Gaby dela Merced

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Image copyright Gaby dela Merced)

Lena Buhler

 

Lena Buhler is a Swiss driver who races single-seaters, mainly in Europe.

She moved into cars from karting in 2020. Her first experience in senior motorsport was racing in Spanish Formula 4 for the Drivex School team. She was fifteenth in the championship and her best finishes were two fifth places at Aragon and Barcelona. These fifth places were among six top-ten finishes she achieved from 20 starts. She could be quick but was quite inconsistent at times. 

In 2021, she raced in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, as part of the R-ace team. It was a tough year for her and she earned her best finish of the year, a 23rd place, in the last round at Monza.

During the off-season, she travelled to Arizona in the USA to take part in the W Series F4 tests and was invited back for its Barcelona F3 tests, but she was not offered a seat.

The R-ace connection continued in 2022, with three more FREC races and one finish, a 26th place in Monte Carlo. This followed a part-season in the FR Asian championship, which gave her a best finish of twelfth at Yas Marina. 

She stepped back down to F4 for 2023, entering the UAE championship. Not long after, she was the first driver announced for the FIA’s F1 Academy, an F4-level women-only series, driving for the ART GP team. Lena was one of the oldest drivers in the series, having only started karting at 17 and competing seriously in 2017. She was second in F1 Academy with two wins at Catalunya and Monza. As she was already 25, this would be her only F1 Academy season.

Her 2024 plans were initially unclear, although she became an affiliated driver with the Sauber F1 team as a result of her F1 Academy performances. Later, it was announced that she would be racing in FRECA alongside F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia, although driving for ART again. It was a challenging year and her best finish was 22nd at Paul Ricard. She pulled out of the championship after that.

(Image copyright formula1.com)

Chelsea Angelo

 

Chelsea Angelo races single-seaters and touring cars in Australia. Her career began in Formula Ford and she almost won a National class Formula 3 championship in 2014, but she now races saloons.

She has been involved in senior-level motorsport since 2012, when she was 16. At first, she raced a Formula Ford in the Victoria state championship,  but that turned into an attack on both the Victorian and Australian championships in 2013. She scored her first outright win in the Victorian series. Her best finishes in the Australian championship were sixth places at Surfers Paradise and Sydney. She was thirteenth overall. Despite her win in the Victorian championship, she was only 15th overall as she did not do the whole calendar. 

She raced in Australian Formula 3 in 2014, in the National class, where she was a front-runner. She was either first or second in all of her races, winning seven times, and missed out quite narrowly on the championship. This was the high point of her single-seater career, although the issue of finances was beginning to rear its head.

As well as single-seaters, she has also tested Supercars, and this led to a last-minute race seat for 2015 with the THR Developments team. However, this only stretched to the first round and Adelaide, and she sat the rest of the season out. She finished 18th and 22nd in her two races. 

She signed with the Dragon team for the 2016 Supercar Dunlop championship. After almost a full season she was 21st overall, getting into the top ten once at Sandown. This was impressive, as it followed a DNF due to contact with another car. Her car was a Prodrive Ford Falcon FG and the only known Supercar to be fitted with a cup holder, a nod to her sponsor, Rush Iced Coffee.

Her programme was very limited in 2017, with only one major race. The Dragon team had signed Renee Gracie in her place. She drove a Ford Falcon in the Winton 300 but did not finish. 

2018 was spent in the Australian Porsche Supercup with Wall Racing, who won the championship the year before. Sportscars suited her and she was fifth overall. Her best finish was second at Sandown, one of four podium places including one third place at Phillip Island. 

Hoping to resurrect her single-seater career, she put her name down to try out for the inaugural season of W Series. She was long-listed and attended the winter selection event at Melk in Austria, but was not selected. Chelsea took to social media to express her anger and lack of confidence in the W selection criteria, which she claimed were very unclear and not fully related to on-track performance.

After her W Series disappointment, she threw herself into the Australian TCR Series, driving a Holden Astra for Kelly Racing. It was not the easiest of seasons and she had car problems to contend with, as well as being taken out by another competitor in the third race. She sat out the middle part of the season while the team sorted out the car troubles and returned in November at The Bend. Sadly, a first-race crash put her out for the weekend. Her best finish was twelfth and she was 25th in the championship. Among her team-mates that year was Molly Taylor. 

She also raced a Hyundai Excel in some one-make endurance races with the Brett Parrish Race Organisation, finishing tenth and sixth. Her co-drivers were Ashley Izod and Tim Slade. The sixth spot was with Ashley Izod and was a charge through the field from 20th to sixth.

She planned to race in TCR again in 2020, but the season was cancelled due to coronavirus. 

The following season ran and Chelsea did most of it in a Volkswagen Golf. It was a hard year for her and her best finish was eleventh at Phillip Island. She was 20th overall.

