Nadia Cutro

Nadia Cutro is and Argentine driver who usually competed alongside her navigating sister, Florencia (Flor), in the early part of her career. 

They have been rallying since at least 2005, when Nadia was 19 and Flor was old enough to participate. Previously, Nadia had co-driven for other drivers, including her father Oscar. To begin with, the sisters had a road-spec Volkswagen Gol which they used for local events.

The Gol served them for another few seasons, the highlight of which was the yearly Rally de Entre Rios. Their best finish in that car was a 26th place in 2008.

Their first attack on the Argentine championship came in 2010. The Gol had been replaced by a more powerful Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, run by Marcos Ligato's Tango team. Nadia was a top-twenty contender right from the start on the rough gravel stages. She was 17th in the Rally de Los Alerces de Esquel y Trevelin. then tenth in the Rally de Tucuman a couple of months later. Later in the season, she was eleventh in the San Luis Rally. 

Nadia's first international rally was in 2010. She entered Rally Argentina, then a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. It was a rally with a very long list of retirements, but the sisters finished in 31st place.

They were selected for the Pirelli Stars driver development programme in 2011, and initially continued with the satellite Tango team, in a Lancer Evo IX. They retired from their first rally, but were eighth overall in the Rally del Surubi-Goya. Later, they switched to a Fiat Punto, and were 17th in the Rally Pagos del Tuyu. 

In 2012, their car was a Fiat Palio. It was not a brilliant year, with only three finishes out of nine. The best of these was 16th in the Rally Ciudad de Goya. 

They carried on rallying the Palio in 2013, in the Junior class, supported by Fiat. They did better, finishing four out of eight rallies, with a fourteenth (third Junior team) in the Rally des Misiones, and fifteenth in the Rally de Cordoba. They were fourth overall in the Junior standings. 

The Fiat team withdrew their support for the rally programme after 2013, and Nadia acquired a Ford Fiesta for the 2014 season. Her season was much shorter this year, with one finish, in the Rally de Entre Rios. She was 17th, fourth in class. 

Nadia rallied the Fiesta again in 2015, but spent most of the season without Flor on the maps. Her best finish was ninth, in the Gran Premio de Villa Carlos Paz Rally, and she also won her class in the Entre Rios Rally, finishing fourteenth overall. 

In 2016, she took her first rally win, driving the Fiesta on the Rally de la Naranja. Her co-driver was Luciano Bombaci, who had first sat alongside her 2015. The event was their final one of the year and a fantastic end to a season that was plagued with non-finishes.

The pair continued to work together in 2017. Nadia's new car was a Toyota Etios. It was not as quick as the Fiesta; her best finish was eleventh, achieved in the Tucuman and Cruz del Eje rallies. 

The Etios won her three RC3 classes in Argentine rallies in 2018, including a seventh place overall in the Homenaje a Jorge Recalde Rally. 

The same car and crew competed in the 2019 Argentine championship. Nadia's best finish was eleventh, on the National section of Rally Argentina. Eleventh was her best result in 2020 too, achieved on the Rally de Balarce, driving a new Toyota Yaris. This was her only finish of the year. 

2021 was much better, with eight finishes from ten rallies, five of which resulted in a top-ten finish. The best of these was a fifth place in the Tucuman Rally. 

In 2022, she carried on with the Yaris, recording a best finish of ninth in the Rally de la Rioja. She had entered the FIA Codasur rally championship, but only competed in Argentina and was 63rd overall. She was also tenth in her class in the Argentine championship.

There were three more ninth places for her and the Yaris in 2023, one including a class win in the Rally de Villa Dolores. The Rioja event was another one where she got into the top ten, repeating her 2022 performance.

Another year in the Yaris followed in 2024: her best finish was seventh, in the Rally de Misiones. She was fourth in her class in the Argentine championship. In 2025, she tackled the Argentine series again and at the time of writing, has secured two more top-ten finishes. This year, she got a new co-driver in Miguel Recalt, as Luciano Bombaci had decided to retire from active competition.

As well as rallying, Nadia has made various guest appearances on the circuits in Argentina, starting with the Volkswagen Bora Cup in 2015 and 2016. The same year, 2016, she scored some points in the Top Race series, driving a Chevrolet. Moving up in power, she tried the Pro Am class of the Porsche GT3 Cup in Argentina.

(Image copyright Luca Martinez)

Kornelia Olkucka

Kornelia Olkucka is a Polish single-seater racer who has competed in F4 across Europe.

She raced in CEZ F4 in 2024. This was her debut in cars and she raced for the Swiss Maffi team. The first two rounds at Balaton Park and the Red Bull Ring were tough for her, but she became a reliable finisher, with a best finish of sixth at Brno. Her team withdrew her from the last round at Salzburg and she was 17th in the championship, second of the three female regulars behind Michalina Sabaj.

Staying with the Maffi set-up, she entered the Formula Winter Series at the start of 2025. Her aims were mostly learning still, and she did finish all twelve races. This was in spite of some of them being rather incident-filled, including one at Valencia where her two of her rivals were penalised for pushing her off the track. Her best finish was at Catalunya, where she was 20th in the final race of the year. This was her second top-twenty after another at Valencia. She was 37th in the championship.

