Megan Gilkes (born 6 November 2000 in Richmond Hill, Ontario) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

former racing driver who last competed in

F1 Academy F1 Academy is a female-only single-seater racing championship founded by Formula One. The championship is a spec series, with all teams competing with an identical Tatuus F4-T-421 chassis and tyre compounds developed by Pirelli. Each car is ...

. She previously competed in the now defunct W Series in 2019.

Biography

A third-generation racer, Gilkes began karting aged nine in her then-home of

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

. Following a break from racing after a crash in qualifying at the World Finals where she broke her wrist, she won the Ottawa Challenge Karting Cup in her home country of Canada, and finished runner up in the 2016 Eastern Canadian Karting Championship as an ambassador for ''Dare to be Different''. In 2017, Gilkes stepped up to single-seaters in the Canadian F1200 championship. Despite not contesting all of the rounds in either season she competed in, she finished third and second overall in consecutive years. Also in 2017, Gilkes finished runner up in the Sports Car Club of America Southeast Majors championship, having led it for 10 of the 12 rounds. In 2019, Gilkes applied for the W Series, a European-based Formula 3 championship solely for women. She was selected into the category as one of 18 full-time drivers, where she won the non-championship reverse grid race at

TT Circuit Assen The TT Circuit Assen is a motorsport race track built in 1955 and located in Assen, Netherlands. Host of the Dutch TT, it is popularly referred to as "The Cathedral" of motorcycling by the fans of the sport. The venue has the distinction of hol ...

, and became the youngest W Series race winner, and only North American female driver to win a Formula 3 race in Europe. Gilkes returned to Canada in 2020, competing in the Ontario Formula 1600 Championship, where she had two pole positions, two fastest race laps and 13 podium finishes, and was runner up overall in the series to Mac Clark.

Personal life

Gilkes' younger brother

Nick Nick may refer to: * Nick (given name) * A cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat * British slang for being arrested * British slang for a police station * British slang for stealing * Short for nickname Place ...

who is currently competing in

Eurocup-3 Eurocup-3 is a formula racing series regulated according to Formula Regional regulations. The series is founded for levelling up the competition for all drivers, with each team committing on a maximum budget of €400,000 every season. Histor ...

for

Drivex Drivex is an auto racing team and school based in Spain. The team was founded by Pedro de la Rosa and Miguel Ángel de Castro in 2005 as a racing school. The racing team is run by Miguel Ángel de Castro. History Single-seaters Since 2009, Driv ...

. Alongside her racing, she studies Aeronautical Engineering at the Imperial College in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. She currently works for the

Aston Martin F1 Team Aston Martin is a British car manufacturer that has participated in Formula One in various forms. The company first participated in Formula One during the 1959 season where they debuted the DBR4 chassis using their own engine but it failed t ...

as a trackside support engineer.

Racing record

Career summary

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

Complete F1600 Ontario results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) (Races with * indicate most race laps led)

Complete W Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete GB4 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete F1 Academy results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilkes, Megan Canadian racing drivers 2001 births Living people W Series drivers Formula Regional Americas Championship drivers SCCA National Championship Runoffs participants Formula Ford drivers GB4 Championship drivers Canadian female racing drivers Sportspeople from Richmond Hill, Ontario F1 Academy drivers Carlin racing drivers Racing drivers from Ontario Alumni of Imperial College London Formula One engineers Engineers from Ontario Canadian women engineers