At the beginning of 2022, she posted on her social media that she did not have sponsorship to race, although she has not retired and has not ruled out a return later in the year. She works as a driver coach and personal trainer.

(Image copyright Chelsea Angelo)

Caitlin Wood

Caitlin Wood is an Australian driver who races in Europe. In recent years, this has been in sportscars, although she started in single-seaters.

She began her senior motorsport career in 2013, supported by the Women’s Australian Motorsport federation as one of their most promising young drivers, following a successful karting career. Her brother had raced previously and she helped him and their father rebuilt his Spirit Formula Ford. She did part-seasons in the Australian and Victorian Formula Ford championships, earning two fourteenth places in the Australian series. More races in the Victorian championship gave her more experience.

In late 2013, she was selected as Australia’s entry for the FIA Women in Motorsport Scirocco-R shootout, in an attempt to win a VW Scirocco prize drive in Europe. She did not win and returned to single-seaters in Australia. 

Another season in the Australian Formula Ford championship followed in 2014. It was a hard year for her, but she managed to get into the top ten three times towards the end of the season. She was 21st overall. As well as her national series, she got some extra seat time in the New South Wales state championship, where she fared better, finishing sixth overall after five races. 

She put together a deal late in the season to run in the 2015 Australian Formula 4 championship, the first female driver to do so. She was thirteenth in the championship after just under half of the season, with a best finish of sixth at Sandown. 

In 2016, she intended to race in F4 for the full season but ended up in Europe, racing a KTM X-Bow in the GT4 European Series. This followed an invitation by former Formula 1 driver Tomas Enge to join a Young Stars programme run by Reiter Engineering.

She was a solid top-ten finisher in the Pro class, partnered with male drivers including Marko Helistekangas. Her best overall finish was seventh at Pau, and she was seventeenth in the main championship. However, she won the Young Stars class.

She stayed with the Reiter team in 2017 and drove both the X-Bow and their Lamborghini Gallardo. The X-Bow came out for the Dubai 24 Hours, where Caitlin was part of a four-woman Reiter team with fellow Young Stars drivers Anna Rathe, Marylin Niederhauser and Naomi Schiff. They finished the race in 72nd place.

For most of the year she drove the Gallardo in the Blancpain Endurance Series, as a prize for her Young Stars win. She was tenth in the Sprint Cup Silver Cup, having been entered in different classes over the year with Marko Helistekangas. 

She missed some of the 2018 season due to injury but managed the early and late part of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, racing in Europe. At first, she drove for Mtech in the Pro-Am class, before doing the Silverstone rounds in the Am class with The Energy Check. She returned to Pro-Am for the closing races at the Nurburgring, picking up her best finish of sixth.

She also did her first Bathurst 12 Hours in the X-Bow, although she did not finish. Sadly, she did not finish the race in 2019 either. 

The 2019 summer season was spent as a W Series driver in Europe, having gone through several rounds of selection alongside her former Reiter team-mates, Naomi Schiff and Marylin Niederhauser. Naomi was also selected. 

Her best finish by far was fifth at Assen and she was thirteenth in the championship. She did not race in W Series in 2020 as it was cancelled, but she returned as a reserve driver in 2021. Despite her reserve status, she did four of the eight races, earning one fifth place at Spa. She also drove the Tatuus F3 car up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

After being released by W Series, she remained in Europe and joined up with the Adrenalin Motorsport Alzer team for the NLS. Their car was a BMW 330i. She did one NLS race in 2022.

She returned to competition in a high-profile hook-up with Mattel's Barbie brand in 2024, competing in the Porsche Sprint Challenge in the UK. Sadly, fudning ran out after four rounds. Later in the year, she was drafted into the Bangalore Speedsters team for the Indian Racing League. She shared a car with Rishon Rajeev and they were seventh in the championship, ahead of the team's sister car. Caitlin's best individual finish was a fifth place at Chennai.

(Image copyright Caitlin Wood)

 

Belen Garcia

 

Belen Garcia is a Spanish single-seater driver who has raced in both F3 and F4 machinery.

She became the first Spanish woman to win a single-seater race when she claimed the second round of the 2019 Spanish Formula 4 championship at Navarra. A large number of her competitors were excluded from the race for not responding quickly enough to a red flag, gifting Belen the win. She was 15th in the first race. 

2019 was her first full season in cars, after some rounds of the 2018 Toyota Aygo Kobe Cup and karting. She was part of Team Spain for the inaugural FIA Motorsport Games, racing in the F4 Cup and finishing sixth and twelfth in her two races. 

In Spanish F4 that year, her win was something of a one-off. Navarra was her best circuit and she scored her second-best finish there, a seventh place. This was repeated at Algarve. She was fourteenth in the championship with ten top-tens from 21 races. 

