Michele Abbate and Michelle Miller have been putting the work in ahead of Abbate's rally debut at Tour de Forest
Words by Luke Barry
Her energy is infectious. Experiencing ‘rally week’ for the very first time, the nerves are nil. In their place is pure excitement and an underlying desire to complete rule 101 of stage rallying.
Finish.
DirtFish Women in Motorsport Driver Michele Abbate is a pro on the road courses but is a total novice on the stages. Saturday’s Tour de Forest Rally will right that wrong.
Driving a 2015 Subaru BRZ from Element Rally Sport in the Limited 2WD class, Abbate will be partnered with DirtFish instructor Michelle Miller and couldn’t be more up for it.
“I feel super excited,” Abbarte told DirtFish. “I’m not really nervous, I feel like I have a lot of tools in my toolbox to make it happen. It feels really good to come out to DirtFish [Rally School] and kind of just get back warmed up in a rally car.
“A couple of months have gone by since I was last in one at the Women in Motorsport Summit, but I’m super pumped and excited for my first stage rally – let’s see how we do.”
Abbate benefited from a good day's running at DirtFish Rally School this week
Abbate got acquainted with her ride and the techniques required to drive it at DirtFish Rally School this week, as well as undertaking a day of recce training with Miller to finetune her pacenote system.
“The best piece of advice that Michelle gave me today is when you enter a corner, you want to be able to know you can exit it rather than just going into it as fast as possible,” Abbate said.
“That was a super key piece of advice because if you can’t come out of the corner then you’re not going to finish the rally – so that one I’m going to keep in the back of my mind.”
But ever the competitor, Abbate is having to remind herself this is a type of racing she’s not experienced in.
“I think the most challenging aspect of this weekend is going to be trying not to hold myself to too high a level, and not expecting too much from myself,” she explained.
Sliding a car on the loose is a totally different kind of racing than Abbate's done before
“I have to keep reminding myself this is my very first time doing a stage rally and although I’m super competitive, I need to be kind to myself. I want to do really well but it’s important for me to remember this is the first one, so have fun, learn and move on. Right now I feel awesome, but keeping that calm, cool, collected mindset through the weekend will be key.”
Miller has worked with so many different drivers through her career – both at DirtFish and on the special stages – so is the perfect person to guide Abbate through this awesome experience.
“I’m super excited to be out on my home roads, they’ll be beautiful, but I’m more excited to work with our Women in Motorsport Driver Michele Abbate,” Miller told DirtFish.
“After the test today her talent really, really shone through – her feel for the car is just really superb so I think we’re going to have a great time figuring out how to put that all to work out in the woods of Shelton.
Finish! That's the only realistic goal for Abbate and Miller on Saturday
“One of the most challenging aspects for a first-time driver on stage is figuring out the race line,” she added. “It’s really hard to rotate the car when you can’t see what’s coming up on [the] corner exit, so you really have to trust your pacenotes to know that the road’s going to be there. Honestly it’s something that I think is a challenge over a drivers’ whole career. but the first one is especially going to be a big challenge.”
With that said, what would success look like this weekend?
“A finish!” Miller grinned. “Every driver [on the] first time out [should] just go to get that finish. You can’t get better at this sport without reaching that finish-line. I’m not a fan of setting a placement goal because that really depends on how everyone else does. For us I think success looks like getting to the finish and improving our speed.”
Tour de Forest is a round of the ARA West Regional championship and offers four stages totalling 33.5 miles. The Dirty Cowbell and Jackpot are both run twice, with a service break in between.
ARA West Regional championship leader Andy Miller tops the entry in his 2005 Subaru STI with hot competition expected with Steven Redd who’ll debut a Ford Fiesta R5.
DirtFish Rally School is fantastically represented through the entry list, with Michael Honn driving his Subaru Impreza and Sean Edwards / Kendra Miller once again teaming up in Sean’s Volvo 240.
Jack Harrison also makes a long-awaited return to competition alongside fellow DirtFish instructor Eric Schofhauser. They’ll compete in a Subaru Impreza.
Based in Shelton, Washington, the first stage begins at 1.18pm with crews returning to service at 2.36pm. The first competitor will reach the finish at 4.57pm.
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: ARA, ARA 2025, Michele Abbate, Michelle Miller, Tour de Forest Rally, Women in motorsport