Given the prejudices Danica Patrick has faced in IndyCar and the 40-year wait for a woman to race in Formula One, it will likely come as little surprise to learn the only female driver in the Middle East Rally Championship feels she is not entirely respected by her peers. If a woman competing in a man’s world is a tough gig, consider a woman competing in a man’s world in a region renowned for strong patriarchal societies.
Edith Weiss is a 50-year-old German who has been racing in the Middle East for more than two decades. For the past five years, she has competed under a Qatari flag, but does not feel it has changed the way she is treated, which is often, she said, “without seriousness”. She finishes most race weekends swearing to never put herself through such disappointment again.
“I could write a book about all the issues I have faced,” she said on the sidelines of this weekend’s Kuwait International Rally, where she and co-driver Vicky Psaraki of Greece finished eighth from a field of 16. “Of course, as a woman, everybody is very friendly, but to be honest nobody really takes you seriously. If it was not for my German mentality — I never give up — I would have quit. Instead, I say ‘Next time I will show them.”
Weiss tells a tale of taking her car to a workshop to fix a broken driveshaft only to have it returned without the requested work complete and instead a large invoice for other repairs. In 1998, ahead of the Oman Rally, her car was lost in transit, turning up months later in Abu Dhabi. This weekend, her car arrived from Qatar without any repair work since its previous outing, forcing her to race without adequate brake fluid.
“Things like this make me so angry,” she said. “They have no respect for you. After each rally, I say to myself: ‘That’s it; never again’ ... But after a week I change my mind.”
Weiss always returns. She has been racing in the Merc since 1992, invited by Toyota to be co-pilot for German driver Mohammed Kaplan at the Qatar Rally. It was an adventure to a new country and she jumped at the chance. Since then she has completed the 24 Hour Race at the Nurburgring, raced in national bajas, the World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies and 17 World Rally Championship events, including securing first-place class-finishes in Argentina (2002) and Cyprus (2005).
“I have won a lot of championships in Germany and worldwide, including WRC, but here in the Middle East it doesn’t matter: Nobody takes you seriously. You do not get accepted,” she said, adding she has seen very little change in attitude since 1992.
“Most of the rally drivers and mechanics say: ‘Come on Edith, just be happy to finish the rally’. But, excuse me, why should I accept that? I am provided a car that is not fit for racing. That is not my fault. I pay a lot of money and I love it and I know I can do it, so why should I just aim to finish? I also want to have a challenge.
“Some people, if I am faster than them, suddenly they have major technical problems: ‘Oh my brakes have gone’, ‘Oh my suspension,’ ‘Oh my co-driver took us the wrong way’. They will find any excuse to avoid accepting that they are not fast enough; that they have been beaten by a woman.”
Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah, an FIA vice-president, said support has been given to Weiss “for many years now” and that he is working to help improve equality alongside Michele Mouton, the French former rally driver and president of the FIA’s Women and Motor Sport Commission. “There will be good surprises very soon,” he said.
Al Attiyah added: “People must respect the women and give them more attention to help their participation. If there are issues in the Merc, we will ask the organisers to find a solution for these matters.” Weiss intends to take matters into her own hands, however. She is scheduled to meet Qatari government officials next week to discuss the possibility of starting a racing academy for women in Doha. Having worked for a period as a rally instructor in Daytona, Florida, she feels capable of running it herself.
“This is my plan for the future,” she said. “I have a working concept and have already been involved in this kind of business in Germany and in the USA. I have all my ideas and know exactly how to do it. I just need someone to say yes.”
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