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)

Lindsay Brewer

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Image copyright Times10)

Rio Shimono

 

Rio Shimono is a Japanese driver who won her class in the Japanese TCR championship in 2020.

She made her major debut in the 2020 Japanese TCR series, although this was delayed by the coronavirus outbreak. 

The 19-year-old drove a Honda Civic run by Drago Corse when the championship restarted and won the Bronze class outright. She was second in the main Saturday series championship with one race win at Suzuka. She was fourth in the Sunday series that ran alongside it, with third places at Twin Ring Motegi and Suzuka.

During 2020 she became friendly with her fellow Drago Corse driver Tatiana Calderon, who was racing for the team in Super Formula. 

In 2021, she was third in the Kyojo Cup, an all-female one-make sportscar championship in Japan. Drago Corse ran her car. She entered the Kyojo Cup, which has a short season, again in 2022.

Rio previously raced in the Super FJ Series in Japan, an entry-level championship based at the Okuyama circuit. She scored two wins during the 2019 season, which was her first as a racing driver.

In 2022, she returned to single-seaters, entering the F4 Japan championship with Zap Speed team. Her season started badly with a lowly 34th place at Fuji, but she improved dramatically to 16th place in the second Fuji race. At the next rounds at Suzuka, she was 22nd and 34th, falling in the middle of the three Zap Speed cars. She did four more races, entering the top twenty once more at Suzuka with an 18th place.

Her second F4 Japan season gave her a 19th place. She was seventh in the first round at Fuji, but could not match that performance for the rest of the year. Normally, she was in the lower half of the top 20.

She improved slightly in 2024, driving for the Dr Dry team she had joined in the second half of 2013. She picked up two top-ten finishes at Motegi and Suzuka, the best of these being a ninth at Motegi. She was also third in the Kyojo Cup.

Her long-term ambition is the World Touring Car Championship.

(Image copyright Japan TCR)

Women drivers in the Sepang 1000km

 

Faye Kusairi, Nurul Husna Nasharuddin and Leona Chin in 2019

The Sepang 1000km is an annual race for touring cars, normally lasting somewhere between eight and nine hours. It evolved from the Merdeka Millennium Endurance race, held at the same circuit, which included both saloons and sportscars and ran over twelve hours. It was originally run to celebrate the festival of Merdeka (Malaysian independence day).

Cars are limited to 1900cc and are mostly models from Asian manufacturers, including Malaysia’s own Proton.

Women have started every single edition of the race. For several seasons, the Red Bull Rookies team fielded an all-female crew. The 1000km’s first female winner was Faye Kusairi in 2016, driving a Proton as part of a four-person team.

All known women entrants are listed below, although there may be others I have not identified due to language barriers. In the case of a mixed team, the woman’s name always comes first and male drivers’ names are in italics.

2009 

Leona Chin/Puteri Ayu Jasmin/Diana Chin/Nur Hayati Omar (Honda DC2) - 21st

Carmen Lim/Akina Teo/Amir - (Proton Satria) - DNF

2010

Philippa Yoong/Hiroko Nakamura/Frank Yee (Proton Satria Neo) - 15th

Puteri Ayu Jasmin/Noradzlianayati Abdul Radzak/Carmen Lim/Melline Jaini (Honda DC2) - 28th

