Inessa Tushkanova

Inessa in 2015

Inessa Tushkanova is a driver and co-driver from Ukraine, now based in Russia. A quick Google image search for her would suggest that she is one of the models parachuted into motorsport from time to time, in order to promote something or someone. Although Inessa has modelled professionally, she is the real deal as a rally driver.

Inessa took part in various sports as a teenager, and rode a motorcycle from a young age. In 2006, she took her first steps in rallying, driving a Daewoo Sens in Russian club rallies. A couple of months after passing her driving test, the boyfriend of one of her friends was organising one of these rallies. Inessa and her friend Tatiana had the idea of entering as an all-girl team. She won a bronze medal in one of the club championships she entered, which was a good debut, especially since she and Tatiana were excluded from one of their first rallies, after oversleeping and turning up late.

After her small successes in 2006, she started entering bigger rallies as a navigator in 2007. Sitting alongside her fellow Ukrainian driver, Ivan German, she was not successful. She took the wheel herself in 2008, in a Subaru Impreza. Immediately, she impressed in Ukrainian rallies, finishing second in the Rally Boyarka. She also recorded two more top-ten finishes in Stolitsa Cup events: seventh in the Rally Stolitsa and ninth in the Mariupol Rally.

Quieter years followed in 2009 and 2010, although she did manage a sixth in the 2010 Rally Bukovyna, in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. The year before, she had been 24^th in the Bukovyna Rally, in the Impreza.  2010 saw her expand her motorsport repertoire from straight stage rallies, and she was third in class in an ice slalom in Lithuania in 2010.

If 2010 was a quiet year, then 2011 was a busy one for Inessa. She continued to branch out, into circuit racing. Her chosen championship was the Russian Mitjet Cup, a one-make series. She was on the pace very quickly, and won two races that year, at Smolensk, and Kazan in Poland.

Non-motorsport activities placed additional demands on her time. Her modelling career, which she had pursued since her teenage years, took off quite strongly this year. Although she achieved considerable success, she has claimed that she only did it to raise money for her rallying.

Rallying was still very much a priority. She mostly used the Lancer in 2011, and competed quite extensively in the Baltic countries. Her best finish was 18^th, and sixth in class, in the Rally Vilnius in Lithuania. In December, she tried out a Renault Clio for the Babórka Rally in Poland, and was 26^th out of 69 finishers.

Back in the Lancer, this pattern continued in 2012, with her activities concentrated again in the Baltic states, although she also competed in Russia and Poland. Her best finish was fourteenth, in the Russian Rally Masters Show, won by Evgeniy Novikov. She scored another top twenty finish in the Vilnius Rally. While she was in Lithuania, and working with a Lithuanian navigator, Irina Jankovskaya, she competed in some rallysprints at Shirvintos, earning two third places. This year saw her first European Championship event, the Rally Poland, in which she was 29^th, and fourth in class.

In 2013, she initially switched her focus to western Europe, rallying in Finland and Italy, but was let down by car unreliability with the Lancer. She crashed out of the Arctic Rally, and did not finish the Itäralli in Finland, or the Italian Ronde Valtiberina either. After her Western adventure, she went back to a Subaru Impreza for one rally in Russia, the Rally Masters Show, in which she was 18^th. The rest of the season was spent in the Russia Cup, driving a VW Polo. Her best result was tenth, in the Rally Gornuy Vershiniy. At some point this year, she also won a Time Attack event at Zandvoort, in the Netherlands.

In 2014, she competed mainly across Eastern Europe, with mixed results. She was excluded from the Rally of Estonia, and did not finish the Barum Rally, due to a crash. Her best finish was a 26th, in the Tarttu Rally, in Estonia. She scored two points in the ERC Production Cup. This year, she won her first European Ladies’ Cup, in the Rally Liepāja in Latvia.

She won another ERC Ladies’ Cup in 2015, again in the Liepāja Rally. She was 39^th overall. This year, she was entered in the ERC2 class, and the Liepāja event gave her a ninth place in ERC2. This was her second rally of the year, after the Halls Winter Rally in Lithuania, which was not part of the ERC. She was sixth overall, the best result of her season. A run in the Pohjanmaa Rally in Finland gave her a 62^nd place, but after that, her season started to go wrong. She crashed out of her first Circuit of Ireland, then did not finish the Harju Rally in Estonia, and Rally Estonia itself. She was set to change her Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX for a Renault Clio, for the Acropolis Rally, but this does not appear to have happened, and she did not rally in Greece.. She was third in the ERC Ladies’ Trophy.

2016 was a very quiet year in contrast. She drove a Lada Kalina in the St Petersburg Rally, but did not finish. Other than that, she remained very much under the radar.

After a year out, she came back to the stages in 2018 as co-driver to Burcu Cetinkaya for Rally Turkey. She had previously sat alongside Evgeny Novikov for the Rally Masters Show in a Quattro.

