Carole Vergnaud

Carole Vergnaud is a French driver who was a member of the Citroen works team for rallies. She won the 1986 Mille Pistes Rally outright, in a Citroen Visa with Marie-Claude Jouan as co-driver.

She got her start as a rally driver via the Citroen Total Trophy, a rally competition for women organised by Citroen France. She had been co-driving occasionally since 1982 and competed in the Swedish Rally twice.

The qualifying stages were held in 1983, with the main competition phase held through the 1984 season, using identical Citroen Visas. Carole, the youngest driver at 21, was joint fifth, having won one round, the Mille Pistes Rally. The women's trophy was run as a class in the rally, and Carole was 18th overall.

Her first international rally as a driver was in 1985. She entered the Monte in a Citroen Visa, driving for the French junior team. She did not finish, and she did not get to the end of her second World Championship rally, the Tour de Corse. The car's clutch failed. Later in the year, she tried again, entering the Sanremo Rally and the RAC Rally. She did not finish either.

Away from the international scene, she fared better, although the Visa did seem to suffer from a variety of problems. She was fourth in the Rallye de la Baule in June, then ninth in the Rallye Terre de Charente, showing her skill on both tarmac and gravel. A second gravel event, the Terres de Beauce Rally, gave her a seventh place.

A first international finish still eluded her in 1986; she retired from the Swedish Rally after the Visa's gearbox went. However, after that disappointment, she had a superb run in the French gravel championship, beginning with a fourth place in the Terre des Bruyeres Rally. Her first podium came a couple of months later, when she was third in the Terre de Provence Rally. The results kept on coming, with a second place in Terre de Charente event, then her Mille Pistes victory. Sadly, another international outing in the Hunsruck Rallye in Germany ended in retirement, and the Citroen was less reliable in the second half of the season. She scored on more podium; a second place in the Rallye Terre des Cardabelles. At the end of the year, she was fourth in the French gravel championship.

Spurred on by her 1986 successes, she attempted the European rounds of the 1987 World Championship. After Henri Toivonen's horrific accident in Corsica in 1986, regulations had changed considerably, leaving the Group B Visa largely ineligible. Carole and seven other French drivers were unclassified in that year's Monte due to this. After some revisions, the car was allowed to compete in the Swedish Rally, and Carole was 24th. The rest of her WRC campaign ended with a series of DNFs in Portugal, Greece and Finland, with the car unreliable once more.

A surprising avenue for another victory had opened up that year, spurred on by the Group B situation. Citroen entered Carole and the Visa into the Atlas Rally, a rally-raid event, against dedicated off-road vehicles. She managed to win a stage outright.

The Visa was retired for 1988, replaced by the Citroen AX, running in class A5. The Citroen works team entered Carole into the Portugal, Sanremo and UK WRC rounds, but again, it wasn't to be. She finished one, the RAC Rally, in 41st place, after crashing out of the earlier two. Her Sanremo accident was a lucky escape. She had come off the road on a sharp turn with a steep drop to one side, and had only just climbed to safety when Jean-Marc Dubois and Robert Moynier crashed their Citroen at the same spot, killing both.

Her final season as a driver was 1989. She stayed in France, supported by the Citroen team for at least some of her rallies. The AX ran in a few different configurations, the most successful of these being a class A2 version, which gave Carole an eleventh place and a class win in the Rallye Alpin-Behra. This was one of three finishes this year, the others being a twelfth place in the Rallye des Garrigues, and 24th in the Tour Automobile de Nice.

As well as rallying, Carole raced Citroens on the track with some success. She competed in the 1987 and 1988 French Touring Car Championship, driving a works Citroen EX. She was third in at least one race in 1988, at Rouen-les-Essarts.

After almost an entire career spent in Citroen machinery, she entered the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1991, driving a Toyota 4Runner with Nanouk de Belabre. They were 73rd overall.

Later, she did some ice racing in the Andros Trophy, in 1992 and 1995. 

(Image copyright Citroen)

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.

Susann Bergvall (Hansen)

Susann Bergvall is a Swedish rallycross driver who is still the only woman to win an FIA-sanctioned rallycross title.

She is mainly known for her successes in the 1400cc class of the European Championship in the 1990s, after several years of running on a very low budget. She had begun her career in folkrace at the age of 18, driving a Volvo, before switching to rallycross in a Volvo 240. 

A couple of years in Swedish championships followed, including a run in a women-only category in 1988. She was not even able to afford wet tyres for some events and mostly competed for fun. This changed when she joined forces with Kenneth Hansen in 1990. They ran their team together, with both of them competing, and gained significant support. In 1993, they were approached by Citroen to run their works cars and Susann found herself with a really competitive car for the first time.

Her title win came in 1994, driving a Citroen AX Sport. She won three rounds outright at Lousada (Portugal), Lyngas in Norway and Estering in Germany. Her nearest rival, Manfred Beck, only finished fifth at Estering, which secured her the championship.

In 1995, she was fifth in the European 1400 Cup, driving two different AX models for the Hansen team. This was her last season of racing. 

