From rookie to pro O l i v i a V a n D a l e n Global Sponsorships, Racing & eGaming, cupra READ MORE READ MORE Dr. Werner Tietz, Vice-President for Research and Development at CUPRA, and Olivia Van Dalen at the Misano circuit. OLIVIA HAS RACING IN HER VEINS. HER LOVE FOR COMPETITION HAS MADE HER EMBARK ON A GREAT CHALLENGE: GETTING BEHIND THE WHEEL OF THE GEN3 Being part of the Tribe is a dream come true for Olivia Van Dalen, because it allows her to enjoy her three great passions: the worlds of marketing, racing and social me-dia. These passions have led her this year to combine her work in the CUPRA marke-ting team with supporting the ABT CUPRA team in Formula E. She has also set herself the medium-term goal of driving the single-seater. She is preparing thoroughly for this challenge, doing cardio and weight workouts in the gym, jog-ging, training behind the wheel of a kart and also preparing with Formula E simulators, which replicate the experience of driving an electric car on a circuit very closely. “Combining this training with day-to-day work is really intense, but I take it very seriously, because I want to make the most of the opportunity. The challenge is to drive the car, but my mind goes further... Who knows? Maybe competing,” Olivia ex-plains. Lucas di Grassi, our ABT CUPRA team driver and most successful in the history of Formula E, has pro-vided her with some training guidelines and several goals. Among them, Olivia has to be able to push 100 kg with her leg to safely brake the car and run 10 kilometres in 45 minutes. Olivia explains that she has a “good pace” of preparation, but admits that the latter is a very ambitious challenge: “Achieving this average speed and maintaining it for so many kilometres is complicated.” Racing runs in Van Dalen’s veins, as her father was a professional rider who won championships in her native Belgium and elsewhere in Europe. She has been involved in racing since childhood. Her first experience on wheels was at the age of three, on a motorbike on which she couldn’t even reach the pe-dals. At the age of 11 she started driving on drift trac-ks, and at 16 she was behind the wheel of a race car on a circuit for the first time. She now competes in karting championships in Spain. FROM CIRCUITS TO ROADS “Passion,” says Olivia, “is a major component, because it’s led us to build a brand like CUPRA and to position ourselves where we are in such a short time.” But circuits are not all about passion and competition. “There’s a lot of work between races. Besides the driver, everyone in the team has an important role to play. We need to know the car, the mechanics, the preparation and the logistics, among other things.” Formula E is a young competition, but “for us it’s really interesting,” says Olivia. “It gives us the opportunity to make technological developments and advances that we can then apply to the development of our road cars.” As she pursues her dream, Olivia sends a message to everyone at SEAT S.A.: “I want all my colleagues to follow me on the official CUPRA account on Instagram to see if I can drive the Gen3. I encourage men, and especially women, for we all have the same skills behind the wheel.” — “FORMULA E OFFERS US THE POSSIBILITY OF MAKING ADVANCES THAT WE CAN THEN APPLY TO OUR STREET CARS” Olivia as a young girl acting as her father’s co-pilot.