After testing a car, she was due to compete in the 2020 W Series but the championship was cancelled due to coronavirus. A planned part-season in the Formula Renault Eurocup was also shelved.

She raced in W Series in 2021, alongside some rounds of the Formula Regional European Championship, which uses the same chassis.

Her year in W Series started well with a fourth place at the Red Bull Ring, but she was unable to keep up the momentum and dipped in and out of the top ten for the rest of the season. As tenth-placed championship finisher, she was not invited back automatically for 2022.

FREC was an even tougher challenge. Driving for the Swiss team G4 Racing, she did ten races from the 20-round calendar. She managed to finish all of them but her best finish was only 22nd place, achieved at Imola. She did out-score her team-mate Axel Gnos on a couple of occasions.

She retained her place in W Series for 2022. The season was shortened due to financial worries. Belen was fifth overall after a somewhat inconsistent season, with a high point being a second place at Paul Ricard. 

Single-seaters have been her focus so far, but in 2020 she did some GT racing at Aragon, entering the last round of the Spanish GT Championship with her father Jose Luis. Their car was a Ginetta G55 and they won their class in their first race. 

She returned to sportscars in 2022, entering the Michelin Le Mans Cup at Portimao in October. She drove a Ligier LMP3 car and was 17th in class after an incident-hit race. She set the CD Sport team's fastest lap of the weekend.

Sportscars became her chief focus in 2023. She raced for different teams in Europe and Asia, using a Ligier LMP3 car for both the Le Mans Cup and the Asian Le Mans Series. Driving for Graff Racing, she was ninth in the LMP3 class of the Asian championship, usually as part of a three-driver team with Sebastien Page and Eric Trouillet. They finished three races, with a best result of seventh at Yas Marina.

The European Le Mans Cup was less satisfying. Sharing the car with Mark Richards or James Dayson, her best results were two fifth places at Spa and Portimao, but it took until the end of the season to get to that level.

Mid-season, she tried out a Duqueine D-08 in the German Prototype Cup and earned a second and a tenth place at the Norisring. 

The Duqueine was her car of choice for 2024 and she entered the ELMS with DKR Engineering. Although her campaign only lasted for four races, she did manage one podium finish, a second place at Paul Ricard. Her other two races, at Barcelona and Imola, ended in a fifth and sixth place. She was fourteenth in the championship. 

As well as motor racing, she competes in athletics, specialising in the pole vault.

(Image copyright Belen Garcia)

Megan Gilkes

 

Megan Gilkes is a single-seater racer from Canada. She has achieved success in Formula Ford and competed in the inaugural season of W Series.

She has been a leading name in Canadian Formula 1200 since 2017, when she competed for the first of two seasons in the championship. In her debut year she picked up her first win and she was runner-up in the championship and in 2018. Another win came at Mosport in 2018 and was one of seven podium finishes, from nine races.

Her experiences in larger-capacity cars have not been quite as successful, but she has raced both Formula 2000 in Canada and Formula Vee in Brazil. 

In 2019, she was announced as one of the 18 drivers selected for the women-only W Series and shortly after that, began competing in the F3 Americas championship. She was one of the weaker drivers in the W Series and was substituted for one race, in an unpopular move by W management. Her only real highlight was her win in the Assen reverse-grid race, which was not part of the championship.  

She ran better in US F3, picking up one ninth place at Pittsburgh. She also started the Virginia round but crashed in the first race, meaning she was unable to start the other two that weekend. 

Back in a Van Diemen F2000, she did a couple of races in the US championship, finishing seventh at Road Atlanta. 

At the end of 2020, she travelled to the UK for the Formula Ford Festival and the  Walter Hayes Trophy, driving a Kevin Mills Racing Spectrum. Her first run in the Festival started promisingly with a fifth in her heat, then she was twelfth in her semi-final . She reached the final of the Walter Hayes at Silverstone, but was involved in a low-speed multi-car pile-up and was unable to finish. Staying in the UK, she entered the 2021 National Formula Ford championship with the team, earning a best finish of fourth at Snetterton in the penultimate race of the season.

Sticking with single-seaters, she moved over to the F4-level GB4 championship in 2022. Driving for the Hillspeed team, she won two reverse-grid races at Snetterton and Donington, plus another third from pole at Silverstone, on her way to a sixth place in the championship. Formula Ford had not been forgotten either and she did the first half of the National season, plus the Formula Ford Festival and the Walter Hayes Trophy. She scored two fourth places in Festival heats.

At the beginning of 2024, she was announced as a driver for Rodin Carlin in the all-female F1 Academy series. Part-way through the season, she announced that this would be her last as a driver and that she would concentrate on her engineering career at the Aston Martin F1 team from 2024. She was thirteenth in the championship, with a few top tens and a best finish of fifth at the Red Bull Ring.