This was preparation for a season in Italian F4 in 2025. The Maffi team entered four drivers, two more experienced and two rookies, Kornelia and David Walther. The first round at Misano was a tough one; she was 27th in the first race, despite suffering tyre damage following contact, then 26th in her second heat, but she did not qualify for the final. The Vallelunga rounds were also in a heats-and-final format, and the weather was bad to boot. Kornelia finished one of her races in 22nd place, having spun out of Race 1 due to contact with another car. Again, she did not qualify for the final. At Monza and Mugello, she finished all three races both times, scoring a best result of 26th, at Monza. Unfortunately, she then had two DNFs at Imola. It was a chaotic meeting and Race 2 had to be cancelled completely after a startline pile-up. Kornelia received a three-place grid penalty for crashing into her team-mate in an attempt to avoid stationary cars. At the time of writing, there are two more rounds left on the calendar.

Prior to her switch to cars, she was a karter from the age of 14, and represented Poland at the 2022 Motorsport Games in the Karting Endurance category. She has expressed interest in sports psychology and suggested it as a future career move.

(Image copyright Maffi Racing/Kornelia Olkucka)

Gaby dela Merced

Gaby dela Merced is a Filipino driver who raced single-seaters in the 2000s, up to Asian Formula 3 level.

She was fourteenth in the 2006 Asian Formula 3 championship, racing in the Promotion class. Her best overall finish was seventh, at Batul in Indonesia. She also ran quite well at Batanga and Zhuhai. One of her rivals was Michele Bumgarner. The two were the highest-scoring Filipino drivers, from five, with Gaby the second highest.

She first raced saloons in 2002, after two seasons in slalom and autocross. Her first championship was the SVI Challenge Cup and she was third in the novice class. Her car is not recorded, but her car for the same series in 2003 was a Honda Civic. She won at least two races at Subic International Raceway and was second in the championship, after duelling with her team-mate Mikko David at the front all year. 

She also competed in the BRC (Batanga Racing Circuit) Production Touring Car Championship, finishing third. 

Later, she raced in a Formula Toyota championship in the Philippines, which used a Japanese-spec single-seater with slicks and wings. She was runner-up in Formula Toyota in 2004 and also competed in half of the Asian Formula BMW championship, driving for Team Tec Pilipinas. Her best finish was eleventh, at Beijing. She had been awarded a scholarship drive for Formula BMW and this was her prize drive. The scholarship was decided via a shootout at Johor in Malaysia, and this was the first time she had driven a single-seater.

Post-Formula 3, she attempted to launch her career in America, like her compatriot Michele Bumgarner would manage the year after. However, she could not find a seat anywhere with the money she had.

Between 2006 and 2009, she does not appear to have raced much, and concentrated on her TV career, which included a stint on Filipino Big Brother. She made her comeback, racing in endurance events in the USA. One of these races was the 2008 25 Hours of Thunderhill, where she shared a BMW M3 with Robbie Montinola and Angelo Barretto. The all-Filipino team was twelfth overall and sixth in class. Earlier in the year, she made a guest appearance in the PTC at Subic.

She had to stop racing in 2010 after a knee injury. This was later found to be due to an inflammatory condition which needed surgery. This limited her participation for quite some time. For about five years in total, she had to stop doing all sports.

What also did not help was Gaby's involvement in a so-called Filipino racing team designed to get Filipino drivers into NASCAR. This 2013 plan turned out to involve no racing at all; a supposed multinational race at Charlotte was reduced to a driving experience day more commonly sold to complete novices. Gaby was sanguine about her experiences, claiming that "sh** happens".

Her next adventure was the Transasia TA2 championship in 2014, based on the Trans Am formula in America. Her car was a 450bhp Ford stock car and she raced across Asia for a Korean team. She made a few guest appearances in the series after that.

After another long hiatus, she returned to Asian motorsport for the Giti Formula V1 Race Challenge in 2019. This is a sportscar championship using the same Vita prototype as the all-female Kyojo Cup in Japan. She also guested in the Thailand Super Series round at Sepang, sharing a TA2 Ford Mustang with Australian Jaylyn Robotham. They were 16th in one race. 

Since then, she has done some drifting, and more media work, including some acting and TV hosting. Her last motorsport outings were the MSCC Mazda Cup in the Philippines in 2024.

She also competes in flag football, joining the Philippines womens' team in 2023. 

(Image copyright Gaby dela Merced)

Lisa Clark

Lisa Clark is an American driver who has competed in the US Ferrari Challenge since 2017. She is known online as "Racer Mom".

Speed was a family thing when she was growing up; her father raced dirt bikes and the two used to ride together at night. Lisa always gravitated towards four wheels rather than two, and a payout she received after a motorcycle accident helped her to afford a Porsche, which she used for autocross. There was a long gap while she was having her children, but she never gave up on her plan. She found out about the Ferrari Corsa Pilota training programme when she bought her first road-going Ferrari, then realised that she could also race the car competitively. Preparation consisted of karting and some arrive-and-drive endurance races in Europe, then she was ready to go.

In her first season, she did just two races, at Bowmanville in Canada. She finished both, in tenth place. The following year, she did five of the championship's eight races, finishing in the top ten in three of them. The best of these was a sixth place at Watkins Glen. She was eleventh in the championship.

She secured her first trophy in 2019, coming home first in the Am class of the North American Challenge at Sebring. This was one of five podiums that season, on her way to sixth place.

She also raced in Europe, entering the Le Mans round of the European Ferrari Challenge, although she did not finish. The World Final at Mugello gave her a tenth place.

Her 2020 campaign was a part-season. She did just over two-thirds of the meetings and her best one was the away round at Misano, where she won the Am class twice. She was sixth in the World Final at Misano.