After that, she left active competition, but stayed involved in rallycross through management within the Hansen team. She introduced them to working with data logging, a role she still carries out, but which was quite a new concept in 1995.

She and Hansen married and rallycross drivers Timmy and Kevin Hansen are their sons. Timmy was nearly two when Susann won her European title.

(Image copyright Hansen World RX Team)

Anne-Sophie Lemonnier (de Ganay)

 Anne-Sophie and her father at the 2011 Andros Trophy

Anne-Sophie le Ganay, who was previously known as Anne-Sophie Lemonnier, competes in ice racing in France. She was previously active in rallycross as well.

It was actually in rallycross that she got her start. Her first championship was a ladies’ Citroen Saxo series in 2003, the Citroen Challenge Feminin. She and her sister Marie-Laure competed together. The Lemonnier family is involved in both rallycross and stage rallying: Anne-Sophie and Marie-Laure’s father is Herve Knapick, a multiple rallycross champion, and their cousin Xavier Lemonnier is also active in rallying. 

The Challenge Feminin retired the Saxos in 2004 and began using the C2 instead. Anne-Sophie competed in one between 2004 and 2006. During her first season in a C2, she remained behind sister Marie-Laure, finishing fifth to her third. In 2005 and 2006, she leapfrogged her for championship third. 

The Citroen one-make series was cancelled at the end of 2006, so in 2007, she moved up to Division 4 of the French championship. Her car was not as competitive as those of the S1600 drivers in the series. After part-seasons without much of an impact, in 2010, she raced a Citroen Saxo kit car in Division 1A. 

In 2011, she was 18th in the Super 1600 championship, driving the same car. She did not compete in the championship in 2012. 

On the ice-racing side, she won the Andros Trophée Féminin “Ice Girls” championship in early 2008, driving a sprint car. In 2010, she was the Andros Ladies’ champion, as the highest-placed woman in the main draw. 

She competed mostly in the Elite class, beginning in 2009. She was a strong finisher in the 2012 Trophy, driving a BMW.

In 2014, she was 18th in the Promotion class, driving a BMW 1-Series. The car was shared with her father, Hervé Knapick, and run by their family team. 

Anne-Sophie reappeared in 2015 as team-mate to her father for the Alpe d'Huez round, driving a Renault Clio. By this time, she was racing as Anne-Sophie de Ganay. After a gap, Anne-Sophie and her father campaigned an Audi A1 in the 2022-23 Andros Trophy, competing at the Isola 2000 event.

(Image copyright Icon Sport/Getty Images)

Rosine Chauffour

 

Rosine Chauffour, also known as Rosine Chauffour-Robinet, is a multiple regional title-winning rally driver from France.

She has been competing as a driver since 2004, after co-driving for her father for three seasons. In 2004 and 2005, she rallied a Peugeot 106 in her local area of Limousin and was regional champion in 2005. 

The 106 was sold and upgraded to a 206 in 2006, which was initially used for circuit racing. She enjoyed the experience but preferred rallies, and therefore set about converting the 206 to rally spec.

She returned to the stages in 2007, usually partnered by Audrey Kuss, who would be her main co-driver for the next two seasons. Her best finish in this car was probably a 27th place in the Rallye Regional de la Vallee de la Benaize in 2008. The same year, she did two French National rallies, the Pays du Saint-Yrieix and Foie Gras et de la Truffe events, finishing 41st in both. 

After another car upgrade, she was local champion once more in 2009. Her 206 was an RC model and she used it for five seasons. The Rallye Regional des Genets was probably her best event in the first year, giving her a 23rd place and third in class. 

In 2010, she continued her progress, and qualified for the Finale of the French championship in the Pays-Basque. 

For 2011, she switched to co-driving for Pierre Lerosier, only contesting a few events as a driver in the 206. In one of these, the Rallye Vienne et Glane, she was 26th from 52 finishers. 

She returned to driving in 2012, driving in the Finale des Rallyes in Gap with Pauline Boyer. This followed an eight-round programme of asphalt rallies in southern France.

She used the same car in 2013, in regional events again, with Emeline Massie. Her best result was 30th, in the Rallye Regional Vienne et Glane. Another Finale in Oyonnax followed and she was 97th overall, winning the ladies’ award.

The same driver pairing was very active again in 2014, and their best rally was the Vienne et Glane event again, in which they were 26th. Rosine featured strongly in the A8 class, with three runner-up spots, and was fifth in the French Ladies' standings. The Peugeot had now been exchanged for a much newer Citroen DS3, a car she would remain loyal to for several seasons. 

This year was the first time she had driven in the rain and she admitted that the standard of competition was higher than what she was used to. 

She did not fare as well in a larger Ladies class in 2015, and was tenth, but she finished all eight of her rallies that year, driving the Citroen. Her best result was 23rd in the Pays Gentiane Rally, and she also won her class in the Vienne et Glane Rally, finishing 28th overall. 

She was seventh in the 2016 French Ladies' championship, after only entering one counting rally, the Rally of Limousin, which she crashed out of. IShe won her class in the Vienne et Glane event, and was 46th overall. Her best overall result was 21st, in the Cieux-Monts de Blond regional rally. 