(Image copyright challengecupseries.com)

Juju Noda

 

Juju Noda is a Japanese single-seater driver who earned huge media attention as the youngest person to drive a Formula 3 car, aged 11, in 2017. 

The daughter of former Formula 1, Indycar and Super GT racer, Hideki Noda, Juju was introduced to motorsport at a very early age and was karting at three, winning her first race at four. She first tested a full-size car in 2015, driving a Formula 4 which she then drove in public the following year, still aged only nine. Two years later, she was doing speed trials and track days at the Okiyama circuit in an F3 car.

By the time of her F3 test, she had already beaten a lap record for Formula 4 Okiyama in 2016, although it did not stand as it was set during an unofficial track appearance at a Super GT meeting. 

Due to her age, she was unable to compete in her home country, which requires racing drivers to be at least 16, although she raced a little in the USA at the tender age of 13. She took part in the Lucas Oil Winter Race Series meeting at Laguna Seca in early 2019, in a Ray single-seater. Her best result was a fourth place, alongside two eighth places. 

This led to a drive in the 2020 Danish F4 championship, one of the few series to allow drivers of Juju's age (14 at the time) to compete. She won her first race at Jyllandsringen and earned three more podiums, two thirds and a second, on her way to sixth in the championship.

In 2020, she also took part in assessments held by the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission in order to find a junior driver for the Ferrari Academy. Juju was not among the finalists.

Her 2021 season was meant to be spent in the US F4 championship, driving for Jay Howard Driver Development. She practiced for the first round at Road Atlanta and ran fastest, but she did not qualify and withdrew from the championship due to “various recent issues”. Her team did not specify what these issues were, only that they were not related to racism and were “external”.

She returned to the Danish championship just in time for the start of the season. Her Noda Racing-run car was the first F4 car over the line at Padborg, the first of two wins from pole position. She did not finish the third race and was then disqualified from the front of the fourth for causing a collision. Her season did not quite hit the heights again, although she did score six more podium finishes on the way to seventh in the championship. 

At the beginning of 2022 she made a surprise switch to the all-female W Series, taking one of its Academy team spots alongside Bianca Bustamante. The W F3 Regional-based car did not suit Juju and she only got into the top ten once with a ninth place at the Hungaroring.

She also did some races in the Drexler Formula 3 Cup in Europe, competing at Monza, the Red Bull Ring and Brno. Driving a Tatuus T-318 similar to those used in W Series, she earned three fifths and three seventh places in the Open class.

All-female racing was completely left behind in 2023, but controversy was not. She signed up for the Euroformula Open series with her own team and became increasingly quick, winning a race at Paul Ricard and scoring two further podiums. However, after a rule change that allowed female drivers to run a lighter car than their male counterparts, Noda Racing abruptly left the championship. They jumped ship to the Italian F2000 Trophy, with Juju driving a Dallara 320 similar to the EF Open car. She won five races outright on her way to the championship. Later in the season, she entered the BOSS GP series, driving a World Series by Nissan car at Monza. She finished second and third.

She signed for the 2024 BOSS championship, but did not race, in favour of a seat in Japan's Super Formula, the highest level of single-seater racing in Japan. Juju drove for the TGM Grand Prix team, the first Japanese woman to do so and the youngest driver in the championship's history. However, it was a tough season for her. She was near the back for the entire season, with a best finish of twelfth at Suzuka, during the final meeting of the series. She was 21st in the championship.

(Image copyright The Drive)

Tasmin Pepper

 Tasmin Pepper is a well-travelled driver from South Africa who has experienced success in both single-seaters and saloons, including race wins in both. 

She began racing in the 2006 South African Formula Ford Championship, aged sixteen. For her first couple of  seasons she combined karting with Formula Ford. Despite this, she was fourth in 2007 and claimed her first podium finishes. Tannith Gardiner stood in for her at Zwartkops.

Moving up the single-seater ladder in 2008, she entered the South African Formula Volkswagen series, a new championship launched that year using Reynard chassis previously raced in Germany. As well as this she raced in Formula BMW Pacific, racing all over Asia as well as her homeland, including three support slots for Formula 1 races. Her best finishes in both championships were fourth places. She was seventh in Formula Volkswagen and thirteenth in Formula BMW. 

A season spent closer to home was rewarded with her first win, at Kyalami, driving a Formula Volkswagen in the South African championship. Another three podiums at Kyalami and Killarney confirmed her fourth place.

In 2010, she continued where she left off, finishing second in the championship with another win at East London and ten podium places. When she finished, she was never out of the top ten, and almost always in the top five. 

She challenged again in the 2011 Formula VW series. Sadly, she did not win this time, although she was rarely out of the top five. She was fourth overall. 

