Australian star Molly Taylor to take on some of the world’s best at 2025 Race Of Champions in Sydney
Australia’s greatest ever female motorsport export and Extreme E champion Molly Taylor has been confirmed to take on some of the world’s biggest names at next year’s Race Of Champions event at Accor Stadium in Sydney, March 7-8.
Taylor, who was born and raised in Sydney, becomes just the fourth female to compete in the iconic event and joins some of the world’s greatest drivers of all time including seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup.
A reputation earned on the world stage has given Taylor the chance to take on some of the world’s greats in identical vehicles in front of a passionate home crowd in a unique stadium event at Sydney’s Olympic Park.
Taylor will be going head to head with no less than four-time Formula 1 World Champion, Sebastian Vettel; nine-time FIA World Rally Champion, Sebastien Loeb; seven-time Supercar Champion – Jamie Whincup; 11-time X-Games Gold medalist, Travis Pastrana; 7-time FIA World Rallycross Champion, Johan Kristoffersson; two-time European Rally Champion and Kiwi, Hayden Paddon and former FIA F2 champion and F1 driver, Mick Schumacher.
As the Host nation for ROC 2025, Australia is set to have two teams in the ROC Nations Cup, where they will take on teams from New Zealand, Germany, France, USA and others to to try to be Crowned the ‘World’s Fastest Nation’ on Friday 7th March – the remaining two Austalians will be announced in coming weeks.
Taylor currently leads the innovative Extreme E Series with Sweden’s Kevin Hansen. ROC is renowned for gathering some of the best drivers in the world, including superstars from Formula 1, Le Mans, Nascar, IndyCar, World Rally and Rallycross and they will all race head-to-head in identical cars on ROC’s iconic 1 Kilometer parallel track, where the winner is decided by driver skill alone.
Race Of Champions was established in 1988 by Fredrik Johnsson and Michele Mouton, the only woman so far to win FIA World Rally championship events against the men.
Other female stars to have competed at ROC include England’s Susie Wolff, who finished runner-up in the ROC Nations Cup with David Coulthard in Barbados in 2014 before competing in front of a home crowd at London Stadium the following year.
Three-time all-female W Series winner and current Williams F1 development driver Jamie Chawick represented England on the ice in Sweden in 2022 and 2023 – the first of those years she also competed against Finnish driver Emma Kimilainen, who was teamed with 1998 and 1999 F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen.
Taylor grew up in a motorsport family with her mother, Coral, a five-time Australian Rally Champion co-driver.
After starting her career while still in high school, Molly was selected in the Pirelli Star Driver World Rally Championship program and became the first female driver to achieve a podium position in the Junior World Rally Championship, finishing third in the illustrious Rally Finland.
In 2015 she was awarded the prestigious Peter Brock Medal by Motorsport Australia and the following year became the first female (and at the time, youngest ever) driver to win the Australian Rally Championship.
In 2020, Molly won a legion of new fans through her appearance on Seven Network’s reality show SAS Australia, where her grit made her a viewer favourite.
In 2021 Molly joined the Extreme E series, and won the title on debut with Rosberg X Racing and teammate Kristoffersson, who was recently announced as part of the 2025 ROC field.
Taylor also began her venture into endurance off-road racing competing in the 2022 and 2023 Dakar rallies.
The Race Of Champions will run over two nights with a purpose built 1km asphalt race track taking centre stage at Accor Stadium, Sydney’s Olympic Stadium.
The ROC Nations Cup takes place on Friday the 7th, with drivers paired in teams based on nationality to bid for the title of ‘World’s Fastest Nation’.
The Saturday night will see the individual Race Of Champions, when all teamwork goes out of the window and it will be a battle for individual glory and the ‘Champion of Champions’ title.
What Molly Taylor said:
“The Race Of Champions (ROC) is such an iconic event and something I’ve followed for a long time. It’s a huge moment in my career to be invited to join a line-up like this,” said Taylor.
“The ROC concept is incredibly cool with the fans in the stadium able to see every bit of action and get closer to the cars and drivers than at any other form of motorsport. Rally and Extreme E are all about adapting to new situations quickly, which I think will suit my style of driving and my experience.
“To be able to compete in the Race Of Champions feels surreal and to do it for the first time in front of a home Sydney crowd will be an incredibly special once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
“I am excited to be racing against some of the most iconic names in world motorsports, including drivers I’ve looked up to my whole career. Sure, ROC is not your traditional style of motorsport, and everyone is having a heap of fun, but, like everyone else out there, I will be racing to win.”
What Fredrik Johnsson, Race Of Champions President and Co-Founder, said:
“The momentum we have since announcing our 2025 event at Accor Stadium in Sydney is fantastic,” said Johnsson.
“To be able to follow up our recent announcements with Molly, the first female driver and on top of that, a local girl from Sydney, is fantastic for the fans, who are hopefully starting to get a feel for how big this event is going to be.
“Molly is an amazing talent who has proved herself winning in Extreme E and making huge improvements every season. I think she will be as competitive in this format as any of the girls that we have competing against and often beating many of the men at ROC.
“Molly has probably not received the credit she deserves from the wider public for what she has achieved both in Australian and international motorsport.
“The 2025 ROC will give Australian sports fans a chance to see Molly in action on an ‘equal’ playing field where we hope she will show how competitive she is.
“It will be great to have Molly and Jamie (Whincup) along with two more drivers representing the host country flying the Australian flag in the ROC Nation’s Cup in front of the ‘home’ crowd at Accor Stadium in Sydney.”
The event comes two weeks after the 2025 Supercars opener at Sydney Motorsport Park (Feb 21-23) and one week before the opening round of the F1 World Championship in Melbourne (March 13-16).
Hospitality and Track side packages and General Admission Tickets starting from $49.00 for children and $69.00 for adults. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketek.
Molly Taylor career
- Current 2024 Formula E championship leader
- 2021 Extreme E Champion
- 2 x Dakar Rally finisher, 2022, 2023
- 2017 Australian Rally Champion Runner Up
- 2016 Australian Rally Champion
- 2015 Peter Brock Medallist & Australian Rally Champion Runner Up
- 2014 Rally Finland 3rd Junior World Rally Championship
- Pirelli Star Driver – WRC Academy