Despite Ukraine being at war with Russia in 2023, Inessa managed to compete a little in Italy. She was second in a women's race at the Adriatic Champions event, driving a Skoda Fabia. In October, she entered the Terra Sarda rally in the same car, but only got to the finish thanks to SuperRally regulations and was not classified.

Inessa intends to continue in rallying. 

(Image from www.drive.net)

Eija Jurvanen

Eija and her navigator, Kari Jokinen, with the Sierra Cosworth in 1995

Eija Jurvanen was born in Finland in 1958. She seems to be rather a private lady, and not much biographical information is available about her. It is not even completely clear when she began her motorsport career.

By 1988, she was rallying in Finland, driving a Ford Escort. Results for this year are proving very hard to track down, but pictures exist of her on the Riihimaki Rally, rolling the Escort. The car is listed in some places as belonging to Eija and Ari Jurvanen, so it looks like she was from a rallying family. At various points in her career, she was sponsored by Teboil, a Finnish petroleum company with a long history of supporting rally drivers.

She started competing more seriously in 1989, when her name appears in the entry list for the Arctic Rally. She was 35th, driving an Audi 80 Quattro, co-driven by Marjo Berglund, who would be one of her most frequent navigators during her career. However, for the rest of the season, Maarit Laine sat beside her. They did the Rajd Polski in Poland together, and Eija’s first 1000 Lakes Rally. They did not finish either. She did do some other rallies in the Finnish championship, including the Nurmijarvi Rally and the NSM-Talvi Rally.

In 1990, she started competing in a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, which is the car most associated with her. With Marjo Berglund, she secured her first 1000 Lakes finish, a 38th place, tenth in class.

She used the same car in 1991, and started the year with 28th in the Arctic Rally. A trip to Germany for the Rally Deutschland ended in retirement, but not long after, she bettered her 1000 Lakes result to 29th, 17th in Group A8. She must have taken part in some more Finnish rallies, whose results are not forthcoming; she is recorded as that year’s Finnish Ladies’ champion. There were a few strong female contenders during the early 1990s, such as Minna Sillankorva and Anne Vuorio, so this was a bit of an achievement.

In 1992, she made her move onto the World Rally Championship stages. With some impressive sponsorship in place, she entered seven WRC rounds, with the express aim of capturing the FIA Ladies’ title. For her first rally, Sweden, she drove a Mitsubishi Galant, and was 17th overall, running in Group N. After a gap, she drove the Group A-spec Sierra in the 1000 Lakes, and was 16th, her best finish there yet. She retired from the Rally of Australia, in the Sierra, and was beaten to the Ladies’ award by Jacquiline Dines, but as Jacquiline rarely competed outside Oceania, this did not affect her Ladies’ chances too much. She only had to start one non-European rally to qualify. A drive in the Bandama-Cote d’Ivoire Rally in a Mitusbishi Starion also ended in retirement, as it did for many of the crews, that year and other years. Back in the Sierra, she was 15th in Catalunya, one place ahead of Christine Driano, another rival. Another retirement from the RAC Rally, in the Sierra, was not enough for her to lose her official FIA Ladies’ championship. She only had to start seven events to retain her eligibility, and she retired very early on. This had also been the case in the Sanremo Rally.

After her WRC year, she went back to competing in Finland and northern Europe, still in the Sierra. In the snowy Hankiralli, she was ninth, her best result so far. She followed this up with 15th in the 1000 Lakes, eleventh in class. Much later in the year, in November, she travelled to nearby Estonia for the Saaremaa Rally. The trip paid off, as she won the event outright, and made history as the first female driver to do so. Although the Estonian championship was still finding its feet after the fall of the Eastern Bloc, this was still a win, and will have gone some way towards restoring credibility lost through her somewhat mercenary behaviour in 1992. She won by over a minute to her nearest rival, another Finn, Mikko Kallionaa, in a Mitsubishi Galant.

In 1994, she stuck to Finnish rallies, using the Sierra Cosworth. Even on the more competitive Finnish stage, her results continued to improve, with a twelfth in the Arctic Rally a decent start to the season. In the summer, she was 16th in the 1000 Lakes Rally, tenth in class. She also seems to have driven in other Finnish rallies, although the results are hard to find. As well as rallying, she did some driver training for the Teboil team, instructing other female drivers.

Things continued in the same vein in 1995, although she split her season between Finland and Estonia again. She was 17th in the Arctic Rally at Rovaniemi, then went over to Estonia for the Tallinn-Neste Rally, and was eighth. In September, she was fifth in the Lõuna-Eesti Rally. She did make a return to the Saaremaa Rally, but did not finish this time due to a broken clutch. In Finland, she also retired from the 1000 Lakes Rally. Away from international events, she took part in some more Finnish rallies, including the Talviralli in Jyväskylä.

