Jorda 'surprised' by Mouton criticisms

Mouton, who won four World Rally Championship events and is head of the FIA's Women in Motorsport commission, caused a stir last week when she said that she had no interest in Jorda's exploits.

"If I would suggest names of female drivers who have what it takes to make it to F1, I'd say Simona de Silvestro, Danica Patrick, Susie Wolff or even Beitske Visser, who is performing well in the Formula Renault 3.5 series," she said when asked about her views on Jorda.

"These girls have scored very good results in their career. Other less successful girls have managed to climb the motorsport ladder, but that has more to do with marketing strategies and political reasons, and I am not interested in that."

Surprised by remarks

Jorda is hoping to be able to drive a Lotus car at a filming day later this year, after beginning a development programme with the Enstone-based outfit earlier this season.

Speaking to Motorsport.com about Mouton's remarks, Jorda said that she was amazed Mouton had been so critical without fully understanding what she was up to.

"It really surprised me because if you don't know anybody – I don't know her, she doesn't know me – then you wouldn't talk about them like that," said Jorda.

"I haven't had the chance to tell her what is my programme. She had good achievements in rallying and she gave us a reason to believe in motorsport, but I don't think rallying is the same as F1. So, it really surprised me."

Open invite

Jorda says she is eager to invite Mouton to an F1 race so she can better understand exactly what her plans are with Lotus – and especially the high demands involved in driving a grand prix car.

"I was trying to make contact with her about two years ago, but we never managed to meet up," she said. "It has been hard to get in contact with her but I told her, 'look, come to a race.' It never happened.

"I am going to try again and I will tell her come here, and I will show her what I am doing, and what is an F1 car.

"Maybe she has driven an F1 car in the past but I never saw her doing anything close to F1. I don't have anything against rallying, it is a really good achievement what she did, but I don't know about rallying, and maybe she doesn't know about F1.

"I am happy for her to come, to show her and show my programme."