set to make history in the Mexican NASCAR Trucks Series, as she will make her debut at this weekend's season opener at the Súper Óvalo de Chiapa.
The presence of women in motorsport is luckily increasing globally and Mexico is no exception - especially in its popular regional NASCAR championship. In the Trucks Mexico Series, several women competed in full-time and part-time campaigns in the last couple of years, including young up-and-coming star Regina Sirvent, now part of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program. At this weekend's season opener at the Súper Óvalo de Chiapa in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the youngest female driver to have ever entered the series will make a historic debut: 13-year-old Ximena Labastida will get behind the wheel of the #33 La BASTILLA Estancia Boutique truck from Dynamic Motorsports. Ximena inherited her passion for motor racing from her father and started karting from a young age; she has been developing her skills ever since and quickly progressed in her career through different championships - also thanks to the support and advice from her coach, Regina Sirvent herself. Labastida feels now ready to step up to the very competitive Trucks Mexico Series, the main feeder series to the national's main NASCAR class. After several test days with Dynamic Motorsports, Labastida was announced at the wheel of the #33 truck by the team from Potosí, with support from the Regina Sirvent Academy. The first round at Super Oval Chiapas will be the first step in her new challenge: track action starts on Saturday with practice and qualifying at the 1.2km oval and Ximena will then tackle her first race day on Sunday 10 April in the 90 laps or 60-minute race which is set to get underway at 12pm local time. Labastida's debut is certainly another important step for female athletes who seek to make their way in Mexico's premier series; she will be joined on the grid by another young talent, Andrea Lozano. 16-year-old Lozano also comes from karting and will be making her debut in the #11 truck by Alessandros Racing, sponsored by Grupo Andrade-El Heraldo Media Group-Grupo Espinosa-SYMETRY-Grupo Fipresta-ACE Publicidad-L'Agence Model-Global Jet Set-Valtame Group-Bank Nano.