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Ireland's motor sport heroes and heroines don't get a lot of recognition, so it's great to see that in a year of yet more coverage for rugby, football and GAA, one Irish racer has picked up a significant award. 22 year old Nicole Drought, from Roscrea in Tipperary, has been named as sportswomen.ie's Irish Sports Woman Of The Year.
Drought has had a spectacular 2016, following on from a 2015 nomination for the Motorsport Ireland Young Driver Award, the first female driver to get such a nomination. This year, Drought became the first female winner of a round of the Irish Touring Car Championship in her 250hp Honda Integra, and also picked up a front-row grid slot at the Global GT Lights race in Angelsey in Wales.
"I'm really happy to in this one" said Drought. "I could not believe the support I received once I was was nominated. I would like to thank everyone who voted, Leo Nulty Promotions for all their work this year and sportswomen.ie, who have kept readers informed on my progress all year too."
Nicole hasn't announced her plans for 2017 yet, but she is already a member of Young Driver Programme at Murphy Prototypes, and has previously tested both Porsche 911 GT3 and Mercedes Sprint Serie cars. She's also the Irish ambassador to the Sean Edwards Foundation, a global initiative to improve safety in racing.
She's combining all that with her studies as a student of law and business in the University of Limerick.