Michele Abbate is gearing up to start her first competitive rally later this year!
Words by Luke Barry
As Michele Abbate’s set to find out, there’s only one thing better than being a race car driver.
Being a rally driver.
The DirtFish Women in Motorsport Driver is gearing up to start her very first competitive event in a rally car later this year, after plenty of invaluable tuition at DirtFish Rally School.
Speaking at the DirtFish Women in Motorsport Summit at LeMay.- America’s Car Museum, the Trans-Am racer revealed her plans – and what she’s already learned.
“I’m very excited to continue developing in a rally car,” Michele smiled.
“I’ve gone to DirtFish just about every month and have been working on some things, and actually got to give Aoife [Raftery, DirtFish WiM driver] a ride which increased the pressure – I thought she was going to be judging me but it was awesome!
“We’re aiming to do Tour de Forest Rally in October, so we’ll see.”
Michele has noticed a big benefit in learning how to drive a rally car for her professional career on the track.
She explained: “It’s just developed me so much as a driver, and when I say things are slower in a rally car I don’t mean speed, I mean just the dynamics of the chassis, the weight balance and all of that and it’s really helped me on the road course as well.
“I mean a lot of these things are actually similar – feeling the car, understanding what the braking is doing, how to release the front end and put weight to the back of the car, all of these things are relevant.
“And that’s probably the most fun that I’m having is it’s helping me in every dynamic of my racing.”
Joined on her panel by 2023 ARA Open 2WD champion, and current F1 Academy star, Lia Block, Michele had the perfect person to glean rallying advice from.
And Lia duly delivered.
“I feel like it’s [about] just slowly building up,” she said. “The worst thing would be to end your first rally off the road.
“It’s just about taking everything you’ve learned at DirtFish and all of your prior experience, and just using it to your advantage. But also knowing that not everything is going to happen in that rally.
“And just having fun!” Lia grinned. “It’s your first rally, that’s something you only experience once in your lifetime. The funnest part of the rally is just hanging out with everybody before a stage, getting ready, sitting on the line and enjoying the roads and having fun in a rally car. Because that’s why we’re all here.”
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Aoife Raftery, ARA, ARA 2025, DirtFish Women in Motorsport Driver, DirtFish Women in Motorsport Summit, Lia Block, Michele Abbate
Publish Date July 5, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/05/sZpiu6gH-Aoife-testing-780x519.jpeg July 5, 2025
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