Season Recap: Kayleigh Cole continues her development in F1000 Championship

Irish racer Kayleigh Cole demonstrated steady progress in the F1000 Championship in 2024, consistently battling for top-10 finishes, setting a record as the fastest female driver in cars at Cadwell Park, and showcasing her potential for future steps up. Here's our season review.

Photo credits: Burke Motorsport Photography | @burkemotorsportphotography

Irish racer Kayleigh Cole took a step forward in 2024 as she battled inside the top-10 of the F1000 Championship, while setting the fastest lap time for any female driver in cars at Cadwell Park.

Cole has been a mainstay of the single-seater championship since 2021 and continued to show her potential in a partial-campaign which yielded one top-10 finish, in addition to seven further top-15 results.

Cole began her career in karting before making the switch to circuit racing in 2021. Immediately jumping into the F1000 Championship, this was a significant step up in performance with the slicks and wings formula attracting large grids of drivers.

Powered by a 1000cc motorbike engine, the cars are routinely faster than GB4 Championship machinery while rivalling that of the British F4 Championship. Low weight and simple aerodynamics leads to exceptional speeds and consistently close racing with grids regularly exceeding 20 cars.

In her rookie season in 2021, Cole gained experienced by visiting some of the most iconic circuits in Britain. As this was her first venture from karting, Kayleigh had to learn each as a circuit racing rookie. Cole maximised her track time throughout the 2021 campaign with her only retirements coming at Donington Park. At the end of the campaign, Cole finished 24th in the overall championship, 20th among the Clubmans drivers and achieved a best result of 13th coming on the Silverstone International circuit.

It was an excellent season of progress for Cole who impressed up against a grid of more experienced drivers. Her performances did not go unnoticed and Kayleigh was crowned F1000 Championship Rookie Champion. Silverstone was undoubtedly the track at which she excelled with her best result of the campaign coming on the International layout, while Cole was awarded the Newcomer of the Meeting award during the event which took place on the National circuit.

Photo credits: Jonathan Elsey | @elseyjonathan

For 2022, Cole continued in the F1000 Championship and completed a partial season. In addition to returning to circuits from the 2021 calendar, Kayleigh also had the opportunity to race at Anglesey in Wales. She was also able to improve upon her best career result as Cole finished in 11th position in race three at Donington Park. At the end of the campaign, the young driver finished 24th in the overall standings, 14th among the Clubman eligible racers.

For Kayleigh, continuity has been the key to her success and in 2023 she once again returned to the F1000 Championship. She also raced extensively in her native Ireland, competing in the Formula BOSS Ireland Championship. This multi-class series allows a range of different single-seater machinery to battle it out at Mondello Park. Cole excelled in her F1000 Championship machine and was crowned Formula BOSS Ireland Champion in the BOSS 3 category.

Due to her commitments in other championships, she once again participated in select rounds of the F1000 Championship. Nonetheless, Cole’s progress was evident as she enjoyed her best season to date finishing 16th in the overall standings and seventh in the Clubman class.

In the second round of the season on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, Kayleigh had a breakthrough weekend. After qualifying in 14th position, Cole secured her first ever top-10 finish in the F1000 Championship in race one. This gave her added confidence for race two where she improved upon her result again, taking the checkered flag in ninth position.

Silverstone had in the past proven to be a successful track for Cole and her appearance on the International circuit in 2023 was no exception. Kayleigh qualified in 11th position in a 20-car field and from there, she went from strength-to-strength. The Irish racer equalled her best result from Brands Hatch in race one by finishing in ninth position, before improving further in race two.

Photo credits: Jonathan Elsey | @elseyjonathan

Achieving an eighth-place finish was another landmark result, with Cole also finishing race three in the same position. Kayleigh ended the weekend on-pace with those challenging for top-5 positions and was now establishing herself as a serious contender in the single-seater championship.

Cole was aiming to step up to another category for the 2024 season, however she remained in the F1000 Championship and completed another partial season, taking part in four events during the year. Kayleigh began her season at Oulton Park for round two of the season and immediately faced the challenge of a new tyre which her competitors had experience of at the season opener.

Nonetheless, she got back up to speed quickly and qualified inside the top-10. In the opening race of the weekend, Cole was enjoying some battles in the midfield before her race was brought to an early conclusion following engine failure. This ruled her out of the remainder of the weekend, with the team doing a good job to ensure she was on the grid for the next round at Cadwell Park.

Cadwell Park was a new circuit for Kayleigh to learn and was one of the most formidable yet. The tight and twisty confines of the circuits were a significant challenge in a single seater with Cole gaining confidence with every lap completed. These improvements continued into qualifying where she set the 16th fastest time.

Further encouragement came in race one where she was able to complete her first race at Cadwell Park in 14th position, while improving upon her best time from qualifying by half a second. However, it was in race two where Cole created her own piece of history.

Photo credits: Jonathan Elsey | @elseyjonathan

Setting a fastest race time of a 1:25.909 on her way to an 11th place result, Kayleigh had set the fastest lap time by a female racing driver in cars at Cadwell Park. Cole came close to beating this time in race three where she narrowly missed out on a top-10 finish, taking the checkered flag in 11th position after starting from 13th on the grid.

A return to the Silverstone International circuit prompted more hope that Kayleigh could once again challenge for career best results. However, it was a challenging weekend as Cole was plagued by technical difficulties which prevented her from showing her best performance. Nonetheless, she showed great determination to finish both races while scoring a top-10 finish in race two.

The final event of Cole’s 2024 season was round five of the F1000 Championship which took place at Croft. Kayleigh qualified in a strong 11th position and was looking to move forward in the three races which followed. Cole was contending for a career best result in race one before a late race technical issue forced her into the pits. Starting from the rear of the field in race two, Kayleigh finished in 11th while battling setup issues before closing out the weekend with a 13th place result.

At the end of her fourth season in the F1000 Championship, Cole finished 16th in the overall standings while once again securing a top-10 placing in the Clubmans classification. Kayleigh has continued to improve in the highly-competitive championship while rising to the challenge of demanding circuits such as Cadwell Park.

Cole will now be looking to apply the knowledge she has learnt and move up the single seater ladder in 2025.