1995 was her last year of competition, and after that, she fades from the motorsport scene, having achieved her ambition to take the FIA Ladies’ title. Her erstwhile rival, Minna Sillankorva, had re-taken her crown as Finland’s foremost female driver.

(Image from http://suomenmuseotonline.fi/)

Female Single-Seater Drivers Around the World: Scandinavia and the Baltic countries

Christina Nielsen

For Finnish single-seater drivers, click here.

Nathalie Abrahamsson - Swedish single-seater racer. She competed in the Swedish and North Europe Zone Formula Ford championships from 2005 to 2007, and the Finnish championship in 2006 and 2007. Her best overall finish was fifth, in the 2007 Swedish series. She secured one fastest lap. As early as 2005, she was finishing in the top ten in Sweden, but she did not manage to break into the podium positions. She does not appear to have raced since the end of the 2007 season, and now works as a motorsport journalist.

Ayla Ågren – Swedish/Norwegian driver who races 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. In recent years, she has not done quite so much active racing, but has been 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 a part-season. She was 17th overall, with a best finish of seventh at Indianapolis. It was her third season in the championship. 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. The 2020 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 crash, but her best finish was only ninth at Circuit of the Americas and she may not be invited back in 2021. 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. 

Alexia Danielsson - Swedish driver who began her senior career in 2022, aged fourteen. She raced in Formula Aquila 1000 Sweden, finishing seventh overall. The following year, she was seventh again, but did score her first podium position in the championship. This was a third place at Mitsverigebanan. Her 2024 Aquila season was very similar, although her third place came at Kinnekulle this time. She combined Aquila with the Nordic 4 (Danish F4) championship in 2024, finishing tenth overall. Her best race was at Padborg, where she was fifth. 

Mille Villads Hoe - Danish driver who races in the Danish F4 championship. She competes in the F5 class, which uses a Mygale Formula Ford chassis. 2021 is her third year in the series, which was originally called “F4 Light”. She scored five F5 podium finishes in 2019, and was ninth in the F4 championship. She was thirteenth in F4 during the shortened 2020 season, with a sixth place in F5. Her best finish was fourth at Djursland. She was eighth in Danish F4 in 2021 and fourth in the F5 class, with several class podiums. She won five F5 races in 2022, all at Padborg. She began 2023 in the F4 class, finishing fifth at Padborg during the first meeting, but moved into F5 for the rest of the season. She scored a few more top tens and was ninth in the championship. Still in F5, she was eleventh in 2024, normally a top-ten finisher with two seventh places as her seasons' best.

Julia Holgersson - raced in Formula Renault in Sweden in 2015. She was sixth in the Northern European Zone championship, which was comprised of Swedish drivers almost exclusively. In the same year she tackled most of the Swedish championship. Her best finish was a fifth place at Ahvenisto in Finland. This was one of nine top-ten finishes that she recorded and she was eleventh in the championship. After that, she seems to have returned to karting; 2015 was her only season in cars.

Eva-Marie Holst - Danish driver who switched from karts to cars in 2001, after only taking up karting seriously at 19. She raced in the Danish Formula Ford 2000 series in 2001. In 2002, she was thirteenth in the championship. The following year, she raced in Formula Ford Zetec, in both Denmark and Sweden. She did slightly better in the Swedish championship, finishing eleventh. She was twelfth in Denmark. 2004 seems to have been her last year of major competition, and she was twelfth in the Danish Formula Ford Zetec championship.

Alba Hurup Larsen - joined the all-female F1 Academy in 2025, driving for MP Motorsport in a Tommy Hilfiger-sponsored car. She was only 16 years old and this will be her first full season in cars. In 2024, she began her senior career in F4 India, also run by MP, driving for the Speed Demons Delhi team. She did the first two rounds at Madras and Chennai. Chennai was the better circuit for her and she was sixth and eighth. During the winter season, she competed in the Formula Winter Series, for the first three rounds. Her best finish was fourteenth at Aragon and she was 32nd overall. 

Laura Lylloff - races in Danish F4. 2021 was her first season, driving for JEL Racing. Her first race was at Padborg and she was quite off the pace, finishing eleventh. She did not start the other two Padborg races, but returned to the same track for the next meeting, finishing the two races that she entered in tenth and twelfth. Mid-season, she found some pace, and her bet finish was a class fourth at Jyllandsringen. She was 16th in the championship. 2021 seems to be her first season in motorsport and she does not appear to have been active in karting beforehand.

Ina Neumann - Danish single-seater racer of the 1990s. She competed for Denmark in the Formula Vauxhall Nations Cup in 1991 and 1992. Her best result was fifth at Estoril in 1992, alongside Henrik Larsen. They were fifth overall. Ina’s previous team-mate was Thomas Mullin. They were fourteenth.