In 2021, she scored her first overall podium, a third at Homestead-Miami. After a stronger season, she was sixth in the championship. In Europe, she raced in the Ferrari Coppa Shell at Valencia and the Nurburgring, with a best finish of ninth at the Nurburgring.

She also did her first major race outside the Ferrari Challenge, and not in a Ferrari. Driving an Audi R8 LMS GT4 with Jeff Westphal, Martin Lechman and Mark Issa, she was third in class in the Barcelona 24H, 24th overall.

2022 was one of her best seasons yet, with three podium finishes in the Am class on her way to a class third overall in the Coppa Shell North America. She also raced in Europe at Portimao and Paul Ricard, scoring points in the Coppa Shell Europe.

In 2023, she was 15th in the championship and eleventh in the World Final. However, this was just gearing up for a busy year in 2024, with another full Ferrari Challenge season and some extras. She took part in the FIA Motorsport Games in the single-make GT section, finishing eleventh, and also raced her Ferrari in Europe in two rounds of the 24h Series. This was with the Pellin team who ran her in the Coppa Shell Europe, sharing a GT3 Ferrari 488 with Jeff Westphal and Kyle Marcelli. They were tenth and ninth in class in the two Mugello 12 Hour races. They were twelfth and 17th overall.

Another season split between the Ferrari Challenge and the 24H Series in Europe beckoned in 2025. She used the same Ferrari 296 for both.

Image copyright 24H Series

Her car is run by Ferrari of Beverly Hills in the American championship.

Ella Lloyd

Ella Lloyd is a British driver who races single-seaters, most famously in the all-female F1 Academy championship.

She began her motorsport career in 2022, racing in Ginetta Juniors at the age of 16. She got into motorsport through the FIA’s Girls on Track karting challenge in 2018, having never done any karting before.

Her best results at the start of the 2022 season were three 16th places, achieved at Brands Hatch and Knockhill. Later, she improved, picking up an eleventh place at Thruxton. She was 21st overall.

The first year of her senior career, 2023, ended with a runner-up in the Pro class of the Ginetta GT5 Challenge, after a series of wins. She had 17 podium finishes from 25 races, ten of those being wins in the Pro class.

She then switched to single-seaters in 2024, first in the Formula Winter Series, then in British F4. Rodin entered her for the last two rounds of the Winter Series, taking over from Bart Harrison. It was a cautious start and she only got in the top 20 once, although she also scored more points than Harrison or some drivers who did a full season.

She was eleventh in the F4 championship, impressing many with her pace, despite her limited single-seater experience. The work she had put in over the winter had started to pay off. During the year, she scored three second places, at Silverstone, Knockhill and Brands. This led to a wildcard entry for the Singapore rounds of F1 Academy, where she was ninth and seventh. Later in the year, she took part in the Formula E Women's Test at Jarama, recording the seventh-best set of times. As a result, she was invited back to test again for the McLaren team at Berlin Tempelhof in 2025.

For 2025, she was signed by the Rodin team as McLaren's supported driver in the series. To prepare, she entered the Formula 4 Middle East Trophy. This wasn't a huge success; in the five races she did, her best finishes were 17th places at Yas Marina.

F1 Academy itself was more successful. In the third race at Jeddah, she scored her first win, following it up with three second places later in Canada.

She is from a motorsport family - both parents and her older brother compete - and she has won junior championships in both downhill skiing and showjumping.

(Image copyright F1 Academy)

Alisha Palmowski

Alisha Palmowski began her racing career in Ginetta Juniors in 2022, aged 15. She was the winner of the Ginetta Junior Scholarship and her prize was a full season’s racing in the championship. She describes this win as a turning point in her career; without it, she might never have switched to cars from karts.

Her scholarship followed six years of karting, during which she finished strongly in two junior categories. Although she quickly became competitive, she had no great interest in doing sports as a child, and only watched motorsport on TV.

Her best results were two eighth places at Knockhill in July and the challenging Brands Hatch GP circuit, in October. This was one of six top-ten finishes she earned that year and she was thirteenth in the championship. A run in the Ginetta Winter Series followed; the four-round series was held at Brands Hatch and she picked up one second and one third place.

In 2023, she was fifth in the championship, with ten podiums from 24 races. She was third in her second race of the season at Oulton Park, then second twice at Silverstone, setting herself up for a strong run in her final year as a junior racer.

Switching to single-seaters, she entered the GB4 championship in 2024 and was immediately on the pace again, winning the first round at Oulton Park, one of her best circuits. This was one of three wins that year, which gave her second in the championship, with eight additional podium finishes.

Impressing many onlookers by getting to grips with GB4 so quickly, she was selected as a wildcard entry for the Bahrain F1 Academy round and finished fifth in the one race which took place. This led to a full-time Academy seat in 2025, driving for the Campos team as Red Bull's supported driver. She has spoken openly about being quite star-struck in the F1 paddock, but it did not affect her performance.

At the end of 2024, she took part in the Formula E Women's Test at Jarama, driving for the Envision team with Alice Powell.

To prepare for her upcoming season, she entered the Formula Winter Series at the start of 2025, alongside her Campos team-mates, Chloe Chambers and Rafaela Ferreira. All three did two rounds each, with Alisha taking the first two at Algarve and Ricardo Tormo. She was the highest-placed of the three, coming in 23rd in the championship. Algarve was her best circuit; she was thirteenth twice and twelfth once.

