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Paula Cook
Paula Cook (born 2 November 1969) is a British auto racing driver. She is best known as an independent driver in the British Touring Car Championship competing for the family-run DC Cook Motorsports. She ran the family-owned DC Cook Direct dealership after her father's death in 2005 until its closure in 2009. Racing careerEarly careerBorn in Rotherham,[1] Cook began her auto racing career in 1994, when she competed in both the Formula Vauxhall Junior and Formula Vauxhall Junior Winter Series championships, finishing second overall in the latter.[2] British Formula Renault (becoming the first female ever to achieve a pole position in an international race),[3] followed by three years in the British Formula 3 Championship between 1996 and 1998.[4] In 1997, she drove for the works Nissan team in the RAC Tourist Trophy.[5] BTCCTowards the end of 1998 British Touring Car Championship season, Cook entered the final four rounds for her father's DC Cook Motorsport Team in a Honda Accord.[6] She entered once more with DC Cook in 1999, planning to compete in the entire season, the first woman to do so.[7] However, despite a reasonable start to the year, the season for Cook was cut short after round 16, after her team pulled out of the series due to financial difficulties.[8] In her 20 BTCC race starts, she scored 3 points and 2 Independents cup race victories. Later careerAfter the BTCC she raced in the Lotus Elise Championship and the SEAT Cupra Championship.[4] In 2002, she entered a one-off ASCAR race at Rockingham.[9] In 2003, she competed in the SEAT Cupra Championship for the first time,[9] before later entering two races for the Morgan Works Race Team in the FIA GT Championship,[10] Most recently she has competed in the British GT Championship in 2004, driving the Chevrolet Corvette C5R of the Embassy Racing team.[11][12] following an outing in the Porsche Supercup.[13] Personal lifePaula was born into a racing family - her father, Derek, was a racing driver in the 1970s.[14] Her brother David also competed in motorsports, and was most notable for winning the 1996 British Formula Renault series.[3] In addition to this, her nephew, Jake, entered the 2013 Formula Renault UK series, with Paula employed as his manager.[3] She helped run the family-owned DC Cook Direct dealership franchise, taking over the company following the death of her father in a car crash in 2005,[15] and remaining in charge until the company was liquidated in 2009.[16] Racing recordComplete British Touring Car Championship results(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position - 1 point awarded all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (* Signifies that the driver led the feature race for at least one lap - 1 point awarded)
Complete Porsche Supercup results(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
† – Did not finish the race, but was classified as she completed over 90% of the race distance. ‡ – Guest driver – Not eligible for points. References
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