Sarah Rumeau

 

Sarah Rumeau is a French rally driver who had her first season of competition in 2021, finishing thirteenth in the French junior championship and winning a French women’s title. 

Her entry into rallying came after a single year spent racing a Caterham in France. This brought her to the attention of the FFSA’s Rallye Jeunes programme, which produced Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier. She made the final of its selection event and was the best female driver. Initially, she wrote off rallying as unaffordable for her, but she managed to put a schedule together for 2021.

She started off in a Ford Fiesta but switched to a Peugeot 208 in September. Her first rally in it was the Mont Blanc-Morzine Rally, and she was 67th from 163 finishers. It was in this car that she had her best finish of the year, a 22nd place in the Antibes-Cote d’Azur Rally with a Junior class win. The Fiesta was not as quick as the Peugeot. She managed one of her four women’s class wins on the Rallye Aveyron-Rouergue Occitanie, but her results were notably not as strong.

Her new car for 2022 was an Opel Corsa Rally4. She began her year with a Coupe des Dames in the Rallye Le Touquet - Pas-de-Calais, finishing 40th out of 124 crews with Julie Amblard, her regular navigator. Another ladies’ win was supplemented with a second place in Rally4 in the Rhone Charbonnieres event, 25th overall. This was one of four Rally4 runner-up spots she earned in 2022, helping her to second in the 2WD Tarmac championship and also in the Amateur Trophy. Her best overall finish was a 22nd place in the Rallye d’Antibes - Cote d’Azur, although she was a consistent top-25 finisher this year, sometimes in events with a longer list of finishers.

Her plans for 2023 included moving on to a Rally3-spec car, but she remained with a Rally4 Peugeot, as well as an Opel Corsa-e Rally, an electric car in a one-make series. She travelled throughout Europe with the Corsa-e and was competitive, finishing fourth in the championship. Her best finish was third, in the Rallye Mont-Blanc-Morzine. In the Peugeot, a 208, her best finish was 23rd in the Terre de Vaucluse Rally.

At the start of 2024, Sarah and Julie were picked up by the Iron Dames team as their first rally drivers. They entered the French Tarmac and Gravel championships in a Ford Fiesta Rally2. Sarah's pace instantly improved and she was sixth in her first event in the car, the Rallye Nationale de la Cote Fleurie. She was a consistent top-ten finisher on both surfaces, with a best finish of fifth, achieved twice in the Aveyron Rouergue-Occitanie and Terre de Lozere rallies, one asphalt and one gravel. Her final championship position in both championship was sixth and she picked up another ladies' trophy.

In 2025, she competed again for the Iron Dames in a Citroen C3 Rally2, taking on the World Championship this time. She and Julie took on five WRC rallies, beginning with the Monte, where they were 20th overall, from 62 finishers. Their next entry was Portugal, where they were 27th, on a very rough rally where about a third had to rejoin under SuperRally rules. Sadly, SuperRally was unable to help them on the Acropolis or Sardinia rallies, where mechanical gremlins forced them out. They finished their last WRC round, Finland, in 34th place.

Away from the WRC, they were really effective in the French gravel championship, scoring fourth places in the Terre de Decouverte, Terre d'Aleria and Terre de Causses rallies. Two further top-tens put them in fifth in the championship. They were also sixth in a round of the French Tarmac championship, the Rallye du Var. Away from the Citroen, they tried out a Toyota Yaris in the Fiorio Cup in Italy and finished fourth.

Although they were easily the highest-finishing female crew in French rallies as a whole, the championship structure and their choice of events meant that their results often did not count for the French women's championship. Sarah was sixth in the standings.

Prior to her motorsport career, she played handball competitively.

(Image copyright Sarah Rumeau)