She could not have hoped for a better start to her 2025 F1 Academy season. An incident-strewn first race at Shanghai meant that a calm and determined Alisha was able to take her first win. She followed it with a sixth place, and was then third and fourth at Jeddah, and second at Miami.

(Image copyright Red Bull)

Cindy Gudet

Cindy Gudet is a championship-winning French hillclimber who has made the jump from speed events to sportscar racing.

Her background is predominantly hillclimbs, although not exclusively. She made guest appearances in rallies and in ice racing for several seasons before making the switch to sportscars on circuits in 2024.

She has been successful in hillclimbing since 2017, winning six national titles in production sportscars, most notably a Revolt 2P0 prototype. In 2023, she signed up for the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup, a single-make rally championship based in Germany, running as an official FFSA Academy entry with Cecile Marie as co-driver. Sarah Rumeau, a future French champion and Iron Dames driver, was also selected. After a guest appearance in the Rallye Regional de Quercy, driving a Peugeot 106, she was tenth in the Opel class in her first event in the car, the Rally Sulingen. Her best result of the year was a sixth place in her home Opel event, the Rallye Vosges Grand-Est. Her final position on the e-Rally Cup leaderboard was eighth, after six to-ten finishes.

As well as the ADAC series, she did another French regional rally in a Peugeot 208 R2, finishing the Savoie-Chautagne National Rallye in 29th place, from 58 finishers.

Her circuit career began in 2022, although on ice rather than on asphalt. She was invited to contest the Andros Stars ice racing series, which used electric cars and was open to selected guest drivers only, from the worlds of motorsport, other sport and celebrity. This seems to have been her first experience of driving on a track with other cars around her. She must have impressed Yvan Muller's team, which took her on for the 2023-2024 season as a driver in the Elite class. This was the last running of the Andros Trophy.

In 2024, she raced on the circuits, entering the GT4 European Series in a Toyota GR Supra, sharing with Gabriela Jilkova. Their car was run by Matmut Evolution, Jerome Policand's team, which had been taking steps to support female talent in the past season or so.

They were seventh in their class, with two podium finishes, a third place in Round 1 at Paul Ricard and another third at the season finale in Jeddah.

Driving solo, Cindy was fifth in the Ligier European Series, with her best finish being second at Portimao. She did almost the full season, only missing the Spa races, driving for the M Racing team. She was their highest-placed finisher in the squad.

She and Gabriela were signed again to race in the Supra in the 2025 GT4 European Series. She will also do another season in the Ligier. 

(Image copyright Cindy Gudet)

Arianna Casoli

Arianna Casoli races in the Whelen Euro NASCAR series. The Italian is the most prolific female driver in the championship and is one of its longest-standing competitors.

It was in 2016 that she first strapped herself into a stock car, aged 42. She raced in the Elite 2 development class and her car was a Ford, one of the championship's stock bodies. Her best finish was 15th, at Adria, and she was 19th in the championship, although she was that year’s top lady driver. Prior to her first races, she had only done a little testing in a car that was the most powerful and heaviest thing she had ever driven.

She fared better at the wheel of a CAAL Racing Chevrolet in 2017, almost getting into the top ten at Venray. She was 15th overall that year.

Another season in Elite 2 in 2018 gave her a championship 17th. She improved this to 15th in 2019, with a best finish of twelfth at Zolder.

An accident in 2020 threatened to end her Euro NASCAR adventure, but she completed the four-round championship, finishing tenth with a best finish of fifth at Zolder.

A full championship ran in 2021, with Arianna in the EuroNASCAR2 class. She was 18th in the championship, with one top-ten finish, a tenth place at Most.

She did a part-season in the same class in 2022, with a best finish of 17th at Brands Hatch. This was repeated in 2023.

Another EuroNASCAR season in 2024 ended with a trip to Brazil for the final rounds of the NASCAR Brazil series.

Prior to 2016, she raced in a number of one-make series in Italy, including the Saxo and MGF Cups, beginning in 1996, when she was 22. Her first car was a Renault Clio. This stopped in 2002 so she could finish her education and have children. She began racing seriously again in 2015 in the SEAT Ibiza Cup in Italy, having made a guest appearance in 2013 with her friend Valentina Albanese.

(Image copyright @suomi1985)

The TC2000 Carrera de la Mujer

The Carrera de la Mujer ("Race of Women") is a recurring event held at the end of the TC 2000 season in Colombia. It is a female-only race run in aid of breast cancer charities. The 2024 edition was the seventh running; it is not an annual event.

It is for saloon cars of the type found racing in Colombian TC 2000, and cars of a variety of ages can take part. Grids are normally fairly large and consist of female TC 2000 regulars, celebrities, media and other guest drivers who are competing for charity. The race is a sprint, usually lasting 20 minutes. Drivers can compete solo or with a co-driver, who does not have to be female.

Details of the race are sketchy, although each edition is numbered, which helps a little. It isn't clear when the first race was held, although it was not before 2013. Entry lists, results and winners are similarly difficult to find.

Below is the beginning of a timeline for the Carrera de la Mujer, with winners where they are known.

I

II (2014)

III (2015)

IV

V

VI (2022) 

Angelica Jaimes (Renault)

VII (2024)

Teresa Penuela (Renault)

 

(Image copyright TC 2000)

Carla Costa

Carla and Barbara Costa

Carla Costa is a Portuguese driver from the Azores, Portuguese-administered islands in the Atlantic.