Nanci Ristla - Estonian driver who became the first Baltic female racer to win a single-seater race in 2013, when she won two Formula Scandic races at Pärnu, in August. She also came second in two races at the same track, a month later. In 2012, she competed in Formula Baltic, and had two further runner-up finishes, both again at Pärnu. In 2011, she did some races in the Finnish Formula Ford Cup, but was not yet on the pace. Before that, she competed in karting in the Baltic region. She has now returned to karting as a senior. 

Vibe Smed - Danish single-seater driver who has competed in the UK since 2007. After a successful karting career, she started racing in Formula Ford in 2006. In 2007, she was sixth in the Danish championship. As well as the Danish series, she took in four Swedish Formula Ford races, in order to pick up points for the NEZ regional championship. By then, she was also a "student" at the Silverstone Racing Academy and finishing well in their races. In 2008, she competed in UK Formula Palmer Audi. Her best finish, a fourteenth place, came at Brands Hatch. She struggled somewhat throughout the year and was 20th overall. In 2009, she raced a Porsche 996 Cup in Britcar. In 2010, she stayed in British sportscars, racing a Ginetta G50 in British GTs. She was third in the G4 class, alongside Nathan Freke, after a long run of third places and one second. After funding problems, she returned to karting in Denmark in 2011.

Line Sønderskov Abildgaard - races in Formula 5 in Denmark. Formula 5 is a Formula Ford series that runs as a class in Danish Formula 4. She first raced in Danish Formula Ford in 2016, and was 11th in the championship. She did her first season of Formula 5 in 2017, earning one podium finish: a third place at Djursland. Her final position was sixth. She became a regular podium finisher in 2018, starting the season with a second place at Padborg. She was fourth in Formula 4 Light in 2019, with one second and five third places. She was twelfth in the main Renault F4 championship. Still racing a Ray Formula Ford in Formula 5, she was fifth in the 2020 championship, and tenth in the Danish F4 series of which Formula 5 forms a part. In 2021, with Mille Hoe as a team-mate, she was fifth in F5, with three third places. She was tenth in the overall championship. She only did a part-season of four races in 2022 and a longer part-season in 2023, although she had to withdraw from a few mid-season. Her final position in the 2023 championship was 18th and she had a best finish of tenth. She did another part-season in 2024, picking up two twelfth places at Djursland.

Karlīne Štāla - Latvian driver competing in northern Europe. She won the Belgian Formula Renault 1600 championship on her second attempt in 2007, winning twice. Previously, she raced in Legends in Finland, as well as the Toyota Yaris Cup in Estonia. In 2008, she contested half of the German Formula 3 Championship for the Racing Experience team and a further six races with SRT. This was combined with some outings in the Finnish Formula 3 series. She did better in Finland than in Germany, achieving a fifth and a tenth place. Her best finish in Germany was thirteenth at Hockenheim. She was planning a return to German Formula 3 in 2009, but this does not look to have happened. In 2011, she made a small comeback, entering two races of the Benelux Radical Cup, at Zandvoort. She was ninth in one race and did not finish the other. In 2012, she raced in some rounds of the Benelux Radical Cup, sharing a car with Henk Thuis for the longer races. 2013 was similar, with two races in the Mitjet 2L Supersport Championship for touring cars, based in France. She was second and 19th at Nogaro.

Monica Stråth - raced mostly single-seaters in Sweden, mainly in the 1990s. She seems to have jumped straight from karting in 1988 to Formula 3 in 1989, in the Swedish championship, where she finished 16th. In 1990, she entered Swedish F3 again, but was unplaced, as well as travelling to the UK for one British F3 race, at Donington, where she was second in class B. She returned to Swedish F3 in 1991, a stronger driver, and broke into the top ten, finishing ninth, but after that, she seems to take a break from competition. In 1994, she made a low-key return, driving a Corsa in the Lady Opel Cup and finishing tenth. In 1995, she returned to Formula 3, the Nordic series this time, and was seventh. After another year out, she was seventh again in the 1997 Nordic championship. After that, she returned to karting as a senior, and ended up in Superkarts.

Emma Svensson - Swedish driver who raced in STCC Formula Nordic in 2016. This followed a ten-year karting career. Emma scored one podium position in the Formula Renault-based STCC Nordic series, a third at Skovde, as well as two more top-five finishes. She was seventh in the championship, one above Amalie Wichmand. Amalie managed to finish above Emma in the NEZ Formula Renault championship, however: she was seventh to Emma’s eighth.

Amalie Wichmand - Danish driver who races single-seaters and sportscars in Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia. She first raced as a senior in 2016, in NEZ Formula Renault. She was seventh overall. This was combined with a season in STCC Formula Nordic, another Formula Renault-based championship. She had a best finish of fourth at Alastaro and was eighth in the championship. Among her sponsors was Ilse Jacobsen, a fashion designer. After a year out, she raced in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge in Sweden, with a best result of ninth at Falkenberg and Karlskoga. In 2019, she came back to the GT5 Challenge was was fourth overall, with one second and two third places. The following year, she did the Knutstorp rounds of the GT5 Challenge, finishing one of her two races in fourth place. Her long-term career aim is to race in Formula E.  

