Matilda Dillinger

Matilda Dillinger (born 28th February 1999) is a Dash Cup driver from Scarborough, England. She is best known for winning the Pirelli Super Stocks championship in her rookie season in 2016, narrowly defeating Hannah Percy in the final race of the season.

2015 - Breakout in Dash Cup
Dillinger was scouted by Team Kwik Fit to drive for the team in the season finale of the Oval Stocks series after her impressive showing in the lower ranks of British club racing. Kwik Fit had set out a plan for Dillinger to go full time in the Oval Stocks series in 2016, replacing Perrie Forrester or Ebony Phillips, depending on who would make their way up to the Super Touring series. However, Dillinger was brought into the series early after Phillips was killed in a crash at the Rockingham Motor Speedway. Driving the #2 in place of Phillips, Dillinger made her début at Mallory Park, where she suffered a huge crash herself in the first race, when Kellan Rogers-Ashby turned Dillinger and she ended up smashing a tire barrier side on. Despite the car going onto its side, it settled back onto its wheels and Dillinger climbed out of her car unscathed. Dillinger started near the front for the second race, and managed to avoid incidents near the front of the race to run in second place behind Ben Atkins, who was filling in for Cassandra Collins. The race came down to fuel strategy, with cars able to usually make it 45-48 laps on a fuel stint. However, Dillinger managed to save the two extra laps of fuel she needed and shocked the Dash Cup community by taking home her first win in just her second start, outlasting Ben Atkins and Amber Clagett for the win.

Dillinger came under a high amount of praise for her passive driving style which many thought contributed to her win, and as a result Dillinger was persued by several different teams to drive in different ranks of the sport in 2016. Kwik Fit wanted to move Dillinger to the Super Touring series for 2016, while Atlantic Motorsports and Carter STS Racing also wanted to lure the young driver away from her current team. Shockingly, after the race at Lake Gooi Motorsports Complex, Dillinger was told she was free to look for other opportunities for the 2015 season. Dillinger was set on joining Atlantic Motorsports, with the team insisting they had gotten as far as putting the pen to paper, when it was announced William Atkins, the CEO of Atlantic, would be leaving the sport at the end of the 2015 season. With the new buyer of Atlantic Motorsports having no interest of bringing in Dillinger, and with Carter STS Racing signing Brianna McDonough and Louis Walters, Dillinger's chances of being on the Super Touring grid for 2016 suddenly looked bleak.

At the Illebianchi Circuit, Dillinger was picked by Team Kwik Fit to replace Lucia Moreno in the #22 car for the race in the Super Touring series. The team would have picked Perrie Forrester, but she was scheduled to run the Oval Stocks series at Autodromo Antonio Passero that night, and as the points leader of the series, the team chose to bring Dillinger in instead, with Forrester running races later in the season. Dillinger did not qualify well, and despite some shining moments, such as a four-wide pass in the midpoint of the race, Dillinger could only muster up a 21st place finish in the first race.

The second race went much worse for Dillinger. She was turned by Sakura Motoko before hitting the ARMCO barrier and rolling the car over several times. However, Dillinger again received a lot of credit for her attitude after the crash, as she stayed composed despite the huge accident, and did not cause a scene over the incident, either. Dillinger did not fair off much better in race 3, and she was unfortunately shut out of points for the weekend. Dillinger was then told she had been chosen by Team Kwik Fit to run the Spa GP in the #22 car.

At the beginning of August, Dillinger became a target for the newly formed STS ATK Racing team that were set to make the grid in 2016. The two owners of the team, Kassidy Evans and Ben Atkins agreed that they could each agree to pick two drivers they wanted to bring into the team for 2016. While Evans was not optimistic about the decision, Atkins decided to bring in Dillinger to the team to drive full-time.