Still in the same car, she won her class in the 2017 Rallye du Limousin and was 17th in the Cieux-Monts de Blond Rally. This was her first top-twenty finish. 

After a layoff, she returned for the 2020 Rally Regional Vienne et Glane, finishing 70th in the DS3. This expanded to three rallies in 2021, with a best finish of 37th in the Cantal Regional Rally. Her co-driver in the DS3 was now Patricia Bayard, a long-term navigator to her father in the 1990s. Their partnership continued into 2022 and yielded a class win in the Rallye Regional Jean-Pierre Champeau.

She continued to rally the DS3 in 2023, winning her class at the Vienne et Glane Regional Rally and finishing 39th overall.

Away from motorsport, Rosine is a politician representing the Uzerche region of France.

(Image from francebleu.fr)

Yana Pelenichenko

 

Yana Pelenichenko is one of Kazakhstan’s leading rally drivers. 

The Kazakh rally scene is quite small, and Yana is part of a team aiming to raise its profile. 

She started young, co-driving for her father Mark from the age of fourteen in 2012. Mark Pelenichenko only ever competed at club level due to health problems. Yana then started learning to drive and preparing herself for a career behind the wheel.

Her first rally as a driver, the Rally Stepniye Volki in 2012, resulted in an eighth place. Her car was a Citroen C2, which she has continued to drive since then. The car was bought in Moscow.

In 2013, she managed two fifth places, in the Sapsan and Vostochnyy Marafon rallies, and also travelled to Italy for her first European event, which was the Rally Ronde Prealpi Mastershow. She drove a Subaru Impreza and was 94th. 

She continued to be very competitive in her home country in 2014, still in the C2. She was sixth in the Sapsan and Saryagash Rallies. Unfortunately, she also had quite a few retirements, and was one of three drivers excluded from the Stepniye Volki event.

She does not appear to have competed in 2015, but she came back in 2016, again in a C2. She was eighth in the Rally Sapsan. A repeat of this car and rally pairing in 2017 resulted in a fourth place. 

In 2018, she earned two further fourth places in rallysprints in Kazakhstan. She did some rallysprint events in 2019, still in the C2. The first of these gave her a runner-up spot. 

She does not appear to have competed for the following three years, but she returned to the stages in 2023, driving a Lada. She entered at least two rounds of the Kazakh national championship.

(Image from ticketon.kz)

Charlotte Birch

 

Charlotte Birch is a British sportscar racer who is most associated with Ginettas.

Her career started early. She began racing cars at fourteen. Unusually, she stepped straight into junior motorsport without having done any karting beforehand. 

Her first destination in cars was the Junior Saloon Car Championship in the UK in 2017. In her first year she had a best finish of tenth, at Rockingham, Knockhill, Croft and Brands Hatch. She was fourteenth in the championship.

This improved to second in 2018, at Anglesey, plus a third place at Rockingham. The Anglesey podium came after a tenth-place grid start. She continued to improve in spite of quite a nasty accident at Silverstone at the start of the season. A couple of missed races and some indifferent finishes meant that she was thirteenth overall, a final leaderboard position that did not quite demonstrate her ability.

Her aim is to race in the BTCC or endurance racing and she took her first step towards this by competing in the senior Ginetta G40 championship in 2019. She was seventh in the championship after contesting all of the rounds apart from the Zandvoort away weekend and had a best finish of seventh, which she earned three times, at Oulton Park and Brands Hatch. 

In 2020, she raced a Vinna Sport Ginetta in the Britcar Trophy with Adriano Medeiros. Charlotte led the championship mid-season but dropped scores meant that she was fourth in the end, third in class. Charlotte was often the fastest driver in her class and ran as well as the highly-experienced Adriano Medeiros. 

She raced the Vinna Ginetta again in 2021, attempting to continue her form as a solo driver in Britcar. It turned out to be a very shortened season, but she did return to the Endurance class in a Ligier prototype at the end of the season. She and Jamie Vinall-Meyer won their class at Donington in October.

Vinna and Charlotte also founded a prize for the best female driver in the JSCC. Charlotte also appeared on BBC's Top Gear in a group of current and recent JSCC drivers for a racing segment.

She moved away from the Vinna operation as a driver in 2022, joining up with Topcats Racing for the GT Cup. The car was a Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo which she shared with team owner Charlotte Gilbert. Charlotte was 14th as an individual driver in the Sprint Challenge and seventh in the Sporting Challenge with her team-mate.

There was not much racing for Charlotte in 2023; she worked as a team manager for Vinna and did some rounds of the Honda Civic Cup towards the end of the year. She also tried out for the Rafa Racing Porsche scholarship in the USA, but was not selected.

In 2024, she also competed quite irregularly, racing a Honda Civic in two rounds of the Milltek Civic Cup in the UK. She also reunited with a Ginetta G55 for a round of the British Endurance Championship.

(Image copyright Charlotte Birch)

Caty Caly

 

Caty Caly (sometimes Cathy Caly) is the winner of five French Ladies’ Rallycross titles. 