(Image from http://www.gt3me.com)

Female Rally Drivers After 1950: The Rest of Europe

Ekaterina Stratieva in her IRC Citroen C2

This post lists some drivers from the other countries of Europe. This has previously included Turkey, which now has its own page, Poland, Russia, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Inessa Tushkanova now has her own post, as do Dasha Bakai, Asja Zupanc and Mira Nikolic.

Sonja Bastar - Yugoslavian driver of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Between 1979 and 1981, she rallied at least two different Zastava models in Eastern European rallies, usually in Czechoslovakia. The Zastava was one of the least powerful cars available to Eastern Bloc drivers. Her best result came in 1981, when she was 44th in the Tatry International Rally, in modern Slovakia. She also participated in at least three runnings of the Barum Rally. As well as her Czechoslovak adventures, she also appears to have competed in the Delta Rally, in modern Croatia, at least once.

Zulikhan Bidzhanova – Ukrainian driver who competes in her home country. Her car is a Peugeot 205. She began rallying in 2013, and in her first year, was fifth in the Rally Crimea Legend event. In 2016, she scored the third top-ten finish of her career, finishing ninth overall in the Rally of Galicia. She was twentieth in the 2016 Ukrainian championship, and seventh in the Ukraine Rally Legends championship. In 2017, she was thirteenth in the Rally Bukovyna. She entered the Rally Galicia in 2018, but did not finish due to engine trouble. After a long lay-off, she was 20th in the Ukrainian championship, driving a Honda Civic. Her best finish was a fifteenth place in the Rally of Galicia.

Birgitte de Bourbon - Danish driver who rallied in the early 1960s, in different cars. She won the Coupe des Dames in the 1961 Danfoss Midsummer Rally, in an Austin Futura. Her co-driver was Annelise Schønwandts.  At some point in the mid-1960s, she also took part in the Monte Carlo Rally, although further details are hard to come by. She was married to Prince Jacques of Bourbon-Parma, who was also a rally driver. Birgitte sometimes acted as his navigator. She continued to be involved in motorsport after his death in 1964, in a road accident. In 1973, she is reported to have taken part in a classic rally event, but again, further details are not forthcoming.

Mirela Bucovicean - Romanian driver who campaigns a Ford Escort RS2000 in her country’s historic championship. In 2017, her best result was an eighteenth place in the Roumanie Historic Winter Rally. She has also finished the Transilvania Rally, in 46th place, against both historic and modern cars. This was improved to 44th in 2019 and 38th in 2020. In 2021, she was 39th in the Argesului event. Her co-driver is Georgiana Gologan. Mirela works in the fashion industry in Romania.

Alina Carmina Bunica - former karter from Romania. She began rallying in the Dacia Rally Cup in 2007, driving a Logan. She finished the year second in the Rookie standings. Since then, she has moved into the Romanian championship proper, driving a Citroen Saxo VTR and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8. The Saxo was her main car, which she used in 2009 and 2010. She managed two rounds of the Romanian championship in 2011, but had to pull out.

Michaela Debnárová - Slovakian driver, active since 2012. She drives one of two versions of the Peugeot 206, and her navigator is Nikola Zemanová. During her first year, she rallied in Slovakia, with a best result of 19th, in the Rallye Tatry. She was third in class. In 2013, she also did one rally in Hungary -  the Eger Rallye. She was 57th, but the 20th Slovakian driver. Out of her other five Slovakian events, she retired from three, usually due to mechanical problems, but she was fifteenth in the Rally Tríbeč, runner-up in class six. After a break, she returned to competition in 2016, driving a Skoda Fabia and a Ford Fiesta in Slovakian rallies. Her best finish was 27th, third in class, in the Lubenik Rally, in the Fiesta. She was 26th in the 2017 Slovakian championship, driving a Renault Clio. She posted two top-twenty results, the best of these being a 15th place in the Rally Kosice. In 2018, the Kosice event was her best rally again, and she was 21st. She won her class championship in the Czech Rallysprint series in 2019, driving the Clio. In 2020, she only did one rally, driving a Peugeot 208. She was 33rd in the Keskomobile Autoshow at the Slovakiaring. 

Oda Dencker-Andersen - Danish driver. She competed in Europe and further afield throughout the 1970s, initially as a navigator (from the mid-60s), but more and more as a driver as time progressed. She often navigated for Hannelore Werner in major rallies. One of her driving achievements was a class win on the 1973 BNU Rally in South Africa, in a Datsun 1200 GX. She went on to drive in the RAC Rally in 1976 and 1977, in Opel models. In 1980, she co-drove Marianne Hoepfner to second overall in the Himalayas Rally, in a Toyota Celica.