2011

Puteri Ayu Jasmin/Emmiline Ang/Fauziah Haziz (Honda DC2) - 15th

Hiroko Nakamura/Eric Yeo/Melvin Choo (Proton Satria) - DNF

Amirah Mokhtar/Siti Shahkirah Shaharul/Mark Darwin (Proton Satria) - DNF

2012

Melissa Huang/Siti Zirwatul (Proton Satria) - 13th

2013

Siti Shahkirah Shaharul/Siti Zirwatul Irdah (Proton Satria Neo) - 11th

2014

Nurul Husna Nasharuddin/KJ Yee/YC Foo - (Proton Satria Neo) 9th

Siti Shahkirah Shaharul/Illy Aquila/Geraldine Read (Proton Satria Neo) - 12th

2015

Nurul Husna Nasharuddin/YC Foo/KJ Yee/Nasharuddin (Suzuki Swift) - 8th

Geraldine Read/Wong Yat Fan (Suzuki Swift) - DNF

2016

Faye Kusairi/Kefili Othman/Djan Ley/Zizan Razak (Proton Suprima S) - winners

2017

Leona Chin/Kenneth Shak/Woo Siew Chong/Chong Yee Hing (Suzuki Swift) - 9th

Rina Ito/Tomokazu Sato/Ken Foo Kwok Hsing (Toyota Vios) - 16th

2018

Leona Chin/Dato Nasri Said/Kefili Othman/Alifa Hamdan (Toyota Vios) - 7th

Joan Lee/Steven Wan/Goh Eng Peng (Toyota Vios) - 18th

Nurul Husna Nasharuddin/Shasha Shafie/Boey Chai (Suzuki Swift) - 31st

2019

Leona Chin/Nurul Husna Nasharuddin/Faye Kusairi (Proton Saga) - 6th

Angeline Lee/Siti Shahkirah Shaharul (Toyota Vios) - 28th

2020

No race held

2021

Leona Chin/Mohd Nasri Bin Md Said/Yik Choon/Akina Teo (Suzuki Swift) - winners

Natasha Seatter/Nurul Husna Nasharuddin/Muizuddin Musyaffa (Honda City) - 29th

Dilys Lee/Alfred Chong Seong Huat/Choo Chia Chin (Proton Satria Neo) - 30th

Shasha Shafie/Fikri Rahmin/Syafiq Samsudin (Toyota Vios) - 31st

2022

Rina Ito/Takahisa Ohno/Karurosu Honda/Ng Kim Ngee (Suzuki Swift) - 13th

Nurul Auni Nasharuddin/Mohd Yuszaidi/Nasharuddin Abd Aziz (Toyota Vios) - 33rd

Siti Shahkirah Shaharul/Monica Picca/Zulaikha Ahmad (Suzuki Swift) - 42nd

Leona Chin/Adele Lew (Toyota Vios) - 44th

Akina Teo Chai Yong/Eddie Lew Karwai (Toyota Vios) - DNF

2023

Gladys Lam/Roni Risman/Azmeer Yusri Yusof (Suzuki Swift) - 32nd

Nurul Auni Nasharduddin/Loke Yin Yi (Toyota Vios) - 37th

Vicky Law(?)/Ng Teck Ming/Wai Siu Kit/Wong Ka Chun Kendrew (Suzuki Swift) - 46th

Leona Chin/Mark Chew Shin Wong/Danny Chin Hwa Lip (Suzuki Swift) - 58th

2024

Sophia Zara/Mohd Shafiq Samsudin/Kelvin Yap Su Deng (Toyota Vios) - 39th

Genevieve Ooi/Charlie Hine/Alex Hine (Suzuki Swift Sport) - 48th

Vicky Law(?)/Wai Siu Kit/Wong Ka Chun Kendrew (Suzuki Swift) - NC

(Image copyright Proton)

Oksana Kosachenko

Oksana Kosachenko is best known as a Formula One team official and as the former manager of Vitaly Petrov, but she began her motorsport life as a driver.

She had a short competition career in the mid-2000s while she was working as a motorsport broadcaster. Her route into sports journalism was via gymnastics, which she had to give up as a young adult for medical reasons. As she was born in 1966, this would have been in the 1980s. Some sources claim that she was a coach and choreographer to rhythmic gymnasts, but the stories are all rather vague. Her involvement in motorsport started in broadcasting but very soon encompassed driver management and championship co-ordination.

She took part in the Russian VW Polo Cup in 2002 and 2003, with a best finish of tenth at St Petersburg in 2002. Her car was supplied by the “Sport Garage” team and the TV show for which she worked. Initially, she turned down the offer of a race seat but she was persuaded to take part and provide in-car commentary. Her season in 2003 was affected by an accident at St Petersburg; she was not able to start the next race and was off the pace for the much of the rest of the season. 

