Starting her journey in karting at the tender age of eight, she
persevered through numerous challenges, eventually clinching a domestic championship
title at 17 years old.
Whilst the voyage from karting to rallying is not often an obvious
one, Lebanon bucks the trend and that saw the 20-year-old transition from the
circuits to the stages in 2022 behind the wheel of a Renault Clio RS.
“It's natural
for every driver in Lebanon to finish karting and when they turn eighteen, they
start rally,” says Joanna. “It is the route for drivers here to do that and for
me, rally was my passion.”
Despite the country's limited number of rallies, her participation
in the Middle East Rally Championship qualifier Rally of Lebanon has brought
significant attention to the sport.
“When I started
rallying in Lebanon, I was the only girl but after they saw me competing other
girls joined as they started to see me. It gave me great exposure and it meant
that people saw rally more because I was in it, before it wasn’t common to see
girls in rally here.”
Whilst her friend, 2022 WRC E-Sports Champion Sami Joe chose the
path of E-Sports, Joanna remains captivated by the thrill of rallying.
“Sami used to do
karting with me. He was every year a Lebanese champion and then stopped to
start E-Sports. We got together last week as I had a rally and he came to watch
so we talked a lot about the WRC and the programme, he is excited for me.”
Joanna is
honoured to attend the three-day training camp [16-18 September] at M-Sport
Poland. “I’m very proud to represent Lebanon. I’d love for it to be seen
outside [of the country].”
“Never be afraid
to ask questions” she continues. “People will never turn you down when you ask
questions. Don’t fear the challenge; turn it into a positive that makes you
push to do better.
Nothing is
impossible if you believe in yourself.”
Japan
Poland
Turkey