After 2012, she switched from the declining Formula VW to saloon car racing in the Wesbank Super Series, driving a VW Golf. She also returned to karting, including some visits to Europe for the X30 series after winning the South African edition in 2011. Her win was repeated in 2012. 

Volkswagens were to be her favoured car for six seasons and in 2013, she added more wins to her tally: a round of the Polo Cup at Phakisa. Later that year, she was selected for the FIA VW Scirocco R-Cup ladies' evaluation tests, but did not win the following Shootout in Europe. 

She returned home to the Polo Cup in 2014, ending the season fourth overall. This was one of her best final finishing positions, although she bettered it in 2016 and 2018 with second places and outright race wins.

In 2019, she qualified for the all-female W Series, despite being out of single-seater racing for some time. She was a solid midfield but not spectacular finisher, racing in Europe. Her best finish was sixth at Zolder, which she repeated in the non-championship race at Assen. W Series did not run in 2020 due to the global coronavirus crisis, but she was set to compete again in 2021. Sadly, coronavirus seriously curtailed travel to and from South Africa and she was unable to race at all.

She is from a motorsport family; her brother Jordan races and her father Iain used to. She has been involved in one form of racing or another since she was four.

(Image copyright Reynard Gelderblom/Wheels24)

Marta Garcia

 

Marta Garcia is a Spanish single-seater racer, currently active in Europe, and a former Renault Sport junior.

Her senior career began very early, at sixteen. Her first time out in a single-seater was a Prema test in 2016. That year, she raced in the second half of the Spanish Formula 4 championship. She was eighth overall, with five fifth places as her best result. Her lowest finish was eighth. This followed on from a karting career which included two championship wins in 2015. She started racing at ten.

She intended to race in Formula 3 in 2017, but had another season in F4 instead, driving for MP Motorsport. She was ninth in the Spanish championship, normally finishing in the top ten and with a high point of fifth, at Jerez. Midway through the season, she also raced in Russia, taking part in the Moscow rounds of the SMP F4 championship. She finished two of her three races, with a best finish of sixth.

Marta caught the attention of the Renault Sport development team very quickly and she was signed up as one of their drivers after her 2016 results. This was a short-lived arrangement; they were unconvinced by her performances in 2017 and dropped her at the end of the year.

She returned to karting for a year, competing in Spain and Europe in the KZ2 class. Having lost her Renault support, she struggled financially. As well as getting involved in senior karting again, she enrolled at university.

At the start of 2019, she qualified for the all-female W Series, coming through three rounds of qualification. Her season started well with a third at a wet Hockenheim and she subsequently won one race at Norisring. She was fourth in the championship after a somewhat inconsistent season; Hockenheim and Norisring were here only podium positions.

For 2020, her season was meant to include W Series and Formula Renault Eurocup. W Series was cancelled due to coronavirus and her Eurocup entry did not happen. She returned to W Series in 2021, but was not quite on the pace for most of the eight-race season. Her best result was third at Spa, but this was one of only two top-tens that year and she was twelfth in the championship. She later explained that she was suffering from mental health problems and struggling to balance racing and her studies.

She improved again towards the end of the shortened 2022 W season, starting from pole in Singapore and hanging on for third place. Just before, she had been fourth at the Hungaroring. Her final championship position was sixth.

The implosion of W Series at the start of 2023 encouraged her into F1 Academy, another all-female championship using F4 cars, despite this being a slight backward step. Driving for the Prema team, she won the first championship with seven race victories. 

Her prize drive for 2024 was a seat with the Prema team for the FRECA championship, which she took up. The team was co-opted into the Iron Dames squad, with Doriane Pin as her team-mate. Sadly, it was not a successful season, with a fourteenth place ar the Red Bull Ring towards the end of the year her best finish by far. 

She was quoted as saying that 2024 was probably her last season in single-seaters and she took some steps to make a name for herself in sportscars. Iron Dames provided a Ligier for four rounds of the Ligier European Series, and Marta responded with two wins at Spa and Algarve. She was eighth in the championship.

(Image from denia.com)

Sandrine Nahon

 

Sandrine Nahon raced single-seaters in France up to Formula 3 level in the 1990s.

Her single-seater career began with Formula Ford in 1988. After reaching the finals of the Volant Palmyr Formula Ford driving school at Ledenon, she won the “Premier Pas” series for newcomers and was fourth in the “B” class of the main French championship.

She continued in 1989 and 1990, driving for the AMEF and Graff teams. She won at least one race at Montlhery in 1989 and was second in the Federal Trophy on the strength of this. She was second in the B championship the following year. 

Her earliest racing exploits had been in karting from the age of 11, winning ten championships at club and national level between 1981 and 1987. In 1987, aged 17, she also tried rallying, co-driving for her father, Christian. Later, she did try a couple of rallies as a driver, including the 1990 Monte Carlo Rally. She drove a Ford Sierra Cosworth and was 82nd, from 112 finishers.