Her first car was a Simca Rallye 2 which she started racing as a teenager in 1983, having been a fan of rallycross for some time. 

Her first women’s title came at the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf in 1985. 

After her first success in rallycross, she tried her hand at stage rallying in 1986, driving a Citroen Visa Mille Pistes. These Group B cars were popular in French rallying at the time and there were several female exponents of the brands after the 1984 Citroen Visa Total Trophy. 

It proved a short diversion. Caty had an accident on the Mille Pistes Rally itself and injured her neck after just a few events, bringing an end to her rally career. Her best finish had been a 28th place in the Terre de Charente Rally. This had followed another scare at the beginning of the year, when Caty attempted her first Paris-Dakar. She was driving a six-wheel-drive Mercedes 190GE with Christian de Leotard when they crashed on a night section in Niger midway through the rally. Caty was rescued by French pop singer and Dakar enthusiast Daniel Balavoine in his own aircraft and taken to hospital. Two days later, he crashed the aeroplane and died.

Later, she drove for Audi, after their redundant Group B rally cars were put into rallycross service in 1987. Her trademark on-track was a bright pink colour scheme, with black trim, carried through into her racewear. She raced an A2 in Division 2 of the French championship, earning a best result of third at Pau.

This was her last full season in the Audi for a few years. She still raced it in French rallycross occasionally, as well as a Peugeot 205 T16 and another Citroen Visa. Towards the end of the 1980s she combined part-time competition and work, developing business interests in automotive paintwork and an agency supplying promotional staff.

She won another Ladies’ championship in an Audi Quattro in 1993, following her return to regular competition. With the same car, she retained her title in 1994 and finished 15th in the overall championship.  

In 1995 and 1996 she racked up her final two ladies’ championships in a Citroen ZX. She was driving for the Dupuis team, which was supported by Citroen itself. She was ninth in the 1995 championship and fourth in Division 1, with two outright podium positions, a second and a third.

Her second Coupe des Dames as an official Citroen driver included four third places from seven rounds.

She was fourth in the Tourism class, as the ZX had been reclassified during the 1995-96 off-season.

At this time, the ladies’ championship was relatively competitive. Carolyn Boniface was Caty’s principal rival. 

Citroen ended its rallycross programme in 1997. Rather than trying to compete with the factory rallycross teams, she moved into sportscar racing. She started with the Ferrari 355 Challenge in 1997 and raced in this one-make series across Europe in 1998. Having got to grips with the car, she was second at Oschersleben and third at Spa. She raced the 355 in the Magny-Cours round of the 1999 French GT championship, sharing the car with Florence Duez. They were 31st in both races, seventh in GT4.

Driving solo, Caty also raced in the Porsche Supercup and picked up a couple of podiums, including a second place at the Hungaroring. The car suited her and a 996 became her preferred car for French GTs. She used two different models in 2000, one her own and one run by Perspective Racing. 

She continued to race a Porsche in French GTs in 2001, but as part of Team Kalliste. She normally partnered Jean-Claude Andruet, although her best result was at Pau, where Franck Legorce deputised. They were ninth overall. She planned one more race with Kalliste in 2002, sharing the 996 with Philippe Brocard, but did not actually start.

Her final French GT season was in 2003, back in a Ferrari. She drove a 360 Modena for the Auto Palace team, sharing with Steeve Hiesse. They were normally midfield finishers, although they were fairly strong in the GT class and earned two podium places. One of these was a class second that came along with a ninth place overall.

Throughout her career, Caty was a regular in ice races, like many rallycross drivers. She competed in the Andros Trophy every year between 1992 and 1999, in several different cars, including a Mini, Citroen, Lancia and Mercedes. She also raced on the ice at Chamonix at least once. 

Her last full season of competition was in 2004, when she raced in the French Supertouring Championship in an Opel Astra. She was 18th in the final standings. After that, she made occasional appearances for the next two years alongside TV work for the championship.

She made a comeback in 2013, driving in two rounds of the Euro NASCAR stock car championship in France. Her car was a Chevrolet Camaro and her best finish was tenth at Nogaro.

A recent article in La Nouvelle Republic described her as a “former racing driver”.

(Image copyright Sun Star)

Jem Hepworth

Jem Hepworth is the winner of the 2020 Britcar Endurance Championship, driving a Praga R1T for Team Motorsport Woman.

Success came young for Jem. As a karter, she represented the UK in the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission’s first “Girls on Track” finals at Le Mans. She competed at Le Mans but was not one of the girls selected for FIA WIM support.

Overlapping with this, she began her senior career in 2019. Her first race was the Citroen C1 24 Hours at Silverstone, as part of Team Motorsport Woman with Katie Milner, Alice Hughes and Sami Bowler. The team was fifth overall, having run as high as second. Despite being the least experienced member, she set the fastest laps of the four. 

Jem later drove a Motorsport Woman-backed Fiesta in the Ford Fiesta championship at Silverstone. She was ninth in her first race but could not finish the second due to a faulty wheel bearing. 