Elisabeth Fagnant - Luxembourg’s only current female rally driver. She has been active since at least 2012, first in a Peugeot 106, then a Renault Clio which she has used since 2015. She admits that as a privateer entrant, she has stuck with the Clio as her budget does not stretch to a more powerful car. Most of her rallying has been in Belgium, as Luxembourg’s motorsport offerings are limited. She did compete in her national rally in 2019, finishing 38th with her regular co-driver Jessica Lemasson. Her best result of the year was an 18th place in the East Belgian Criterium Rally. She has been most successful in shorter sprint rallies and won her class in the 2017 Winning Rallysprint. In 2020 she managed one rally in the Clio, the Trois-Points event, finishing 38th. She returned to this event in 2022, finshing 51st.

Natalia Franchuk - Ukrainian driver who drove both Soviet-style and Western makes of car in rallies between 1996 and 2001. She was probably most successful in a Lada Samara, finishing fourth in this car in the 1999 Rosava Rally. This was one of four top-ten finishes she had during her career. The last car she rallied was a Ford Sierra in 2001. She was 16th in the Rally Stolytsia. Her co-driver was always her sister, Yanina.

Zdenka Fryvaldska-Tamasova - Slovakian rally regular who swapped seats to drive in 2020. She has competed in single-venue asphalt rallies with considerable success, including third and fourth places overall in the OMV MaxxMotion Rallies held at the Slovakiaring in 2020. In 2021, she was eighth and sixth in the same events and picked up four further top twenty finishes in similar rallies. In 2022, she had a best finish of 16th in the Slovakia Rallye Tatry. The following year, she competed in both Slovakia and Serbia, picking up a best finish of fourteenth in the Rally Mionica. In 2024, she rallied in Slovakia and Czechia. Her car is a Honda Civic and she is usually co-driven by Lucie Petrova. She has competed as a co-driver since 2009, sitting alongside a number of drivers until 2018.

Monika Grauberg - Estonian driver who rallied an Opel Kadett in the 2000s. She was most active in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, during which her best result was a 20th place in the 2003 Mulgi Sugis event, from 80 finishers. She normally competed in Estonia itself, but did travel to Latvia in 2003 for the Rally Milzis, finishing 24th overall. She won her class in the Estonian championship that year. Her co-driver was Moonika Kurba.

Viktoria Hojas - Austrian driver who has been in the driving seat since 2014. She started off as a co-driver a year earlier. Her car has always been an Opel Corsa. In 2015, she was runner-up in the Austrian Opel Corsa Cup after winning her class in the Liezen Rally. She was 21st overall, her best finish of the year. She has also been a state rally champion in Austria. She contested the 2017 and 2018 Austrian championships in the Corsa, winning her class in the 2018 W4 Rally and finishing twelfth overall. In 2019, she mostly competed in Germany and was rewarded with a fourth place in the Freislassinger Rallyesprint.

Patricia Grigorescu – Romanian driver who competed in the Romanian Dacia Logan Cup in 2008. Her best result in the Cup was a seventh place, in the Tara Barsei Seat Rally. She was 38^th overall, which was also her best outright finish that year. Her season was plagued by car unreliability, and she only finished half of the rallies she entered. She was sixteenth in the Logan Cup. This was her only season of rallying; Patricia is normally a hillclimb driver, who scored two class wins in 2008. She continues to compete with the Logan in the N2 class, when funds allow. In 2009, she also tried rallycross in France.

Gorana Hunić – Croatian driver who has been competing since 2007, when she was 30. Initially, she took part in hillclimbs, after learning to drive as a pre-teen. Her first stage rally was the Rally Poreč, in which she co-drove a Peugeot 306 with Drazen Pigl, but did not finish. Her first rally as a driver was the 2007 Rally Istra, and she drove a Renault Clio Williams to 31^st place. For the next few years she mainly co-drove for other drivers, and her own career behind the wheel did not take off until 2015. That year, she drove a Ford Focus in the Croatian championship, and was third in her class. Her best individual rally result was 17^th, in the INA Delta Rally. She continued to rally the Focus in 2016, for the AK INA Delta team. Her best rally was the INA Delta Rally again, in which she was 20th. She was the Croatian Ladies' champion that  year, a title she retained in 2017. The INA Delta Rally was once more her best event, giving her 25th and sixth in class. In 2018, she secured another Croatian Ladies' title, which she defended in 2019. Her best 2018 finish was 34th in the Kumrovec Rally. 

Jovana Jovanović - Serbian driver, now competing on a Swiss license, who has been competing in the Balkans and Eastern Europe since 2012. For her first season, 2012, she drove in Serbian rallies, and had four top-ten finishes, including a seventh place in the Zlatiborski Rally. She branched out in 2013, and did some events in Croatia and Bulgaria. Her best result was tenth in the Rally of Bulgaria, a European championship round. She also won her class in the Beogradski Rally in Serbia, and the Stari Stolici and International Hebros rallies in Bulgaria. Her car was a Volkswagen Polo. She exchanged this for a Citroen C2 for 2014. It was a good move: she scored two third places, in the Rally Jahorina and the Beogradski Rally. She was also tenth in the Rally of Bulgaria, a European Trophy round. She was sixth in the Serbian championship. In 2015, she moved to Switzerland, and rallied the C2 there. She was eleventh in the Swiss junior championship, after a season affected by mechanicals and accidents. Her best result was 44th overall, in the Critérium Jurassienne. 