Christian Nahon was instrumental in Sandrine’s career development. Her early enthusiasm started to turn into real talent in a Formula Ford and Christian sought to push her further into the limelight. In 1989, when she was still only 19, he attempted to broker a seat in a Courage prototype for Le Mans, but another driver pulled out and it did not happen.

Christian had worked for Renault and run the company’s southern African operations; Sandrine was born in Zambia. After impressing in Formula Ford, she was offered drives in Formula Renault, but preferred to go the Formula 3 route. Christian was in negotiations with a major oil company sponsor for his daughter but could not agree terms and the firm went with another female driver instead. This meant that Sandrine’s F3 efforts were largely self-financed.

She moved up to Formula 3 in 1991 and joined the French championship as a private entry. Despite a reliable car, she struggled for speed and ran at or close to the back of the grid. Her best result was probably a 20th place at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit, ahead of Bernard Cognet and Marc Rostan. 

She returned in 1992 for a part-season, driving the same Reynard 903, but did not get into the top ten. The 903, not one of Reynard’s most celebrated creations, was less reliable this year: the engine failed at Albi and a throttle problem put her out of the Coupe de Bourgogne at Dijon. Her best result was an 18th place at Magny-Cours.

As well as the French F3 championship, Sandrine drove her Reynard in French hillclimbs, winning at least three Coupe des Dames awards in 1991 and 1992.

Afterwards, she took a break from circuit-based competition, before reappearing in 1994 at the wheel of a Peugeot 905 Spider. She was team-mate to Cathy Muller and finished sixth in the Spider Cup in France. This was not her first experience with a Peugeot. In 1989, she had raced a 309 in a French one-make series.

Another hiatus followed, chiefly due to the death of her father in 1995.

1998 appears to have been her last year of competition, when she took part in some Formula Ford 1800 races, winning at least one round of the French winter series. She had raced on and off in this formula since 1996, when she returned to the tracks with the support of her partner, Frederic Martin. After this, she hung up her helmet at the age of 28.

Frederic Martin has shared a lot of information about Sandrine on the Autodiva forums, for which I am grateful.

Ai Miura

Ai Miura has been a stalwart of the Japanese Formula 3 championship since 2014.

She has been racing since 2011, when she was still an Osaka University student. She began in club Formula FJ and scored an eighth place at Suzuka in her first-ever race. This followed several years of both junior and senior karting. 

She spent the next two seasons competing around Japan in Formula Challenge, a Formula Renault series. In her debut season, she did not crack the top ten, managing one eleventh place at Fuji, but in 2013, she achieved three ninths and two tenths, all at Fuji, as her best scores. She also made some guest appearances in an F4 car and finished as high as fifth. 

In 2014, she progressed into the National (N) class of the Japanese Formula 3 Championship and performed well, with one class win at Suzuka and several more podium places. She was fourth in class as well as getting her name in the records as the first female winner in Japanese F3. Her debut win could easily have been in the opening round at Suzuka; she started very rapidly from third but could only hold on for a third spot. She had to wait until the following day for a win.

As well as conventional, petrol-engined cars, Ai also races solar-powered vehicles, and won the Suzuka Solar Car Race six times, between 2009 and 2015. Other years have yielded class wins and a runner-up sport. She was part of the Sangyo Osaka University team. 

In 2015, she raced in Japanese F3 again in the National class and was second at the end of hte year, with three wins and thirteen second places. She was on the class pace from the first race at Suzuka, where she finished eighth and won class N. A battle with Ryo Ogawa followed and his six-race winning streak meant that Ai was not quite able to catch him, in spite of two further wins. 

She moved up to the main class in 2016 and was a consistent top ten finisher. Her best finish was eighth, at Fuji, and she almost got into the points. 

In 2017, she was eighth in the championship, with a best finish of fourth, at Okayama. She picked up an additional top-five with a fifth place at Fuji later in the season. 

She continued in Formula 3 in 2018 and was a regular top-ten finisher, albeit in the lower reaches of the top ten. Her final championship position was eleventh, just behind her team-mate. 

On paper, 2019 panned out in much the same manner, with seven top-ten finishes. However, she had to sit out some of the rounds after incurring an injury, crashing during the fifth race of the season at Fuji. She came back for the final two races at Okayama and finished tenth in both.

During the disrupted 2020 season, she made a surprising move into the all-female Kyojo Cup, which uses small Vita sportscars. She won the three-round series from 2019 vice-champion Miki Onaga and experienced sportscar racer Anna Inotsume. She won one race and came second and third in the other two.