Her career began as far back as 1998 and her first car was a Renault 4, an unlikely rally car. Nevertheless, she used it between 1998 and 2002, before replacing it with a sportier Citroen AX.

It was in 2005 that she started competing regularly, using a 1200cc Renault Clio. Co-driven by Elisabete Nunes, she won her class in two events: the Rali FM Ilha Azul and the Alem Mar Ilha Lilas rally. 

The first part of her career ends here. She did not compete again for ten years, but made her return in 2015, entering the Azores Ladies' Trophy, a women-only rally series with its own events. Her car was a Citroen Saxo and her co-driver was her daughter, Barbara. They won the last event of the championship, the Especial Sprint da Riviera, outright, after third places in the two previous rounds. This was enough to secure her the ladies' championship title.

She competed in the Ladies’ Trophy again in 2016, and won the first two rounds, the Rali Regional Vila Nova and the Rali Praia da Vittoria. A retirement in the third round dropped her to third in the championship. Her car was a Renault Clio.

Her navigator since that year was still her daughter, and the pair continued to rally together for the first couple of events in 2017. With Rul Avila, Carla won two "Ladies & Veterans" rallies outright in the 2017 Azores championship. She was driving the Clio.

She was back in mixed competition in 2018, still in the Clio. She earned two top-twenty finishes in the Sical and Ilha Graciosa rallies.

In 2019, she was second in the Azores ladies' championship, first in the asphalt series, with a best finish of 22nd in the Acoreana Rali. This year, she had several different co-drivers, the most frequent being Lisandra Inacio.

After a year off during the first part of the worldwide coronavirus crisis, she returned to the stages for the 2021 PicoWines Rali, finishing 26th. This was followed up by another win in the 2022 Azores Ladies' championship and had a best finish of eighth in the Rali Ilha Graciosa, driving a Renault Clio.

She was very active again in the Clio in 2023, finishing thirteenth in the Azores championship and scoring another eighth spot in the Ilha Graciosa Rally.

Another Azores championship season proceeded in 2024, including a sixth place in Especial Sprint Motorshow. She ended the year Azores ladies' champion again and was 16th in the championship.

Her son Diogo and husband Joao have both competed as co-drivers and drivers. In 2024, Carla, Joao and Diogo all drove in the Rali Alem Mar - Ilha Lilas event. Joao was 20th, Carla was 30th and Diogo crashed out.

Rafaela Ferreira

Rafaela Ferreira races single-seaters in Brazil. She began her senior career in 2023, after several years in karting and some tests in F3 and F4 cars. She had been active in karting since the age of eight, inspired by her father who raced and built karts.

After a couple of races in Formula Inter in the States, which uses the same car as US F4, she took away two fourth places, and was ready to tackle Brazilian F4.

Her first race at Interlagos in Brazilian F4 led to an 11th place, then a sixth and a ninth. At the time, she was the first female driver to race in the championship.

In 2023, she gradually improved over the season, taking her first podium in December with third at Interlagos. She was thirteenth in the championship.

She entered the 2024 F4 Brazil series a stronger driver. The first race of the season ended in a third place for her at Velo Citta, followed by a seventh and then a second. A couple of indifferent races at Interlagos followed, but when the championship returned to Velo Citta, she scored her first win. She won again at the away round in Buenos Aires, as well as picking up a second place, one of nine podiums during the year. Inerlagos had always been something of a bogey track for her, but by the end of the season, she even managed a second there. She was fourth in the championship.

At the end of 2024, she was signed by Racing Bulls for their 2025 F1 Academy entry, driving for the Campos team. She may also do some additional racing.

(Image from Brazilian F4)

Natasha Tundo

Natasha co-driving for her father, Frank

Natasha Tundo is a Kenyan rally driver whose usual car is a Subaru Impreza. She is from a rallying family; her father Frank and brother Karl are also rally drivers. Her first experience in a rally car was at the age of three, when her father drove her around part of the Safari Rally course in his own car.

She started driving in rallies in 2015, after several years of co-driving, often for Frank. She and Carl won the 2012 Guru Nanak Rally together in 2011, with Carl driving the family Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX.

She and Chantal Young drove a Subaru Impreza STi in the 2015 Kenyan championship, under the team name “Rally Chix”. Natasha’s best finish was 19th, in the Nakuru Rally. She had entered the Safari Rally earlier in the year, but had to retire; this was her only non-finish of the year. She was 32nd in the Kenyan championship, tied with Rob Hellier and George Njoroge. 

In 2016, she did a full season in the Kenyan championship, in the Impreza. Her best result was an eleventh place in the Safari Rally. This was one of four top-twenty finishes she achieved that year.

Another season in the Kenyan series followed in 2017. Her best finish was twelfth, in the Fly540 RSC Rally. She was also fourteenth in the Eldoret Rally. This was her last time in the driver's seat for a while. Her attentions turned to co-driving for her father again, making trips to New Zealand, Bulgaria and the UK, in this case the 2021 Roger Albert Clark historic rally. Their usual car was a Triumph TR7, but they used a Ford Escort RS1800 for the Silver Fern Rally in New Zealand.

Her comeback as a driver was in 2022, when she was second in the 2022 Lioness Rally with Chantal, in the Impreza. This was an all-female event In Kenya, won by Maxine Wahome in a similar car. Chantal had sat beside Maxine in the previous year's Safari.

In 2023, she was eighth in the Safari Rally, her best result in a mixed event. She does not appear to have competed in 2024.

