Rianna O’Meara-Hunt aims to be the first Kiwi woman to drive in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Photo / Newsroom
Rianna O’Meara-Hunt is racing towards the history books.
The talented 23-year-old driver is currently based in the United Kingdom as she looks to accelerate her motorsport dreams and become the first Kiwi woman to drive in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
En route, she also has her sights on becoming the first New Zealander to secure a drive in F1 Academy, the female-only Formula 4 single seater racing championship founded by the Formula One group. Currently in its third season, F1 Academy also has its own Netflix series, to go alongside the trailblazing “Drive to Survive”.
Raised as an only child in Wellington, O’Meara-Hunt wasn’t born into a racing family. But her father Martin found car racing when Rianna was a child, buying himself a suitable vehicle, with Rianna going to the track each and every time to watch.
“I ended up falling in love. They could see how my eyes lit up and how much I was passionate about trying to help the mechanic, at 4-years-old, and cleaning the car and helping them out in any way I could really,” says O’Meara-Hunt.
When she was 8, she went to a racetrack at Kaitoke in Upper Hutt and there was a go-kart for sale. She tried it out and by the end of the day it was hers.
That was the start of the journey that has taken her halfway around the world, to the birthplace of Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon, where O’Meara-Hunt now lives.
Before long, O’Meara-Hunt and her parents were travelling New Zealand most weekends, racing the go-kart in the cadet classes (aged 6-10) wherever they could. When she advanced to junior classes (up to 16), the family brought in coach Arie Hutton to try and take her talents to the next level.
It worked, as she saw an improvement in her skills, alongside an increased confidence. Hutton didn’t miss a weekend for about four years and was like an older brother to her.
With plenty of success in her home country, the natural progression for O’Meara-Hunt was to head to Australia. But as a 15-year-old, it was a step up in class and intensity.
“It was eye-opening. It was a lot more aggressive, more fierce, and coming in as a Kiwi, I wasn’t loved. It was really wild,” she says.
Mum and Dad took her to one side; if she wanted to continue competing in Australia, it was a lot more money, a lot more time away from school.
They said if her grades dropped, the racing was going to stop. But O’Meara-Hunt was determined, and her schoolwork didn’t suffer.
Her go-karting CV grew, with race wins and podium places coming on a regular basis across multiple events and classes. In 2022, she took her first steps into the world of car racing behind the wheel of a Toyota GT86 in the Toyota 86 Championship in New Zealand
Later that year came another huge opportunity, as O’Meara-Hunt entered the Heart of Racing shootout, which would provide two female drivers the opportunity to compete in the SRO GT4 America SprintX Championship.
O’Meara-Hunt reached out to Kiwi motorsport legend Greg Murphy to help her, and the pair worked together for two days at Hampton Downs.
“He took time out of his mega busy schedule and taught me the fastest ways to learn this car,” she says.
“It was amazing. He sat in the passenger seat, which not many people do anymore, because obviously you’ve got no control, but his trust in me was amazing.
“He coached me through the laps, and we went from 10 seconds off the pace to two seconds off his lap time which was really cool.”
After those two days, O’Meara-Hunt received an email saying she was one of nine drivers selected from more than 100 applicants to move to the next stage of selection.
She was flown to Phoenix, Arizona, for three days that would decide the two drivers to be chosen. The intense few days not only covered her driving abilities, but also fitness, ability to take on data, skills in dealing with the media, as well as her ability to fit in with the other drivers and team members.
Three weeks later the decision came through – she had been chosen as one of the two winners, landing a seat alongside American driver Hannah Grisham for the 2023 GT4 season.
“With the opportunity, I couldn’t say no, so I just went into the deep end. It was a long year of travel back and forward to America,” O’Meara-Hunt says.
Behind the wheel of an Aston Martin GT4, the pair made history in 2023, becoming the first all-female drivers to win a race driving that car, with their victory coming at the famous Indianapolis track.
After the success of 2023, O’Meara-Hunt continued her development overseas from her UK base. She collected more podiums driving a BMW GT4 and also competed in her first 24-hour race, in Dubai. That experience cemented her ambition to drive at Le Mans.
“That’s the moment I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do, this is what it’s all about,” she says.
At the start of 2024, O’Meara-Hunt was chosen to be a part of the Aston Martin driver academy, but she is realistic and knows that the path to the very top gets harder the closer you get.
“It’s been a year of trying to connect to as many people and businesses as I can to create this dream further,” she says.
“My end goal is still to be the first Kiwi female to go and do 24 hours at Le Mans, but I’m finding that the road that I thought I needed to take to get there is probably not the fastest road.
“My eyes got opened to the idea of F1 Academy last year in about November. I had a few teams show interest but I need to get the single seater experience before they can say, ‘yeah, you’re in’.”
As she looks to secure an F1 Academy spot for 2026, O’Meara-Hunt has test sessions booked for this month at one of the UK’s most famous tracks, Donington Park, and is hopeful new sponsors are on the way to help her cause.
Ultimately, she wants to create more history for herself and her country and has the drive and belief to hopefully make it a reality.
“Kiwis can do very cool things in sport, and we’ve proven that for a very long time.”
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.