When she heads away this weekend to join the French Xtreme Plus Team in Portugal, it will be the culmination of months of behind-the-scenes effort to raise the funds to compete.
"There has been so much support that I’m really grateful for. The team offered us a good deal to do the Portugal Baja and the Automobile Club of Portugal has also supported our entry. My long-term sponsors Vantage Windows and Doors, who have backed my New Zealand Rally Championship campaigns for many years, helped towards the opportunity, as well," she said.
Gilmour will be driving a Polaris off-road buggy and teaming up again with South African co-driver Sandra Labuscagne, who contested the Italian Baja cross-country rally with her in June.
The pair have been supported and mentored by Germany’s Jutta Kleinschmidt, the only female to have won the Dakar Rally, and the FIA, which is encouraging more women to compete in cross-country rallies.
"Sandra and I are really excited about competing together again and our ultimate goal is to be contesting the Dakar Rally and more FIA cross-country events."
The Polaris is a light, agile vehicle and Gilmour and Labuscagne will compete in the T3 Class for off-road buggies.
Known locally as the Baja Portalegre 500, the two-day event has only four long stages, the longest a monster 220km.
Held in Portugal’s Alentejo region, it is part of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.
"I am really enjoying the challenge of cross-country rallying and there seems to be some great international opportunities with this tough, gritty discipline. I am still chasing the dream of competing overseas and am thrilled to have this further chance to do so," Gilmour said.
Last year she won a fully-funded drive in the 2016 Sealine Cross Country Rally, in Qatar, which was held in April this year.
Gilmour was selected as the outright winning driver in the joint FIA Women in Motorsport and Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) cross-country rally selection after a five-day training camp in the Qatar desert.
