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A Forest debut

Joanne McIlroy and Cindy Gielingh-Jones with their Subaru WRX. Picture: Nigel Jones

_XTREME _ Racing's Joanne McIlroy and her co-driver Cindy Gielingh- Jones are the only female team to tackle all six rounds of the 2014 WA Rally Championship.

They pair up for the first time when they compete in the Quit Forest Rally which powers up at 6pm on the Busselton foreshore this Friday.

No strangers to the high-speed thrills of rallying, the long time friends - McIlroy from Camillo and Gielingh-Jones from Mandurah - are determined to stand tall as the only all-girl crew in a male-dominated sport.

"Our Subaru WRX is black, silver and pink and it's been fitted with plenty of girly features like a diamond gear-lever knob, pink interior neons, pink tool kit and, of course, air conditioning," McIlroy said.

The car also has the slogan 'It's an Xtreme Chick Thing' blazoned across the back in hot pink.

Gielingh-Jones summed up the girls' motivation for the rally season: "We want to finish the events exactly the way we start them: with plenty of laughs and smiles."

Both have strong rally backgrounds, with McIlroy, an accounts/admin clerk at the Rockingham naval base, first competing in 2004. She and husband Lee, a State competitor, run their privateer motorsport team with their dedicated service crew.

"The car is highly maintained and has a thorough check over before each rally," she said.

Gielingh-Jones' first event was in 2008 and her husband Nigel has competed as a co-driver in Quit Targa West.

QFR celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The event covers over 200km of stages through the tall timber forests of Nannup and a further 16km over bitumen at the super-special stages on Busselton waterfront.

Spectators are really spoilt for choice in 2014 and details can be found at quitforestrally.com.au.