Yolanda Surer (now Egger, previously Tavoli; given name also spelled Jolanda) is a Swiss driver who competed in Europe for almost 20 years, between 1987 and 2004. She was married to Swiss Formula One driver Marc Surer, from 1986 to 1993. At the time, she was a model and actress and it was through him that she got involved in motorsport. Initially not taken seriously, she quickly proved that she was capable of competing against some extremely talented opposition.
She was eleventh in the Swiss Formula Ford championship in 1989. The races were held in neighbouring countries. The following year, she moved up to Formula 3-level competition, beginning with the LISTA Formula 3 Trophy, a nominally-Swiss championship. Jo Zeller was that year's winner and Yolanda was eighth. She also made some appearances in the B class of German Formula 3, as part of Jacques Isler's team. She scored one point from two races, earning a tenth spot in her first race at Zolder. She was competing against eventual winner Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and Ellen Lohr, among others.
Part-seasons in both the German and Swiss F3 championships took up 1991. She was thirteenth in the Swiss series. In Germany, she drove for Opel Team Schuebler for the first and third rounds, before rejoining the Isler team for three further rounds later in the season. Her best finish was with Isler, coming in 15th at the Norisring.
She moved to touring cars later, racing in German and Italian championships. Her first forays into tin-top competition were in the 1992 Nurburgring 24 Hours, where she shared a BMW 325i with Anette Meeuvissen and Gaby Sonnauer. They were 29th overall and second in class.
Her first full series in was the Group N-based German Touring Car Trophy in 1993, driving a BMW M3 for the Menton Automobilcenter team. She was on the pace straight away, winning her class in the first race at AVUS. The rest of the season gave her three seconds and three thirds, enough for seventh in the championship.
It was now time for her to move up the touring car ladder. This meant the 1994 German Touring Car Cup, which ran to Super Touring regulations. Her car was a BMW 318i prepared by BMW Team Isert. The first race, at AVUS, ended in a tenth place, racing against the likes of Audi drivers Frank Biela and Emmanuele Pirro and former Formula 1 driver, Thierry Boutsen. The BMW could not match the pace of the dominant Audis at the start of the season. Although Yolanda maintained a good finishing record, she was not able to catch up when some of the other BMW drivers began winning. Tenth remained her best finish and she was 22nd overall.
It was down to Italy for the 1995 Italian Super Touring Championship. She had been signed by BMW Italia and had Emmanuele Naspetti and Gianni Morbidelli as team-mates. After a bumpy start to the season with a non-finish and subsequent non-start, she got into her groove and became a top-ten regular. Her highest finish was fourth, which she achieved at Misano. This was one of two top-five finishes, along with her fifth place at Varano. Both times, she was the highest-placed BMW Italy driver. She was ninth in the championship.
Her second Italian season was not a full one; she left the championship after the Imola round in July. Her car was an BMW 320i this time, still run by BMW Italia. After a disastrous first round at Mugello, where she failed to finish Race 1 then didn't start Race 2, she picked up her pace again and had a best finish of seventh, at both Monza and Misano. She was twelfth in the championship.
She was also fourth in the 1996 Spa 24 Hours, in a Bastos Fina BMW, for a womens' team. Her co-drivers were Kate Rafanelli and Florence Duez.
After taking time out of her career to have children (she became pregnant while racing in the Renault Spider Cup in 1997), she returned in 2004, as Yolanda Tavoli. She drove a Honda S2000 for an all-female team in the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Her co-drivers were Gaby Roosen, Anja Wassertheurer and Friederike Moritz. They retired after 30 laps.
Not long after that, she retired from racing. She now owns and edits a German-language magazine.
(Image source possibly Marc Surer's Facebook)
