Ambassador Update: Co-driver Cat Lund

Carbon Positive Motorsport ambassador Cat Lund brings a unique combination of experience, passion, and advocacy to the sport.

Cat Lund co-driving for Andy Rowe in his Mitsubishi Evo 2 on the Malton Forest Rally. Photo by Andrew Hern.

A familiar face in the co-driver’s seat, she’s also a vocal supporter of greater sustainability in rallying – both through her own example and her work behind the scenes. As a long-time competitor and motorsport communicator, Cat plays an active role in helping to shape a more responsible future for the sport she loves.

Since starting her stage rally career in 2006 alongside Andy Rowe, she has competed in over 100 events as a co-driver across the UK and Europe. Her experience spans a wide range of vehicles, from historic Saabs, Sunbeams, and Minis to modern Rally 2 cars, on both gravel and tarmac. Her rallying career includes seven overall wins, ten class victories, and multiple championship titles, having twice won the BWRDC Rally Co-Driver Championship and twice claimed the Flanders International Rally Challenge co-driver crown.

Andy Rowe and Cat Lund at the East Riding Stages Rally. Photo JEP.

Away from the co-driver’s seat, Cat Lund also plays a key role in event organisation as part of the team behind the East Riding Stages Rally. Held on closed roads around Beverley in East Yorkshire, the rally has quickly established itself as one of the most popular and professionally run events in the UK calendar. As part of the organising team, Cat is involved in planning the rally's start and finish FanZone, helping to deliver a welcoming event that continues to grow in reputation and impact each year.

We caught up with Cat as she prepares for her next event.

CPM: How’s your season going so far?

CL: It's been a mixed season so far, I've been fortunate to have competed alongside Darrell Taylor in his Rally 2 Fiesta on the last three Protyre rounds, but it hasn't gone all that well, with a DNF on the Manx and a turbo issue on Argyll which meant we missed two stages before restarting day 2 with a 55 minute penalty, however all our woes paled into insignificance with the dreadful news on the Jim Clark rally. You never believe something like that will happen.

Cat Lund co-driving for Darrell Taylor at this year's Manx National Rally. Photo by MarksPics.

CPM: What’s your next event?

CL: Darrell is unable to make the Down Rally, which is the next Protyre Asphalt Championship round, due to work commitments, so I'm going to have some fun on a local targa that weekend, the Catterick Targa Rally run by De Lacy MC.  I will be sitting in with Andy Rowe in his Peugeot 205 GTi, which believe it or not is the one he used for the original Peugeot Challenge, except with some seats and carpet chucked in it to make it eligible for targa rallying.

Cat Lund will be competing on the Catterick Targa alongside Andy Rowe in his original Peugeot Challenge 205.

CPM: What event are you most looking forward to and why?

CL: It's been and gone - the Manx National Rally is my favourite event of the year, just because the roads are so amazing and the party atmosphere on the island after the rally is intense.

Belgian events are a close second favourite, so if there's the opportunity to compete on another rally over there this year I would be very excited for that. 

Cat Lund competing alongside Kevin Haselden on Rally de Wallonie. Photo Nancy Bettledoorn.

CPM: Why is it important to you to be an ambassador for Carbon Positive Motorsport?

CL: It's absolutely vital to be able to demonstrate that we are taking some responsibility for the harmful effect our sport has on the environment. Even if you're a climate sceptic, all you need to do is look at the way events like the Hills Ford Stages have been cancelled, in part because they had no response to criticism from the environmental lobby.

If you're taking a rally into the heart of a community you have to provide the community with demonstrable ways you can benefit them and mitigate the impact of the rally. And being able to offset your unavoidable emissions is a really easy and straightforward way to do that, you can say look, we are planting trees and contributing to rewilding and biodiversity which wouldn't happen if we weren't rallying, and not only that, we're offsetting twice as much so we are having a positive impact on the environment, not a negative one.

The East Riding Stages takes rallying the heart of the community. Photo Rally Media UK

CPM: Who is your sporting hero?

CL: I have two - clearly Sebastian Loeb is the greatest rally driver of all time - I mean, he was recently 3rd overall at Rally Charlemagne in a 306 Maxi, against modern R5 machinery so clearly still has it.

You may not know, but I adore cricket, and so my other sporting hero is Jimmy Anderson, an incredible fast bowler, who took 704 wickets for England in his playing career before retiring from international duty last year - he is still steaming in for Lancashire in the County Championship though.

CPM: How do you see the future of our sport?

CL: I really believe the only way to raise the profile of rallying and bring new people to the sport is through closed road rallying. When you look at the way rallying is accepted in countries like Belgium, with three and four generations of families involved in the sport, you can see that decades of closed road events have really embedded rallying into communities. That's what I want for us in the UK. I can't see forest events in England continuing for much longer, with the current pressure on Forestry England for other activities to take place in the forest and the cost of remediating the tracks. So do some gravel events while you still can, but get active and support the motor clubs who are organising closed road events.

Cat Lund organises the start and finish of the East Riding Stages Rally. Photo Rally Media UK

CPM: What's one sustainability tip or habit you try to follow in motorsport?

CL: As co-drivers we're always doing the planning for events so this probably comes naturally, but better planning avoids wasting scarce resources, whether that's time, money, fuel or whatever. So I try to plan the most efficient way to do anything.

CPM: What’s been your proudest moment in motorsport so far?

CL: I was the British Women Racing Drivers Club GoldStar in 2011 for winning the first Flanders International Rally Challenge with Andy Rowe, and we went on to win the Challenge a second time in 2011, so I am enormously proud of that. I've had a few outright rally wins as well, six with Andy and one with Darell, and not that many people have won an event, it's an amazing feeling. 

The Catterick Targa takes place on Sunday 20 July and you can follow Cat's progress at rallyresults.co.uk

If you’re inspired by Cat’s approach to rallying, you can make your own impact by choosing to offset your season with Carbon Positive Motorsport – a simple step that helps keep the future of our sport on track.

offset your season

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