Eventually she did get back to Japanese F3, now running to Formula 3 Regional regulations. She was third in her first race at Motegi and then fourth twice at Okayama, finishing eleventh in the championship. 

2021 started with a change of direction; Ai entered the Japanese TCR series for a part-season in both the Saturday and Sunday series. She was driving for Dome Racing in a Honda Civic. Her best result was a second place at Autopolis in her only Saturday outing. She also managed a third at Sugo in one of the Sunday races.

Away from single-seaters, she did some sportscar racing, making guest appearancs in the Super Taikyu series between 2020 and 2022. Her cars have included a Leuxs and a Toyota Supra. She did the full season in 2022, driving a Nissan Fairlady for FKS Team Fukushima. They were fourth in their class championship with two third places.

She won another Kyojo Cup title in 2023, from Miki Onaga.

In 2024, she made one appearance in Super Taikyu in the Fairlady, sharing with Max Salo and others for the Fuji 24 Hours. They were second in class.

She works (or did work) in motorsport, acting as a PR person for Exedy Racing Clutches. Her first two F3 seasons were with their racing team. 

(Image copyright ai-miura.com)

Delia Stegemann

Delia Stegemann was the first winner of the Ford Fiesta Lady Cup in Germany. She also raced single-seaters up to Formula 3.

The Lady Cup in 1982 was her first experience of motorsport. She was chosen from an initial shortlist of 1400 prospective women drivers put forward by Ford dealerships. During the next stage of a selection process judged by the likes of Manfred Winkelhock, she was put through to the final group of 20 drivers and made her first start that summer, aged 19.

Delia was one of the leading drivers in the Lady Cup from quite early on and was eventually named joint champion with Anette Meeuvissen. There was some debate over which driver should receive the honour, as both were tied on points although Anette had more wins. Both were named champion at different points before being jointly awarded the prize money.

Her debut may have been in a saloon car, but she was soon gravitating towards single-seaters. In keeping with the usual route into formula racing, she began in Formula Ford in 1983. Her best Formula Ford finish was third at the Nürburgring in a Royale. 

Delia entered at least one more Lady Cup in 1984 and had probably been part of the 1983 grid too. She was fourth in 1984, ahead of 1983 champion Claudia Ostlender.

She took part in German Formula 3 between 1985 and 1987. Initially she drove for the Team Lechner Racing School, although her debut was limited to a one-off end-of-season race at the Nürburgring. She was tenth, from fifteen finishers. This was combined with some races in the German Formula Ford 2000 championship, where she finished eleventh.

She did most of the German F3 season in 1986, missing only two of the eleven races. Her car was a Ralt RT30 run by Werner Schroder Racing. The season was not a great success, with four fifteenth places as her best finishes. Apparently she also raced a Martini during the season, but it is not always clear which car she was in for which race. 

In 1987 she had an updated car in the form of a Ralt RT31, but it was only another one-off Nürburgring appearance for Monninghoff Racing, leading to a 17th place. 

She was last active in 1991 when she was 66th in the Nürburgring 24 Hours in a Fiesta XR2. She used the same car in the Fiesta Mixed Cup, sharing it with Josef Venc. They scored one second place.

The W Series

(For a more detailed discussion of Speedqueens’ stance on W Series and a review of the TV show, click here.)

The inaugural W Series championship ran in the summer of 2019. It was billed as the first-ever all-female single-seater championship. (The Esso All-Ladies Formula Ford race in 1985 was actually the first.)

Eighteen drivers were chosen to race Formula 3 Regional cars, with two “reserve” drivers who were intended to deputise for injured colleagues and only took part in a few actual races.

There were six championship races of roughly half an hour each, plus one non-championship race which ran using a reverse-grid format. The series acted as one of the supports for the DTM in Europe.

W Series was launched with a huge media drive, with former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard acting as one of its public figureheads. He was also one of the judges for the initial driver selection events. Lyn St. James, who had previously been pivotal in the similar Women’s Global GT Series, was another. 60 racers from all round the world were assessed; through a combination of elimination and voluntary dropping-out, this was whittled down to 20. All 20 selected drivers would have all of their expenses paid for the summer racing season and would receive a share of the $2m prize pot.

There is nothing especially innovative about an all-female racing series but W Series did introduce some relatively novel concepts, including the no-cost nature of entry. Drivers were made to swap cars after every race and worked with a different team of mechanics every day. This was ostensibly to prevent the more mechanically-minded among them from gaining an advantage. Prohibitions were also placed on testing and competing in F3 cars during the W season. No driver was permitted to take part in an F3 race on any of the six circuits the series visited, unless she was fully signed up for that championship. Testing was not allowed. Drivers were allowed limited sessions on a simulator to prepare prior to a race weekend. There were no competing teams; all cars were run centrally by Hitech Grand Prix on behalf of W Series itself.

