Carmen Jordá: The triumphs and controversies of a motorsport sensation

Without achieving the dream of driving a car in Formula 1 on the track, Carmen Jordá has managed to be part of motorsport at the highest level, becoming part of renowned teams such as Lotus and Renault.

As one of the most talked about drivers in Spain, she has fought to enhance the status of women in this sport, throughout a career that is not exempt from controversy.

Jordá was born in Alcoy (Alicante) on May 28, 1988 into a family where motor racing was everywhere, since her father, José Miguel Jordá, was also a professional driver.

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Inspired by what her father did on the asphalt, Jordá began training as a driver from a very young age and, at only 10 years old, she began competing in karts. It was at this stage that Jordá realised what she wanted to do with her life,

"From that day I tried my father's kart, I knew that was what I really wanted and I didn't stop fighting for it until today. I never considered another sport or profession because I was very clear about it from the beginning," Jordá told French magazine L'Officiel in an interview.

In 2000, at the age of 12, Jordá managed to qualify in third position in the Yamaha category of the Valencian Community Championship; At 13 she was seventh in the National Championship and, in 2005 and 2006, she competed in the International Formula Master, finishing seventh in both editions, as reported by The Irish Mirror.

2006 would prove to be a huge turning point in her motorsports career. With the Meycom racing team, she competed as a guest in the Ricardo Tormo circuit round of the Valencian Community in the Spanish Formula 3 Championship.

Her first serious contact with the professional world of motorsports ended with a fourth place in the Cup class (Dallara F300 chassis from 2000) with three podiums and being one of the six drivers in the class who competed in all the rounds.

According to motorsport.com, She would return to the event two years later in the 2008 season, although this time with the Campos F3 Racing team (known until 2005 as Adrian Campos Motorsport) and at the wheel of an F306.

In this second participation, Jordá placed eighth in the Cup class, with two fourth places as her best results, in addition to the fact that the Valencian driver managed to score her only point of the season at the Jerez circuit.

From that moment on, she began to race continuously, starting with a rather hectic 2009, in which she graced two teams. First, she signed for the GTA Motor Competition team, with whom she participated in Cup class in the European F3Open, before returning to finish the year at Campos F3 Racing.

At the end of the year, Jordá participated in the second race at the French Magny-Cours circuit, where she managed to place ninth overall and second in the Cup class, the best result of her entire career to date.

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Also in 2009, the Valencian driver had the opportunity to debut in the Le Mans Series,  driving a Lucchini LMP2 from the Spanish team Q8 Oils Hache Team, a vehicle that would suffer numerous mechanical problems, as reported by Motorsport.com.

Little by little, Jordá would set new goals to achieve as a car driver, going to the United States in 2010 to compete with the Andersen Racing team in the Indy Lights, the main training category of IndyCar, after which her team decided to replace her with Giancarlo Vilarinho.

In 2011, the she would try her luck with another different competition, the Lamborghini Super Trophy Series.

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In this competition, she was able to race as a guest, sharing a car with the Czech Dominik Hašek in the Gravity Charouz Racing team.

But it would not be until 2012 when Jordá became part of the Ocean Racing Technology GP3 Series team, a competition in which she raced with two more teams – Bamboo Engineering (2013) and Koiranen GP (2014) – and managed to place thirteenth in one of the races held in Valencia – her best result in the 'third division' of world motorsport, according to Motorsport.com.

In GP3 Series she would continue until February 26, 2015 when she achieved her dream of becoming a development driver for the Lotus team in Formula 1, a position in which she worked with the team's simulator in Enstone (England).

That appointment brought some criticism for Jordá, such as that of the former rally driver and then director of the FIA Women and Motor Sports Commission, Michèle Mouton, who pointed out that her signing was for simple marketing and not for her merits, and considered at least three women drivers to be better qualified for the role, Motorsport.com reported.

More critics would emerge, such as Marco Sorensen, Nicolas Prost and James Newbold. She had a high-profile defender, Bernie Ecclestone, executive director of F1, who praised her for “being willing to give up whatever is necessary,” as reported by Motorsport.com.

Despite this, Jordá was also part of another of the most prestigious Formula 1 teams, Renault. That earned her the honor of becoming the eleventh woman in history to be included in the driver lineup of an F1 team.

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Getting there was a source of pride for Jordá and she told L'Officiel in an interview, “at the beginning, in all sectors I think it is difficult to break barriers and when they are already broken, everything is easier. They are the first parts of everything, of any sector, sport or job, afterward everything is easier. I hope that the women who come in the next generation will have it easier.”

Jordá also offered another take on how to improve the presence of women in F1. Speaking on several occasions, from April 2015 to 2017, she advocated for an independent women's championship. This would earn her a lot of criticism from the sport, but would end up becoming a reality with the creation of the W Series in 2019.

"It is not fair that women have to compete in the same championship as men, because we will never have the same opportunity to become world champions, and I think women deserve that opportunity," Jordá commented then, according to autosport.com.

Jordá became part of the FIA Women's Commission on December 9, 2017, something for which she once again received criticism. In this case from journalists, drivers, and fans, who considered her track record within the world of motorsports to not be sufficient for such a role.

Since then, Jordá has participated in the Gerry Marshall Trophy, in 2018, finishing in 17th position; and in the Ultimate Cup Series aboard a single-seater with the CMR team in 2021 and 2022, where she reached positions 15 and 19, respectively; and, since 2021, joined the De Tomaso family as a factory and racing development driver for Scuderia De Tomaso.

In 2018, she was embroiled in a controversy due to some statements she made after a test with a Formula E car: "It is a less physical car than a Formula 1 because of the aerodynamic load and also because of the steering. "The challenge that women have in Formula 2 and Formula 1 is more of a physical issue and I think that in Formula E, we would not have it," Autoweek.com reported.

That statement was answered by the well-known British driver Jenson Button who then told Jordá: "You are not helping women drivers with your comment. Ask Danica Patrick what strength it takes to drive a racing car. She would kick me in a gym, and she is probably as strong as any current Formula 1 driver. Carmen, physical barriers are not your problem," the BBC reported.

In recent times, more criticism has emerged in reference to her career, such as that of the Danish driver Christina Nielsen, who, according to 'Car and Driver', did not like that the Spanish driver was cited as a reference: "She has the merit of having ridden a sporting career that has never depended on her results on the track. She acts as a model, poses for pretty photos, does parades... (...). It is really sad what it represents for female drivers like me."

It would not be her only controversy. In March 2023, she hit a low point when she was reported to police after allegedly twice running over a beauty worker who was demanding payment for a service, as reported by Mundo Deportivo.

Jordá attributed this to another attempt to tarnish her image and made it known through a statement from her lawyers that “everything they have said is to discredit me, but they are not going to achieve it. “I am a strong and fighting woman.”

Outside of her professional life in the world of motorsports and the controversies in which she has been involved in recent years, Jordá has also worked as a model and, personally, she had a relationship with the motorcyclist Fonsi Nieto – whom she met in 2009- and with actor Álex González.

In 2021, she was chosen as an ambassador for the ninth installment of the film series 'Fast & Furious' in Spain.

Today Jordá is perhaps better known as a personality and brand ambassador than for her time on the track. On top of her 1 million plus Instagram followers, she also works for well-known fashion brands such as Cartier, Tommy Hilfiger, Moncler, Anine Bing, amd Stella McCartney.

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