Jasminka Komljenovic - Serbian driver who competed in the 1990s and 2000s, initially under the Yugoslavian flag. Towards the end of her career, she was quite successful in Serbian championship rallies, driving a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer. Between 2003 and 2005, she scored four top-ten finishes, the best of these being a fifth place in the 2004 Zemunski Rally. The year before, she was seventh in the Balkan Rally, which was a European Championship round at the time. She rallied occasionally in Bulgaria during her career, driving the Lancer and a Lancia Delta Integrale. This was the car she drove in her only WRC outing, the 1995 Acropolis Rally. She did not finish.

Cristiana Oprea - rallied in the Dacia Logan Cup in Romania in 2016. She was thirteenth in the Cup standings, with a best finish of 40th, in the TESS Rally. She was also ninth in the Romanian junior championship. That season, she also did some navigating, in Romanian rallies, for different drivers. 2016 was her second season of competition, after trying both driving and co-driving in 2015. Sticking with Dacia, she drove a Sandero in the 2017 Romanian championship. Her best result came on the Molduvel Bacau Rally: 25th overall and sixth in class. Her first international rally, the Sliven event in Bulgaria, was her best of 2018. She was 25th overall. This feat was repeated in 2019, with a 22nd place. As well as the Sandero, which she used in Romania and Bulgaria, she drove a Peugeot 208 in the Roma di Capitale Rally, a European championship round, finishing 28th and second in the ERC ladies' standings. Still in the Sandero, she did a couple of Romanian rallies in 2020. In 2021, she did a longer schedule, with a run in the Bulgarian Rally Sliven. Her car was a Peugeot 208. She switched to the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup, driving an electric Opel Adam for a lot of 2022. Her best finish was sixth in the electric class of the Rally Sulingen in Germany. She also did some bigger European rallies in the Peugeot, including a run in the Croatia Rally, which was part of the World Championship. Her final position was 56th, having been allowed to restart with a penalty after not finishing a stage. She did part of her 2023 season in the eCorsa, but switched to a Rally4 ICE Corsa later on, finishing the Barum Czech Rally Zlin in 55th place. She used the Corsa again in 2024, but did not finish any of her three European rallies. She was born in 1992, and works as a freelance PR agent.

Ramona Rusu - Romanian driver who has been most successful in a Dacia Sandero. She used this car in the 2018 season as part of a Dacia one-make series in Romania. She has scored a number of podiums in the Newcomer class. Her best finish has been ninth in the Covasna Winter Rally. Earlier, in 2016 and 2017, she made occasional outings in a Subaru Impreza, including two previous attempts at the Covasna event. She was fifth overall in 2017.

Klavdija Senica - Slovenian driver who competes in rallies in the Balkans, and sometimes further afield in Europe. Her first rallies were in 2011, and her first finish was a 22nd place in the Martinski Rally, in Croatia. Her car was a Fiat Panda. In 2012, she broke into the top twenty, in the Rally Maribor (she was 19th), then the top ten, in the Rally Idrija. She also took part in her first Croatian rally, in Poreč, but did not finish. In 2012, she started the year with a seventh place in the Rally Kumrovec, in Croatia. At the end of the season, she was ninth in the Poreč Rally. In between, she entered the Lavanttal Rally in Austria, and the Rally del Friuli Venezia Giulia, in Italy, finishing the Italian event. She was 20th in the Croatian championship. In 2014, she continued to rally the Panda in the Balkans. Her best finish was 17th, in the Rally Nova Gorica. 2015 was a quieter year, with her only major rally being a second try at the Nova Garica Rally. She was 40th overall in the Panda, and won her class. 

Lada Soustova - Ukrainian driver who has competed since at least 2005, always using a ZAZ 1102 Tavria (a Lada model). Her co-driver is usually Alina Soustova, presumably her sister. Her schedule in the Ukrainian championship usually takes in the Prime Yalta Rally and the Rally Chumatskiy Shlyah. Her best overall finish has been fifteenth, in the 2008 Rally Mariupol. In 2012, her best result was 17th, in the Rally Chernomor. She was 36th in that year’s Cup section of the Ukrainian championship. Her best 2013 result, out of five events, was 25th in the Express Auto Rally. In 2014, she only entered one rally, the Tmutarakan Rally in Russia. She drove the ZAZ, but did not finish. In 2016, she rallied the ZAZ in Russia, finishing seventeenth in the Rally Adygeya. She had a new co-driver, Anne Kachka. The Tikhiy Don Rally was her only event in 2017. Driving the ZAZ, she was eleventh overall, a result she repeated in 2018. In 2020, she drove a similar car in the Rally Taman and finished 15th. In the same car, she was 19th in the Rally Battle, held in Russia. She was eleventh in the 2022 Rally Taman.