In 2004, she drove a Sport Garage Polo in some rounds of the Russian Touring Car Light Championship, but she was never among the front-runners. Her best result by a long way was a thirteenth place at the Nevaring near St Petersburg. 

In 2005, she made two appearances in the Russian Touring Car Championship, at Moscow. She finished 17th in both of her races, driving a Honda Civic. This was combined with a part-season in Touring Light, driving the same VW Polo as previously. 

Her competition career ends here but she continued as a commentator, working with European Formula 3 and the DTM for Russian television. At about the same time, her “Manuscript” promotional agency managed the Russian Touring Car Championship.

In tandem with her commentary and racing activities, she worked as a driver’s agent. She was the manager of Russian Formula One driver Vitaly Petrov from 2001, when Petrov was only 16. Under Oksana’s tutelage, he progressed from winning the Lada Cup in Russia, through the junior formulae, regional Formula 3000, GP2 and then Formula One in 2010 with Renault.

Their partnership concluded in 2013 when Oksana took on the role of commercial manager for the Caterham team. She lasted only one year with the team, which went into administration in 2014. 

Almost immediately she repositioned herself as an outspoken media pundit. Even while she was still at Caterham, she gave a superficially telling interview to a Russian paper about team spying and most drivers’ dislike of Monaco. 

More recently, she has made a series of inflammatory statements, including describing the struggling Williams team as “more like a Formula 2 team” and claiming that Aston Martin was unlikely to become a winning team.

She has distanced herself completely from her time as a driver and said on more than one occasion that women were not strong enough to be successful racing drivers.

(Image from fehrplay.com)

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)

Michelle Halder

Michelle Halder races in the German TCR series and became the first female driver to win a race outright in 2019. 

She was driving a Honda Civic Type-R and her historic win came at Zandvoort. The car is run by Profi-Car Team Halder, her family team. Michelle races against her brother Mike, who drives for the Profi-Car ADAC Honda team. Their respective team-mates, Marcel and Dominik Fugel, are also siblings.

Michelle started competing in the TCR championship full-time in 2018 in a SEAT Cupra, following some time in single-seaters. She earned her first podium positions this year: two overall second places at Most and Sachsenring. She was ninth in the championship. 

As well as TCR, she tried some more powerful machinery in the Audi Sport Seyffarth R8 LMS Cup, picking up a fifth place at Hockenheim as the best of her three finishes.

She has not always raced with a roof over her head; following a karting career that included a championship win in 2013, she initially gravitated towards the single-seater ladder. At the age of 16, she began her senior career in the ADAC Formula 4 championship.

It was a very steep learning curve and her best result in 2015 was a 20th place, in the last round of the season at Hockenheim. Her final championship position was 47th, and 19th in the Rookie standings. She was driving for the Engstler team. 

Another Formula 4 season beckoned for 2016, for Engstler. It turned out to be a part-season, and her best finish was 24th, at Hockenheim and Oschersleben. She missed the mid-part of the racing calendar and struggled for finances.

In 2017, she took her first steps in touring cars, racing a SEAT Leon in the STT (Spezial Tourenwagen Trophae) series with her brother, Mike. They earned a second and two third places at the Nurburgring and were tenth overall. This was Michelle’s first top-ten finish in cars and her first podium. 

She did consider a return to single-seaters in 2019 and was one of the initial 55 drivers under consideration for the all-female W Series. However, she chose to stick with TCR and ruled herself out of the W running before its first selection event, as the timetables of the two championships clashed. Her TCR victory was ironically overshadowed by the W Series finale.

2020 began in the German TCR series but the Halder team jumped ship to the European championship after deciding that they would get better value for money there. Michelle had already earned another podium at the Nurburgring in her Honda Civic. The first European round at Paul Ricard was a settling-in period and Michelle finished twelfth and thirteenth. In a very inconsistent and frustrating season, she won again at Zolder and had further top-ten finishes at Zolder, Monza and Catalunya. She was 15th in the championship.