Her performances in the Citroen C1 helped to get her into the Motorsport Woman Praga for Britcar. She was paired with the slightly more experienced Danny Harrison and the two formed a strong partnership. When Jem was unable to start the first round due to a knee injury, Danny presented her with his trophy following his win. When she returned for the next round, she was down on testing time and not quite as fast as Danny, but she still managed to steer the car to a pair of wins at Brands Hatch, despite technical problems and the car almost running out of fuel. A DNF at Silverstone allowed their Praga rivals Jack Fabby and Garry Townshend to close the gap. Silverstone International led to a win and a frustrating DNF three laps from home, then Fabby and Townshend took one of the wins at Snetterton, with Jem and Danny second. They won the first race. Another win at the second Snetterton meeting put them in a strong position and they only needed second place to secure the championship, which they did in spite of a crash. 

Continuing to work with Motorsport Woman, Jem raced in the Praga category again in 2021. It was a more challenging year for her, partly due to reliability issues. She had been paired with Youtuber Jimmy Broadbent, who was a novice driver and not quite enjoy the same partnership with her as Danny Harrison had. He switched cars to share with Jack Fabby late in the season and she ran some races as a solo driver. She was fifth in the Praga standings.

It was a quieter year on the racing side for her in 2022 as she looked for new opportunities to further her career. She travelled to the USA for the W Series Formula 4 tests and performed well. Initially, she was passed over for a Formula 3 test, but she received a late call-up to Barcelona to try out for a W race seat. She was ultimately not successful, struggling with the grip strength needed for the car's steering.

For some of the season, she joined up with the Gridfinders EnduroKa team. Her best finishes with the multi-driver squad were two fifth places at Oulton Park and Cadwell. She also made some guest appearances in the Praga Cup, now running as a separate grid from Britcar. She earned two more fifth places at Silverstone and Snetterton.

Later in the year, she spent time in the States and Europe, setting up deals for 2022. This ended with her picking up a drive with Rafa Racing in the Mclaren Trophy. This one-make series is based in Europe and Jem got to race at Spa, Monza and the Nurburgring, supporting the Fanatec GT World Challenge. She and team owner Rafael Martinez shared a 570S run by Greystone GT. From the beginning with the season, they were front-runners, almost winning the championship outright until a car problem on the final lap dropped them out of the last race. They were second by just three points.

Jem returned to full-time competition in 2024, racing in the GT4 European Series with RAFA Racing. She and her American team-mate Cameron Lawrence were 19th in the Silver Cup, after a slow start to the season. By the time the series went to Spa, they were getting the hang of their McLaren Artura and earned their first top-ten finish, then a fourth place in the second race. They finished the season with another tenth place in the first race at Monza.

Having raced karts at Le Mans, Jem’s long-term aim is a run in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

(Image copyright Alan Quick)

Female Rally Drivers Around The World: Bulgaria

Diana Stoyanova in 2015

Women have been part of the rally scene in Bulgaria since the days of Communism and are still a strong presence now. The best-known Bulgarian female rally driver is multiple European ladies’ champion, Ekaterina Stratieva, who has her own post.

Elena Apostolova - Bulgaria’s leading female driver in the 1980s and early 1990s. As she was active during the Communist era, her cars were always VAZ Ladas. Her career began in 1972, driving a Trabant with her husband Stoyan. She competed in Bulgaria itself, including the Albena Rally which was a round of the ERC, and sometimes in Yugoslavia. Her best finish was probably a 25th place in the 1985 Rally Vida, also an ERC counter. Both of her daughters, Pavlina and Gergana, are involved in rallying. After her retirement, Elena began organising a women-only rally in Bulgaria. In recent years, she has returned to co-driving for Stoyan.

Gergana Apostolova - rallied in Europe in the 1990s. She is from a notable Bulgarian rally family and began her career as navigator to her father, Stoyan. This was a job she alternated with her sister, Pavlina. In 1996, she began driving herself, and competed in Germany. She was 59th in the ADAC 3-Städte Rally, driving a Suzuki Swift. In 1997, she drove a Ford Ka in the Monte Carlo Rally’s Prince Albert Challenge. Unusually, her navigator was her mother Elena, an experienced driver herself. They did not finish. “Geri’s” best overall result was 29th in the 1997 Rally Albena. Her car was a Nissan Sunny and Elena was co-driving once more. 

Victoria Garkova - Bulgarian driver who started competing around Eastern Europe in 2017. Her car is a Hyundai r20 Coupe and she contested the Hyundai Trophy, as well as the Romanian junior championship and a Turkish rally. In terms of major events, her best result has been a 27th place in the Rally of Bulgaria, assisted by Velislava Pavlova. Her best outright finish was 15th in the Tvardica-Elena Rally. She was fourth in the Hyundai Trophy standings.

