Trackside Trailblazers: Meet Joana Sousa Falcão, RGMMC’s Head of Race Control

From motorsport’s very beginning, women have been intrinsic to bringing the high-octane action to life, using their knowledge and expertise to play pivotal roles both on and off the track. As part of our new series, we’ll shine a light on some of the women who are making strides in the world of racing and encourage the next generation of young girls to follow in their footsteps. Exploring the crucial, but often unseen work done behind the scenes in the Race Control Tower, we spoke to Joana Sousa Falcão, RGMMC’s Head of Race Control, to learn more about her responsibilities and the cool, calm, and collected approach needed to make rapid-fire decisions under pressure.Growing up in Portugal, Falcão had exposure to life trackside from an early age. With her father and uncle involved as national and international stewards respectively, she’d frequently accompany them to race weekends and found her spark for the sport. Soon, she chose to pursue her own journey, starting out as a flag marshal at a club in Leiria, before becoming secretary to the stewards and later an international steward herself. From there, she joined the group of officials inside Race Control and last year, stepped up to head the team at RGMMC’s karting events, including the IAME Euro Series.“When I started as a flag marshal Race Control in national events in Portugal didn’t exist,” Falcão explained. “So, it was the flag marshals that had to see the incident and go to talk personally with the stewards. I needed to learn what all the incidents were without Race Control, then analyse it and tell the stewards what happened for them to make a decision.”Overseeing over 20 karting races a day across any particular round, from the pre-grid all the way to