Halder Racing entered a Cupra in to a couple of VLN races in the summer for Michelle and Mike, but they did not finish.

Michelle and Mike did much better in their 2021 VLN (now NLS) season. They were fourth in the SP3T class with one second and five third places.

Driving solo, Michelle competed in the Spanish TCR series, driving a Honda Civic. She was on the pace very quickly, sharing wins with her brother at Navarra in May, but two DNFs at Jarama followed and her chances of a title took a hit. She was third in the championship after another win at Valencia and three podiums at Barcelona.

Returning to European TCR, she ran for the full year. This was not a vintage season for Michele or the Halder Honda Civic; her best finish was thirteenth at the Norisring and she was 21st overall. A few guest appearances in the Danish TCR series at Jyllandsringen gave her an eleventh place.

A second season in TCR Denmark, driving the same car, gave her an eleventh place in the championship. Although she managed two fifth places early on at Jyllandsring and Djursland early on, her season was affected by several DNFs near the middle and missing the Bellahoj rounds completely.

In 2024, she switched her attention to sportscars, racing a Porsche 911 GT3. With her family team, she did two rounds of the Porsche Endurance Trophy at the Nurburgring. She shared the car with Mike. With a different four-driver team, including the rapper Smudo, she entered the Nurburgring 24 Hours. This Porsche was a concept car running on recycled biofuel. They were 53rd overall and won their class by default. The same team did two rounds of the VLN in the same car, winning their class in one race.

Her chief aim is to compete in the WTCR championship and she had put together a deal for 2021, although funding issues meant she had to scale back her plans.

(Image copyright reifenpresse.de)

Rallycross in Scandinavia

Magda Andersson

The Scandinavian nations produce many rallycross drivers and women get in on the action too, especially in the national championships. Camilla Antonsen and Susann Bergvall now have their own profile.

My Adolfsson - rallycross driver from Sweden. She raced in the Swedish junior championship in 2014, in a Vauxhall Corsa. Her first race came when she was still only 16. Due to car problems, she did not complete all the rounds. She was fifteenth overall in the NGK Masters, after finishing second in one of her qualifying races, then suffering more car trouble. Previously, she competed in Folkrace, from the age of fourteen, and she still races on occasion, in the Women’s class. Her 2015 season in the Swedish rallycross championship was badly affected by a leg injury to My, who sat out part of the year following surgery. At the end of the year, she returned for the season finale, driving her Corsa. She is or was part of Ramona Karlsson’s Young Female Drivers mentoring project. In 2017, she took part in Folkrace events and continued in the discipline.

Klara Andersson - winner of the Swedish 2150 class rallycross championship in 2021, driving a 1-series BMW. Later in the year, she entered the RX2e class of the FIA Rallycross championship, finishing fourth at Spa in her debut event. This followed a second place in the 2020 Swedish Junior Rallycross championship. 2020 was her third season in rallycross after several years of karting. She is a member of the Swedish Junior team and her sister, Magda Andersson, also competes in rallycross in Europe. In addition to rallycross, she tested an Extreme E car in Sardinia in October 2021. This led to an Extreme E seat with the Abt Cupra team in Chile and Uruguay, subbing for Jutta Kleinschmidt. She won her first X Prix in Uruguay. She was seventh in the 2022 World Rallycross RX1e championship, driving a PWR car. Her best finish was third in Portugal. She was called up for a full-time Extreme E drive for Cupra in 2023, sharing with Nasser al-Attiyah and Sebastien Loeb. She was sixth in the championship, with a best finish of third in Sardinia. In rallycross, she was seventh again in RX1e, finsihing fourth in Norway. It was a strong RX1 rallycross season for her in 2024, with a second place in Sweden and a third in Hungary, leading to sixth in the championship. The final Extreme E season wasn't quite as successful. She drove for the SUN Minimeal team with Timo Scheider and had a best finish of sixth in Scotland.