(Image from monitor.co.ug)

Cecilia Rabelo

Cecilia Rabelo is a Brazilian driver who began her senior career in 2022.

She was 15 years old when she took part in two rounds of the Paulista Formula Delta championship, finishing ninth and eighth.

Her first full season was meant to be spent competing in the Brazilian F4 championship in 2023, driving for the Cavaleiro Sport team. After two tenths and an eleventh in the first meeting at Interlagos, she missed a couple of meetings due to an injury she sustained in a crash at Interlagos. She returned for the fourth round at Goiania, improving over the weekend with a twelfth, eleventh and then seventh place. The series moved back to Interlagos and Cecilia surprised onlookers with two pole positions, although she could not convert these to podium finishes: she was seventh and 13th in the two races she finished. Her season finished with a disqualification, a tenth and an eleventh place. She was 15th overall.

Her second F4 season started with a move to the Bassani Racing team. The year began well with a sixth and fourth place at Mogi Guacu, as well as a ninth, although her early improvements were overshadowed by her female rival Rafaela Ferreira finishing on the podium. The fourth place remains her best finish of the year at the time of writing, although she did manage to out-perform Rafaela Ferreira in the next round at Interlagos. A series of DNFs later on did not help her. At present, she is thirteenth in the championship.

At the end of the 2024 season, Cecilia joined up with Porsche racewinner Antonella Bassani and former skateboarder Leticia Bufoni to enter the Interlagos 500km. Their car was a Porsche 991 and they were 30th overall, seventh in class. They had been running slightly higher, but a slow pitstop lost them a place. This was Cecilia's second Porsche Cup race, having entered the round at Buenos Aires earlier in the season.

(Image from blogdomadeira.com.br)

Tina Hausmann

 

Tina Hausmann is a Swiss driver racing single-seaters in Europe.

Her first experience of car racing, after some success in karts in Switzerland, was in the 2023 Formula Winter Series, a Formula 4 championship based in Spain. She surprised many with a fourth and third place in her first-ever events at Jerez, but the next round at Ricardo Torme was a disappointment for her, with a pair of DNFs. She only did half of the eight-race championship.

During the 2023 summer season, she contested both Italian F4 and its associated Euro4 championship but did not score any points. Her best finish was 16th at Paul Ricard. A Race 1 accident on the second lap at Misano led to her wthdrawal from the rest of the round, although she did return for the next races at Spa.

For 2024, she signed up for both the UAE F4 series and the all-female F1 Academy. Aston Martin selected her as its supported driver for F1A and she was part of the Prema team. Her team-mates Doriane Pin and Maya Weug had considerably more experience, with Doriane having raced at Le Mans and both having competed in FRECA. She started well with a sixth place at Jeddah, but was unable to match it until the end of the year, when she was fourth at Abu Dhabi. Usually, she was a top-ten finisher, but she has not yet got near the podium. Technical problems have played their part in this.

Her UAE campaign ended up being one round at Yas Marina, driving for Xcel Motorsport. She finished two of her three races, in 27th and 21st place.

Tina was previously active in karting and esports.

(Image copyright F1 Academy)

Toni Breidinger

Toni Breidinger races in the NASCAR Truck series and has been a regular in the ARCA Menards Series for several seasons.

She made her ARCA debut in 2018, aged 19, driving a Toyota for Venturini Motorsports. Her first race was at Madison and she finished tenth. She was then twelfth at Gateway and 18th at Chicago. Her team-mate was Natalie Decker, and they were joined by Leilani Munter at Chicago, making up the first three-woman team in the series. She made one appearance in the CARS Super Late Model Tour in 2019, finishing 15th at Radford. Away from ARCA, Toni raced in the USAC Silver Crown championship for dirt cars and in Late Models.

In an attempt at a sideways move, she tried to qualify for the inaugural W Series championship in 2019. She made the list of 55 drivers who were assessed, but was rejected at this stage.

In 2021, she returned to ARCA, entering nine rounds of its main series. Her best finishes were two ninth places at Winchester and Springfield. She spent half the season with Tyler Young before going back to a Venturini car. In addittion to this, she contested one Menards Series West race in each car, both at Phoenix, finishing one and crashing out of the other on the opening lap.

An almost full ARCA season followed in 2022, driving Cathy Venturini's car. Six of her twenty races ended in top tens, with her best being an eighth place at Salem. She was sixth in the championship.

In 2023, she made her first starts in the Craftsman Truck championship, driving for David Gilliland and sponsored by Victoria's Secret. She finished all three races, the best of these being a 15th place at Kansas. This was combined with most of the main ARCA season, where she earned seven top-ten finishes, including a third place at her lucky track, Kansas.

This arrangement continued for 2024, with a part-season in Trucks and a regular spot in ARCA. Most of her time was spent in ARCA, with her qualifying pace improving and more top tens coming her way during a full season. She has had a variety of sponsors. The same team runs her in certain rounds of the East and West series, where she is also a top-ten regular. Her Truck schedule is more limited.

She finished in the ARCA top ten on eleven occasions in 2024, the best of these being a pair of sixth places at Berlin and Springfield. Her final championship position was fourth. Her best East series finish was a fourth place at Flat Rock.

She previously raced in sprintcars against her twin sister, Annie. She is the only female NASCAR driver of Arab descent in the world, having Lebanese heritage.

(Image copyright Roman Empire)

F1 Academy

F1 Academy is the latest in a long line of female-only development championships, launched in 2023. 

