W Series history-maker Sarah Moore proud to be at forefront of LGBTQ+ inclusivity

The 27-year-old currently sits third in the W Series standings following Saturday’s seventh-placed finish at Silverstone and is aiming to build on what hasbeen a positive start to the season.

Having come home second at Austria’s Red Bull Ring in round one, she followed that effort up with a fourth-placed finish at the same track in round two.

Her podium finish came in Pride Month and Moore hopes her history-making moment can help others within the LGBTQ+ community feel more comfortable with who they are.

“I definitely think it is going in the right direction. I am an ambassador for Racing Pride and we work on promoting inclusivity within the sport and support people outside of the sport who do approach us,” she said.

“It has definitely improved over the past five years. Before that, I didn’t personally pay too much attention to it. Unfortunately, we are still going to get a minority who still don’t agree and those that post negative comments. As long as we keep getting more people on board and more people to understand, then we will continue to go in the right direction.”

She continued: “Pride Month gives it an extra push but in my opinion it needs to be promoted all year round, it is the reason why I am an ambassador and the reason I am involved with Racing Pride. I have the rainbow quite prominently on my new helmet.

“With my second-placed finish in Austria, that was during Pride Month. I didn’t realise at the time but I was the firstly openly gay LGBTQ+ driver to stand on a podium during a Grand Prix weekend.

“I felt more happy for everyone else in the community than for myself. I am happy with the person that I am, I am happy I can help everyone else by using my profile that I am lucky enough to have.”

Messages of racist abuse were directed at three England footballers – Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka – following the Three Lions’ Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy last weekend.

Moore revealed that as her profile has grown in recent years since joining the W Series, she has received more abusive homophobic messages but admits she does her best to ignore them.

“With my profile rising a bit, the comments are starting to come in more than they have before,” she said.

“I am not the kind of person to let those comments affect me. I tend to laugh at them or ignore them. Twitter seems to be the worst place for it, I don’t even look at comments on there. I just post what I need to and leave it be.

“Unfortunately you are always going to have a minority of people who are going to leave those comments.”

Three British drivers lead the W Series standings after three rounds of competition, with Moore nestled behind Alice Powell and 2019 champion Jamie Chadwick .

“I have been set on a top-five finish this year but I have exceeded my own expectations so far,” she added.

“We have just got to work on keeping it consistent so I can stay in reach at the top.

“It is still early days. There is still a long way to go. I am keeping my feet firmly on the ground and staying focused on finishing in the top five.”

Moore qualified for Saturday’s race at Silverstone in seventh place, but quickly moved up to sixth after a fast start from the grid.

She retained that position until the final minutes of the race when she was overtaken by Beitske Visser – the championship runner-up in 2019 – after a lengthy battle over several corners between the two drivers.

The W Series heads to Hungaroring, Hungary at the end of July before four more races at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Circuit Zandvoort, Circuit of the Americas before finishing the competition at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico.