American talent Tabor makes full-time Rally3 switch

Beyond Rally contender Madelyn Tabor will campaign a Ford Fiesta Rally3 in this year's ARA

Madelyn Tabor

The Subaru Impreza RS has served Madelyn Tabor well, but it’s time for a step up.

And after sampling a Ford Fiesta Rally3 during WRC Promoter’s Beyond Rally Women’s Driver Development Program training camp late last year, there really was only one choice for 2025.

The 22-year-old will contest a full American Rally Association National campaign in Element Rallysport’s Rally3, starting with this week’s Sno*Drift Rally in Atlanta.

“It kind of felt like the natural progression of my career,” Tabor tells DirtFish. “And especially after my time in Poland and doing two Regional events in the Rally3 last year, it just felt like the next step.

“I’m so incredibly happy that it kind of all came together and it seems to be working out for now. And committing to the season at the beginning of the year… last year I kind of committed halfway through to actually do the full season is exciting.”

The Tabor name needs no introduction Stateside, with three generations of the family now establishing successful rally careers.

But Madelyn has really begun to make a name for herself in her own right in recent months, with a class win at Southern Ohio Forest Rally and then her inclusion in the aforementioned Beyond Rally training camp in Poland last October.

That experience in Europe has helped accelerate her progression and fix her objectives for the season ahead.

“I learned a lot, and even not in ways I can put into words,” she says. “But even after doing the program and going back for LSPR in my Subaru, I felt like I approached it differently to events I’d done in the past.

“I felt more confident in the car for sure and that definitely carried over with getting into the Rally3 and learning that new platform because it’s a very intimidating car to step up to. So I think my time in Poland, and even before Poland with Element up at DirtFish, was really helpful in preparing for this season, even though we didn’t realize we were preparing for this year at the time!”

And as for the car itself, is Tabor naturally gelling with it?

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Tabor is growing accustommed to the Fiesta Rally3 she'll steer all year (driven by Sean Johnston here)

“I think I’m getting there,” she says. “The two events I did were pretty small, so I think Sno*Drift and the whole series is going to be about really getting after it and learning more as I go and doing testing when I can.

“I’m excited to see that progression over the year and see what new uncharted territory we can reach into. I’m looking forward to the competition in the L4WD class which looks really interesting this year, but I don’t really have a specific goal in mind.

“The principle I’ve grown up on is you do it because it’s fun. And when it stops becoming fun you don’t know it. And my family likes to say, ‘we’ve just had fun for so long, we’ve not stopped doing it’!”

Long-term, Madelyn admits reaching the WRC would be “really cool” after getting a taste of what it might be like during the Beyond Rally training camp, but for now her full focus is on making a success of 2025 in the ARA.

And that applies to off the stages as well as on them.

“The season is springing off what happened last season and going to Poland, but kind of during the season, the championship, a lot of the time I was the only female driver so in a way I kind of stuck out that way, and I’m a younger driver so that’s another reason that I stuck out from the crowd,” she explains.

“A lot of the events we go to are in rural parts of the United States and a lot of people would bring their families so there’d be young kids and especially young little girls.

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Madelyn wants to be (and is) a role model for the next generation of girls

“And it was really fun to have that interaction with them and getting them to sit in the car and answer questions, just having that representation for them was something I didn’t expect to do last year but it happened and I want to keep doing that – to be that inspiration for girls to consider motorsports as a career field.

“I want to show people that women do have a seat in this male-dominated sport, so that’s what I want to continue doing in the Rally3, the more modern machinery, and be competitive.”

Madelyn and co-driver Sophie McKee will proudly run DirtFish Women in Motorsport stickers on her Rally3 for the season.

“I have appreciated DirtFish with everything they have done with the DirtFish day I had with Element and the Women in Motorsport Summit, I’ve gone to every single one of them and it’s been really awesome to see how it’s grown,” Madelyn concludes.

“It’s Josie [Rimmer]’s baby and it’s so awesome to see how hard she works. It’s truly one of the highlights of my year, going to see everyone and meeting the panelists so I’m glad we’re able to say thanks to DirtFish and Josie.”

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