Tsvetomira Georgieva - rallied a Renault Clio, mainly in her home country of Bulgaria. She began competing in major rallies in 2009, and posted top-twenty finishes from the beginning, with a fifteenth place in the Rally Trayanovi Vrata. She also finished her first rally abroad, the Prime Yalta Rally in Ukraine. In 2010, she was ninth in the Hebros Rally, and finished the Vida Rally in fourteenth. Her other events, including the Serbia Rally, ended in DNFs. In 2011, she only managed two major rallies, including the IRC-counting Prime Yalta Rally, which she did not finish due to mechanical problems. She was also twelfth in the Rally Stari Stolici. She did not compete after that, and died in early 2015, aged 33.

Maria Gocheva - rallied a Lada VAZ 2105 in Bulgarian rallies in the 1990s. She was most active in 1997, when she entered several rounds of the Bulgarian championship. Her best finish that year was eighteenth in the Rally Stari Stolici. Her programme included two European championship rounds: the Albena and Hebros rallies. She was beaten to the ladies’ award in the Albena event by her chief rival, Gergana Apostolova. 

Diana Stoyanova - Bulgarian driver who usually uses a Citroen Saxo VTS. Her first rally seems to have been a women-only event in 2007. She has been competing in national and international rallies in Bulgaria since 2010, including the Rally of Bulgaria itself in 2012, although she did not finish. The Hebros Rally has given her her best results so far: eleventh in 2010 and twelfth in 2011. In 2012, she did not finish any major events, although she entered at least three. In 2013, she was thirteenth in a Rallysprint event in Greece, driving the Citroen. In addition to rallying, Diana also competes in hillclimbs in the Citroen, and has concentrated on this in recent years. A return to the stages in 2016 gave her the Bulgarian ladies' title, driving a Saxo. She won her class on the Serbia Rally, and was fifteenth overall. In 2017, she only ran a limited programme in the Saxo, and did not retain her title. 2018 was a much better year; she was fourth in Rally Bulgaria and ninth in the Serbia Rally. Her car was a Honda Civic. Using the same car, she won her class in the 2019 Balkan Rally Trophy, picking up two top-ten finishes: eighth in the Serbia Rally and tenth in the Rally Sliven in Bulgaria.

(Image from www.dro4cars.com)

Pascale Neyret

Pascale Neyret rallied in France in the 1980s, having got into professional competition through the 1984 Citroen Total Trophy.

She had grown up around rallying as the daughter of Bob Neyret, creator of the all-female Team Aseptogyl. Born in 1962, she was a teenager when the early Aseptogyl rally teams were assembled and when Aseptogyl squads featured at Le Mans. The experience seems to have had an impression on her. She was always sporty but had no grand ideas of becoming a professional sportswoman. Instead, she studied and trained to become a journalist, writing for the likes of Paris Match. 

She was 23 when she entered the Citroen Total Trophy, an all-female championship, driving Citroen’s new Visa Mille Pistes in six rallies across France. At the time, she was working in the Citroen press office.

She was not one of the front-runners, although she did manage a 24th place on the Tour de France, second of the Total Trophy drivers behind Andree Andrina.

Although she was not one of the winners of the Citroen prize drive, she returned to the stages in 1985, having decided to give up her job at Citroen and become a professional driver. She had picked up some sponsors and was ready to attack the French championship. This time, her car was a Renault 5 Turbo. She entered her first World Championship rally, the Tour de Corse, and was 26th overall, second in class. Her best finish was a 16th place in the Rally of Aquitaine, one of two top-twenty finishes that year, the other being a 20th spot in the Rallye d’Antibes, a European Championship round.

Her career took both a step forward and a step back in 1986. Forward, as in her results improved, but backwards in that she went back to the Citroen Visa. She was French Ladies’ rally champion at the end of the year.

Her best overall result was a fifteenth place in the Tour de France, which also counted for the European championship. She performed strongly on both asphalt and gravel, with a 16th place in the Mille Pistes Rally and 17th in the Rallye d’Antibes. For her first overseas rally, she chose the Acropolis in June. As it often is, the Greek gravel classic was a real car-breaker. Pascale was one of the 30% of drivers who got to the end. She was 22nd, second in class.

This was her last season in a Citroen. In 1987, she had her first drive in a Lancia Delta HF, a marque she would use for the next four seasons. Her programme was based around the WRC, albeit only a limited one. Her first event in the Lancia was the 1987 Acropolis, which she could not finish. Her next attempt at the Acropolis also ended in retirement, but she did finish a pleasing 19th in the 1988 Monte Carlo Rally, earning a Coupe des Dames. 

She also tried circuit racing in 1987, in the form of the Renault 5 Turbo Cup. She was 21st in the championship. 

Her first attempt at the Sanremo Rally in October 1988 yielded a finish, in 33rd place. This was another rally with more retirees than finishers. Her car this time was a Lancia Delta Integrale, although still in Group N trim.

She entered two more Monte Carlo rallies in the Delta and finished both, although she did not top her 1988 top-twenty. In 1989. She drove on the RAC Rally for the first time and was 39th out of 84 finishers. Her second attempt at the Sanremo Rally in 1990 ended in a 22nd place. 

The main part of her career finishes here, having lost her main sponsor Danone. At around this time, she reprised her studies and qualified as a lawyer.