Many were critical of the whole idea, chiefly Indycar driver Pippa Mann and European F3 racer Sophia Floersch. Both drivers, along with others, considered it a step towards sex segregation in motorsport and believed that the money involved would have been better spent supporting female racers in existing championships. Some of this criticism died down but a few concerns arose during the season about safety and standards of car preparation. Jamie Chadwick, Alice Powell and others experienced difficulty downshifting under full steering lock in some of the Tatuus FRegional cars, for example. 

Early indications were that W Series was intended as a reality TV-style competition. The first set of driver assessments took place in the unlikely setting of a frozen track and used road cars, not a situation likely to arise in an F3 championship. Announcements of who had made the cut and who would have to “fight for their place” had a distinctly X Factor flavour. However, the races themselves proved popular with spectators as a sporting contest and W became more of a serious competition than when it started. The organisers attempted to mix things up a little by dropping a struggling Megan Gilkes to reserve status after a free practice session where she had been relatively quick, but this proved highly unpopular and was not repeated.

Jamie Chadwick was the first champion, winning two of the six races. This was not unexpected as she was the entrant with the most notable and recent successes on her CV. BMW junior driver Beitske Visser was second. Alice Powell, winner of the final round at Brands Hatch, was third although she could have finished higher had she not encountered a series of car problems. The other races were won by Marta Garcia and Emma Kimilainen. Megan Gilkes won the reverse-grid non-championship race from pole.

2019 Standings

1. Jamie Chadwick
2. Beitske Visser
3. Alice Powell
4. Marta Garcia
5. Emma Kimilianen
6. Fabienne Wohlwend
7. Miki Koyama
8. Sarah Moore
9. Vicky Piria
10. Tasmin Pepper
11. Jessica Hawkins
12. Sabre Cook
13. Caitlin Wood
14. Gosia Rdest
15. Esmee Hawkey
16. Naomi Schiff
17. Vivien Keszthelyi (Reserve)
18. Shea Holbrook
19. Sarah Bovy (Reserve)
20. Megan Gilkes

The top twelve 2019 drivers were automatically invited back for the 2020 season. Any of the eight additional 2019 intake were permitted to reapply for 2020, alongside 15 new drivers. The season was cancelled due to coronavirus.

The 2021 championship was won again by Jamie Chadwick. Eighteen cars started each race, with a rotating series of reserve drivers sharing one of them. The series was now on the F1 support bill and ran for eighth races.

1. Jamie Chadwick

2. Alice Powell

3. Emma Kimilainen

4. Nerea Marti

5. Sarah Moore

6. Fabienne Wohlwend

7. Abbi Pulling

8. Beitske Visser

9. Irina Sidorkova

10. Belen Garcia

11. Jessica Hawkins

12. Marta Garcia

13. Abbie Eaton

14. Miki Koyama

15. Bruna Tomaselli

16. Caitlin Wood

17. Ayla Agren

18. Gosia Rdest

19. Vicky Piria

20. Sabre Cook

The third W Series season was intended to be a ten-round championship, with double-header rounds at the US and Mexican grands prix. A planned race at Suzuka was substituted for Singapore. In an unusual move, the usual W Formula Regional cars were not transported to Catalunya and the similar cars from the Toyota Racing Series were used instead. This was repeated at Singapore. The Singapore race ended up as the least of the season, as money problems meant that the last three races were cancelled.

A team system of sorts was introduced. All cars were run centrally, but pairs of cars carried branded liveries.

Jamie Chadwick dominated once more, with Alice Powell and Beitske Visser picking up one win apiece.

1. Jamie Chadwick (Jenner Racing)

2. Beitske Visser (Sirin Racing)

3. Alice Powell (Click2Drive Bristol Street Racing)

4. Abbi Pulling (Racing X)

5. Belen Garcia (Quantfury W Series Team)

6. Marta Garcia (CortDAO W Series Team)

7. Nerea Marti (Quantfury W Series Team)

8. Emma Kimilainen (Puma W Series Team)

9. Jessica Hawkins (Click2Drive Bristol Street Racing)

10. Fabienne Wohlwend (CortDAO W Series Team)

11. Sarah Moore (Scuderia W)

12. Bruna Tomaselli (Racing X)

13. Abbie Eaton (Scuderia W)

14. Juju Noda (W Series Academy)

15. Bianca Bustamante (W Series Academy)

16. Chloe Chambers (Jenner Racing)

17. Emely de Heus (Sirin Racing)

18. Tereza Babickova (Puma W Series Team)

19. Ayla Agren* (Puma W Series Team)

*Ayla Agren stood in for Tereza Babickova at Singapore after she injured her back in a Formula Regional Europe race.

This proved to be the last W Sseries season, as the championship ran into serious financial difficulties and went into administration.

(Image copyright Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)