Christina-Myrto Stathaki – Greek driver who rallied internationally between 2000 and 2007. She competed in the Acropolis Rally six times, with a best finish of 46^th place, in 2000, driving a Toyota Corolla. She started her career in a one-make series for the Fiat Cinquecento, in 1996. By 1997, she was among the top ten in the championship. Her best result was a fourth place, in 1998, at Megara, and she was seventh in the final standings. After that, she rallied Toyotas for a few seasons, including a Starlet, Yaris and the aforementioned Corolla. This was her main car in 2002, when she took part in a wide programme of Greek rallies. Her best surface was gravel, and she managed a 25^th place overall in the Agrafon Rally. After this, she became more of an occasional driver. In 2006 and 2007, she drove a Peugeot 206. She is the only Greek female driver of the modern era. 

Chrislin Sepp - Estonian driver who rallies in her home country. She began in 2015, driving a Honda Civic, and continued to use the same car until 2018, when she tried out a Mitsubishi Lancer for the Saaremaa Rally. An axle broke and she did not finish; previously, during the Tallinn Rally, the Civic had caught fire. 2018 was her fourth Saaremaa Rally and she had finished the event in 2015 and 2016. Her best result was a 26th place in the 2016 Saaremaa Rallysprint. She did not enter any rallies in 2019 but she did come out again in 2020 in the Lancer. Her only finish was a 22nd place in the Viru Rally. After another break, she did some more rallies in the Lancer in 2022, finishing 20th in the Paide Rally.

Joana Survilaitė - Lithuanian driver who is the only regular female driver in the Baltic states. From the beginning of her career, in 2011, she has rallied throughout the Baltic region, although that year, she only finished one event, the Saaremaa Rally in Estonia. Her car was a Renault Clio. It was changed for a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in 2012, which gave her a mixed set of results, the best being eleventh, in the Rally Classic Druskinkai and twelfth in the Saulé Rally, both in Lithuania. Her other four results were mostly outside the top twenty. In 2013, she kept the Lancer, which is painted a distinctive pink colour, and added Poland to her rally schedule. She was the ninth Lithuanian finisher, although she does not seem to have been classified in the main results. Her best result by far was sixth place in the Saulé Rally, her first top ten. She had one other top-twenty finish, fourteenth in the Vilnius Rally. In 2014, she contested the Lithuanian championship again, in the Lancer. She retired from the Halls Winter Rally. Her regular navigator is her mother, Vesta Survilienė. 

Lana Sutlović - Croatian driver and co-driver who has been competing, mainly in Croatia and Slovenia, since 2004, initially as a navigator. She began driving seriously in 2007, in a Ford Ka, although she only finished one of her six rallies, the Meðimurski Rally. In 2008, she gained her first top-twenty finish, a 17th place in the Karlovački ORC Rally. Her finishing record was much better this year, still in the Ka. In 2009 and 2010, she competed less as a driver, mostly still in the Ka, and usually finishing just outside the top twenty. For the 2010 Rally Novi Vindolski, she changed to a Peugeot 106, and was 21st. In 2011, she only did one major rally, the Croatia Rally, and she was 29th. After that, she co-drove for a couple of different Balkan-based drivers in 2012, and moved to co-driving full-time in 2015. 

Sidonia Tatoiu - Romanian millionaire media personality who did a season in the Romanian Rally Championship in 2011. She drove a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX or X in five events. She was 19th in the championship, with a best finish of fifteenth, and twelfth in class, in the Tirgu Mures Rally, beating the more experienced Alina Carmina Bunica and future ERC ladies’ champion, Ekaterina Stratieva. She also managed two more top-twenty finishes, both 16th places, in the Tess Rally Brasov and Sibiului Rally.

Maila Vaher - Estonian driver, active since 2010, although she co-drove for different drivers between 2006 and 2008. Between then, she seems to have done some junior rallies in a Honda, but details are not forthcoming. As a senior driver, she always uses a Nissan Sunny GTi, and is navigated by Karita Kivi. She has competed in four Saaremaa Rallies, with a best finish of 63rd, in 2013. Her best overall result so far came in the 2012 UKU Mulgi Rally, where she was 23rd. She was also 29th in the 2013 Rally Võrumaa Suvi, a rallysprint event. This event was her best one in 2014, too, and she was 18th. The Sunny was less reliable this year, and it also let her down during the 2015 Tartu Rally. Her best finish was a 43rd place, in the Harju Rally. Maila's favoured surfaces are gravel and ice.  

(Image from www.automobilsport.com)