It was brought forward by the FIA after the demise of W Series and unlike W Series, has the support of the FIA and its Women in Motorsport Commission.

The championship uses F4 cars with an uprated aero package. There are five independent teams, each running three drivers each. All five are major players in global junior single-seater competition. Drivers must have an appropriate license and be aged between 16 and 25 at the start of the year. They are recruited by the teams privately. Each driver has to bring about £150k in funds to compete, but this is considerably less than it costs to take part in the equivalent mixed F4 championship in their region. Each race seat is subsidised by the teams and the FIA. The championship's CEO is Susie Wolff.

As well as seven meetings with three races (reduced to two in 2024)  at each, F1 Academy drivers have access to 15 official test days throughout the year, giving them a large amount of track time for their investment. 

The aim of the championship is progression, so the winner each year has to move on. No-one may spend more than two seasons in the series.

Prema, one of the Academy teams, offered a Formula Regional Europe (FRECA) race seat to 2023 winner Marta Garcia. Teams who sign any F1 Academy driver finishing first, second or third into FRECA are allowed to run a fourth car for that driver.

2023 Results

1. Marta Garcia (Prema)

2. Lena Buhler (ART Grand Prix)

3. Hamda al-Qubaisi (MP Motorsport)

4. Nerea Marti (Campos)

5. Abbi Pulling (Rodin Carlin)

6. Amna al-Qubaisi (MP Motorsport)

7. Bianca Bustamante (Prema)

8. Jessica Edgar (Rodin Carlin)

9. Emely de Heus (MP Motorsport)

10. Lola Lovinfosse (Campos)

11. Carrie Schreiner (ART Grand Prix)

12. Chloe Grant (ART Grand Prix)

13. Megan Gilkes (Rodin Carlin)

14. Chloe Chong (Prema)

15. Maite Caceres (Campos)

2024

The second F1 Academy season increased its links with Formula 1. Each F1 team chose an Academy driver to support, meaning that two-thirds of the grid ran with F1-related liveries. The race weekends were run alongside seven F1 rounds. Instead of three races, two would be held.

An extra car for a wildcard driver from the country the race is held in was provided for some rounds.

The non-F1 affiliated cars attracted some high-profile sponsors, including Tommy Hilfiger and Charlotte Tilbury cosmetics.

There were six new full-time drivers, after Marta Garcia and Lena Buhler moved into FRECA, with Buhler ageing out of the competition. Megan Gilkes retired from racing and Chloe Chong, Maite Caceres and Chloe Grant went to race elsewhere.

2024 Results

1. Abbi Pulling (Rodin/Alpine) 

2. Doriane Pin (Prema/Mercedes)

3. Maya Weug (Prema/Ferrari)

4. Nerea Marti (Campos)

5. Hamda al-Qubaisi (MP Motorsport/Red Bull)

6. Chloe Chambers (Campos/Haas)

7. Bianca Bustamante (ART Grand Prix)

8. Lia Block (ART Grand Prix/Williams)

9. Carrie Schreiner (Campos/Sauber)

10. Tina Hausmann (Prema/Aston Martin)

11. Emely de Heus (MP Motorsport)

12. Aurelia Nobels (ART Grand Prix)

13. Jessica Edgar (Rodin)

14. Lola Lovinfosse (Rodin)

15. Amna al-Qubaisi (MP Motorsport/Racing Bulls)

Maite Caceres

 

Maite Caceres is a Uruguayan driver who has done most of her racing in the USA. 

She entered the 2022 US F4 championship, driving for International Motorsport, after testing an F4 car as part of an event organised by W Series. She was not selected to go further with W Series testing. Her best result in US F4 was a twelfth place at Road America. She missed several races in the middle of the season. 

As well as F4, she entered the last part of the USF Juniors championship, managing eleventh places at Road America and COTA. 

Previously, she raced in the Uruguayan F4 series, beginning in late 2021. She scored one third place at El Pinar. She was ninth in the championship.

For 2023, she competed in the all-female F1 Academy F4 championship, driving for Campos Racing with Nerea Marti and Lola Lovinfosse. It was not a good year for her and she was 15th in the final standings, out of 15 drivers. Her best results were two eighth places, achieved at Monza and Paul Ricard. 

As preparation, Campos had entered her into the Formula Winter Series at the beginning of the year.

Her time in F1 Academy was limited to a single season and she moved into the Ligier JS F4 series in the States, driving for the International Motorsport team. This proved to be a good move; she was second and third in her first two races at NOLA, on her way to championship third with three more third places.

Her brother is Juan Caceres, who raced in Champ Car.

Image from rginternetpress.com

Ayla Agren

 

Ayla Ågren is a Swedish/Norwegian driver, born in Norway who has done a lot of her racing in the USA. 

She won the US F1600 championship in 2014 after taking three wins and five podium positions. This was her second season in F1600, having finished fourth in the series in 2013. 

2013 was only her second season as a senior racer, having graduated from karting in Scandinavia at the end of 2011. Like many single-seater racers in the States, she began in the Skip Barber championships. 

Between 2014 and 2019, she did not do quite as much active racing, but was involved with the Mazda Road to Indy training programme, in the hope of getting onto the oval racing ladder. To this end, she took part in the Cooper Tires USF2000 series, for three seasons. She did the full season in 2015 with Pelfrey Racing, who had helped her to her F1600 title. In her first season, she was tenth overall, with a best finish of sixth, achieved at Indianapolis and Mid-Ohio.