She did make a couple of appearances in a Suzuki Swift a few years later. She competed in the 1993 Cyprus Rally and the 1994 Rally of Lebanon but did not finish either. Her long-term navigator Carole Cerboneschi accompanied her on these two outings; the pair worked together almost exclusively from 1986. 

She is now the director of a legal firm in France and still competes occasionally in historic rallies.

Nicole Drought

Nicole Drought is an Irish driver who mostly races saloon cars. She was the first female driver to win a round of the C1 Challenge in 2019.

Nicole first came to prominence racing touring cars in the Irish championship (ITCC). Her car was a Honda Integra, which runs in the Touring class. She started saving up for the car herself when she was 16.

2015 was her first year of serious competition, although she is from a motorsport family (mostly involved with rallying.) Her season got off to a shaky start with a crash in her first race, but she was soon on the pace. Her best finishes were a pair of second places, and she was second in the Touring class at the end of the season. As well as the Honda, she was invited to race a Porsche 944 at the Classic Car Live meeting, and finished fourth. 

She carried on in the ITCC with the Honda in 2016, in the Production class. After leading the Production standings for part of the season, she was fourth on the final leaderboard. She picked up her first win this year in the second round, at Mondello Park, crossing the line eight seconds in front of her nearest rival. She had been pushed off-track in the first race but still finished second in class. Her momentum was interrupted in later rounds due to car trouble.

Her first trip to the UK mainland was a run in a Global GT Light at Anglesey this year. As one of her first activities with the Sean Edwards Foundation, for which she is an ambassador, she also tested a Porsche GT3 at Paul Ricard.

A deal to run in the 2017 CSCC New Millennium Series in a Ginetta seems to have fallen through. She spent some of the season as a brand ambassador for Nissan, having reached the last eighteen of the NissanGenNext competition. She missed out on a prize drive.  

In 2018, she competed in Endurance Trials with a Nissan Micra. She was the Class 1A Endurance Trial champion in 2018 and defended her title in 2019 with several wins. On track, she raced in the 2018 Stryker sportscar series in Ireland, having first raced the Lotus Seven lookalike in 2017.

She also came to England for her first Citroen C1 endurance race for Preptech UK in 2018, with whom she would win the following year.

In the middle of 2019, she became the first female driver to win a round of the Citroen C1 Challenge, sharing with Colin Edwards at Anglesey. The pair were in the lead for a good proportion of the four-hour race, having started from eighth, and Nicole was 21 seconds ahead of her nearest rivals at the finish. Nicole and Colin raced together again at Snetterton but were only twelfth this time. 

She also raced in the Stryker Challenge and continued in Endurance Trials. Shortly after her C1 victory, she drove a Formula 1 car for the first time in a demonstration at Mondello Park. The car was an ex-Derek Daly March 811, as raced in 1981. It has a Guinness livery and was shipped over to Ireland especially by its owner John Campion. She also drove a Jordan owned by Campion in a private test in February, alongside James Roe Jr.

Nicole is a founding member of Formula Female, which was started by hockey player Nicci Daly. In March 2019, she challenged 20 of Ireland’s top sportswomen to beat her lap time around Mondello Park in her Stryker.

She moved to mainland UK to compete in 2020, driving a Porsche 718 Cayman in Britcar with CJJ Motorsport and the Valluga team. Her team-mates were Sean Doyle and Lorcan Hanafin. She was sixth in the championship and second in Class 4. Her best overall finish was fifth at Croft, in the first race of the season.

In 2021, she made one guest appearance in Britcar with the Motus One team, driving a Hyundai TCR car. She won her class at Silverstone with Danny Krywij.

Although she did not contest any full championships in 2022 either, she tried out some new disciplines, including historics. She demonstrated a Lola T70 at the Mondello Park Historic Festival, as well as racing a 1855 MGA. In England, she raced a Lotus Elise in the 750MC Club Enduro series and a Mini Cooper in the BRSCC Mini series, although not all of these outings was successful. She also raced in the C1 Cup and was third in her class in the Race of Remembrance, driving the C1.

Rallycross was her biggest new adventure. She raced a Renault Clio in both the Irish and British series.

She went back to the circuits in 2023, competing in the MSVR EnduroKa series. She was instantly on the pace and won her second race at Oulton Park. This had followed one-off drives in the Clubsport Trophy (in a Mini) and in a Group C Spice-Hart sportscar at the Mondello Historic Festival. It wasn't even her first win of the year: she won the Clubsport Trophy race at Donington after making a late deal. She also raced the C1 again.

Competing again in the UK and Spain, Nicole won the MSVR Trackday Championship in 2024. Her co-driver was Justin Roberts and their car was a Honda Civic. The pair were never out of the podium places. This followed a second Irish Open Clubman rallycross title for Nicole.

(Image from tipperarylive.ie)

Rachele Somaschini

Rachele at the 2018 Monza Rally Show

Rachele Somaschini is a race and rally driver from Italy, who drives a Mini. She is the first driver with cystic fibrosis to take part in a World Championship rally.