In 2016, she switched to John Cummiskey’s team and did three-quarters of the season, missing the Toronto and Laguna Seca races. Her best finish improved to fourth at Road America and she was eleventh overall. Back with Pelfrey for a third year, she only managed seven rounds on her budget. The best of these wasa seventh at Indianapolis.

She also worked as a spotter for Paretta Autosport and other teams in oval-based series, and drove the safety car for Indycar races.

In 2019, she attempted to qualify for the W Series but was unsuccessful at the first selection. Despite expressing some misgivings about the event, she tested again at the end of the year and was accepted for 2020. She was also awarded a significant scholarship by World Rally champion Petter Solberg.

The 2020 W Series season was deferred until 2021, but she took her seat and finished 17th overall. This was not helped by missing the Spa race due to a six-car qualifying crash, but her best finish was only ninth at Circuit of the Americas and she was not one of the drivers automatically invited back. 

At the start of the season, she also drove at Duqueine prototype in the Le Mans Cup, finishing 19th in her class at Paul Ricard. 

She continued as a reserve driver in W Series in 2022, making one appearance for the Puma team at Singapore, substituting for the injured Tereza Babickova. She was 16th. After W Series was cancelled, she did not race in 2023.

(Image from vg.no)

Lindsay Brewer

 

Lindsay Brewer competes in the  Indy Pro 2000 championship in the USA, a part of the Indycar development ladder.

She has raced single-seaters, touring cars and sportscars. After some races in the Skip Barber series, she entered the 2022 Indy Pro 2000 championship with Exclusive Autosport. She did not do a full season. Her best finish by far was eighth at Indianapolis and she was 15th in the championship. 

Early in the season, she also did some guest races in the F1600 championship, driving a Spectrum. Eighth was her best finish there too, at Barber. At the end of 2022, she tried out for the all-female W Series, using an F4 car, but was not selected.

Her second Indy Pro 2000 season was also run with Exclusive Autosport. Sadly, she did not do as well and finished 18th overall this time. Her best finishes were a pair of eleventh places at Indianapolis and Portland.

In 2021, she raced in the TC America touring car series, driving a Honda Civic Type R run by the Skip Barber school team. She did the first four rounds of the championship, with a best finish of eighth at Circuit of the Americas. The team was second in the TC championship, mostly thanks to Eric Powell, but Lindsay was fourteenth overall. 

Throughout her career, Lindsay has been accused of not being a real racing driver and of using motorsport to further her internet influencer presence. She responded to comments made by NASCAR driver Hailie Deegan about female drivers who are Instagram models first and racers second by challenging Deegan to a race, which did not happen. Her commitment to the Indy Pro 2000 series since 2022 should have gone some way to dispelling some of this negativity, but a series of newspaper reports describing her as “the world’s sexiest racing driver” have not helped.

She entered one race in the 2019 Saleen Cup after taking four years away from competition to attend college. Before that, she raced Legends at club level, as well as testing stock cars. She had raced karts from an early age and finished fifth in the PSL Racing TAG Minimax championship in 2009, when she was twelve.

At the end of 2023, it was announced that she would join the IndyNXT (formerly Indy Lights) grid in 2024. She signed for Juncos Hollinger Racing as its solo entry. Unfortunately, her season only lasted eight out of fourteen races, and she had a best finish of 15th, at St Petersburg and Laguna Seca.

(Image copyright Times10)

Bianca Bustamante

 

Bianca Bustamante is a Filipina single-seater racer who began racing cars in 2022. 

She was selected for the third season of the all-female W Series and finished 14th overall, scoring a couple of points for the W Academy team. This followed some guest appearances in the 2022 USF Juniors championship and a spot in the FIA’s Girls on Track shootout in 2021. She did the first two meetings in USF Juniors with IGY6 Motorsport and had a best finish of tenth. 

Later in the 2022 season, she drove for the Bangalore Speedsters in the Indian Racing League and was 17th in the individual standings. The Speedsters were fifth out of six teams. 

Moving back to F4, she joined the Prema team for the 2023 UAE F4 series. Although she was usually a backmarker, she did manage a tenth and ninth place at Kuwait and Dubai. This was preparation for a season in the 2023 F1 Academy with Prema, another all-female championship using F4 cars. She won two races at Valencia and Monza. F1 Academy coverage shows her combative and determined driving style, although she also had some scares, including a collision with Chloe Grant’s flying car at Monza. She was seventh in the championship.

Her second part-season in USF Juniors gave her a pair of ninth places at Circuit of the Americas, driving for Exclusive Autosport. In a busy year, she also replaced Aurelia Nobels for one round of the Italian F4 championship, finishing 19th twice and 25th once at Spa.

For the 2024 season, she switched teams in F1 Academy, moving to ART. She was also chosen as McLaren's supported driver in the series, despite some controversy at Christmas over some tweets about Lance Stroll. She wasn't quite as strong this year, finishing seventh overall with just one podium finish, a second place at Miami. 

ART entered her in some rounds of the Italian F4 championship and its associated Euro4 series at Monza, where she managed three finishes in Euro4 but only one in Italian F4. She was deputising for Aurelia Nobels. Earlier in the season, she had entered the Formula Winter Series with the GRS team, scoring a best finish of 17th at Aragon. She was also a guest in British F4 at Zandvoort, picking up one eighth place, an 18th and a 17th.

Before switching to cars, she raced karts with some success in the Philippines and the USA throughout her childhood. 

(Image copyright Vogue Philippines)