She started competing in 2012, when she was 18, using a historic Alfa Romeo that belonged to her father. Her first events were hillclimbs.

In 2015, she began racing a BMW Mini, competing in the Italian Hillclimb championship.

In 2016 she took on the Mini Cooper Challenge on the track, and various Italian rallies. She won her class in the Mini Challenge and in the Italian hillclimb series. In rallies, she scored five class wins in Rally Show-type events, with a best overall finish of 22nd (out of 46), at the Motors Rally Show Pavia.

She teamed up with experienced co-driver Alessandra Benedetti in 2017, for more rally shows. Together they tried out a Peugeot 207 S2000 car as well as the Mini.

In 2018, she tackled the Sanremo Rally in a Peugeot 208 R2, finishing 30th. She also drove the Mini and a Citroen DS3 during the year, winning her class at the Adriatico and Due Valli events in the Citroen. It was in this car that she she scored a ninth place in the Tandalo-Vetture Rally, a single-stage hill-based event on gravel. Her first run in an R5 car was at the Monza Rally Show in December, where she was 70th overall in a Peugeot 208 T16..

Her first WRC rally was the 2019 Monte. She was classified 63rd overall in a Citroen DS3 R3T after a solid run, although only the top 56 finishers were permitted to take on the final stages.

She was invited to take part in the W Series all-female Formula 3 championship in 2019, but declined due to worries over her health and a desire to carry on with rallies, which she did throughout the year. She mostly used the DS3 and it was in this car that she had her best result: fifteenth in the Targa Florio Rally. She ended the year the ACI Italian ladies' champion and fourth in the Italian 2WD championship.

Late in the season, she tried R5 power for the first time, driving a Skoda Fabia at the Monza Rallyshow. She was 47th, against some highly experienced WRC drivers.

The 2020 season was shortened due to coronavirus, but Rachele remained busy despite her vulnerability. She entered the Monte again in her DS3 and was 61st overall. At the end of the season she took part in a second WRC rally, the Rally Monza, finishing in 42nd place out of 71 finishers. Her car this time was a Citroen C3 R5.

Most of her rallying was in Italy, but she also travelled to Latvia for the Rally Liepaja, an ERC round. She was meant to compete in the Rally of Hungary in a Renault Clio, but had to pull out due to an arm injury. Her other ERC outing was the Rally di Roma Capitale, in which she was 58th, driving a Rally4-spec Peugeot 208, the same car she used in Latvia. 

A packed schedule in 2021 led to an Italian Ladies' championship in the Citroen, with many credible performances along the way. She began the year with a 14th in the Rallye Terra Valle del Tevere, the first of seven top-twenty finishes in stage rallies for her. Her best finish of these was ninth in the Rally of Sardinia and she followed it with eleventh in the San Marino Rally. She did two ERC events, the Rally di Roma Capitale and her first run in the Azores Rally, in which she was 22nd after having to rejoin under SuperRally rules. Her second WRC Rally Monza ended with a 32nd place finish (out of 67).

Her best result of the year was in the Tandalo Vetturi single-stage rally, in which she had previously run well. She was second overall.

2022 was another busy year, with ERC, Italian and TER Italian championship rallies in the Citroen. After a bad ERC start, losing a wheel in the Serras de Fafe Rally in Portugal, but she was then 22nd in the Azores (from 42 finishers) and 16th in the Canary Islands, from 79. This was followed by some domestic success: tenth in the Rally Valle d'Aosta and twelfth in the San Marino Rally. Her best rally result was a fifth place in the Rally Terra Sarda, although she was also fourth in the Memorial Nicolo Imperio-Vetture event, a rallysprint.

Health problems prevented Rachele from entering all the rallies she wanted to in 2023, but it was still a busy season for her. She was the leading female driver in the TER championship, with a best finish of eleventh overall, driving the DS3 in the Rally Terra Valle de Tevere. She also secured an Italian ladies' title and was ninth in the Promotional class of the Italian rally championship with four top-twenty finishes, including 15th place in the Sanremo Rally. Another ERC season led to finishes in the Rally di Roma Capitale, Rally of Scandinavia, Poland, Canary Islands and Portuguese rallies. The best of these were Roma and Scandinavia (held in Sweden), where she was 24th overall both times. 

More European action in the C3 followed in 2024. She held her TER ladies' crown and was also the winner of the TER overall championship. This was largely down to a championship class win in the Fthiotidos Rally in Greece, where she was third overall. She was also sixth in the TER class of the Sierra Morena International Rally in Spain and seventh in the Rally Terra Sarda, where she was eleventh overall. 

In 2025, she secured backing to compete in the Rally2 section of the WRC, driving a C3.

Rachele uses her rallying as a way of raising awareness for cystic fibrosis, fronting a campaign called “Correre Per Un Respiro” (Racing For A Breath). She maintains her health and fitness through regular sessions with a specialist personal trainer, as well as the home- and hospital-based therapies used by many people with CF. In 2021, she began treatment with a new drug regime which may allow her to live more normally.

(Image from https://motorsport.motorionline.com)