Magda Andersson – Swedish rallycross driver who competes in the European championships. She began her rallycross career in 2012, at the age of fourteen, when she was second in the JRX (Junior Rallycross) Cup. After a couple of seasons in JRX and in the Swedish championship, she started racing in the Touring Car class of the ERC in 2015. Her car was a Ford Fiesta. She made her first final in the second round of the championship, at Lydden Hill, finishing fifth. She was then second at Estering in Germany, and third in her home race of Höljesbanan, which gave her fourth in the championship. She returned to the Touring Car championship for 2016 and won the first round. She was second in the category overall. In 2017, she changed car and team, to a Marklund Motorsport-run VW Polo. She entered the Supercar class for the first time, but found it hard going. Her best result was a sixth place in France and she was 16th in the championship. She maintained her 16th place in 2018, although she was deducted some points for a technical infringement on her Peugeot 208 by her team, Dubourg Auto. Following sponsorship issues, she decided to take a year out in 2019. She has since stepped back from competition to support her sister, Klara.

Pernille Brinkmann Larsen - competed in Danish rallycross in a Group N Citroen Saxo in 2018. This appears to have been her first season in the category, although it looks as if she did some folkerace events prior to her rallycross debut. She was eleventh in Group N in her first season, although she did not appear at all of the rounds. Later, she raced a Peugeot 309. She now appears to be involved in the administration of the Danish rallycross championship.

Malin Gjerstad - began her career in Norwegian autocross in 2009, winning three of her events, plus the Ladies’ and Junior title. Driving a SAAB 900, she continued in 2010, venturing over the border into Sweden for their junior rallycross championship, in which she was fifteenth overall. She also continued with autocross, alongside her father Morten. After sitting out most of 2011 due to pregnancy, she returned in 2012, driving an Opel Corsa. Her one points finish in the Norwegian Class 1 championship was a fourth place, at Gardermoen Motorpark. She was twelfth in the 2013 championship, with one third place. She was driving the Corsa. She drove the same car in the 2014 Norwegian championship.

Ada Marie Hvaal - Norwegian driver who competes in both rallycross and stage rallying. She began in rallycross in 2012, when she was 14, finishing second in the JRX European Rallycross Series. Her car was a Citroen DS3. By the time she was 16, she was racing in the Norwegian WRX rounds in a Renault Clio, before moving up to the Super 1600 class in 2014 in a Peugeot 207. She has also competed in the Nordic series in a VW Beetle and a Citroen C2 in the European Rallycross Championship. On the rallying side, she began entering Norwegian rallies in a Ford Fiesta in 2018. Her best result has been 39th in the 2019 Rally Hadeland, driving a Renault Twingo.  She continued to rally the Twingo in 2020, with a best finish of 40th in the Sigdalsrally.

Mathilde Lindrup - Danish driver who races a Honda Civic in her home country. She won the Danish Group N rallycross championship in 2018, with two final wins at Lovel and Ornedalen in the early part of the season. She was fifth in the same class in 2017. Mathilde began racing at fourteen in Folkrace events, using a Peugeot 306. She won the Danish championship for under-16s in 2016. She is from a rallycross family and competes alongside her brother Frederik. In 2020 she moved to Switzerland to work as an au pair and was signed for a karting team there.

Majbritt Linnemann - Danish rallycross driver who drives a Peugeot 208 or 106 in the Danish Super 1600 championship. She was third in the category in 2018, with a best finish of second at Korskro. During the year, the 106 had to be almost completely rebuilt after an accident, but she was able to resume racing. In 2019, it was back out and she was fourth in the Super 1600 class. She started in this car in 2017 with a part-season in the same class, although she raced a 206 for a couple of years previously. After the shortened 2020 season, she was third in S1600, and then second in 2022. She moved up to S2000 in 2023, driving a Peugeot. Majbritt is from a motorsport family and often competes against her brother Ulrik.

Lise Marie Sandmo - Norwegian driver who won the Norwegian Junior rallycross title in 2012, driving a Honda Civic, at the age of 18. She was the first female driver to do so. She was also fourth in the senior Northern European Zone 1600 rallycross championship, with a best finish of fifth. Her driving career began in 2010, in rallycross, and she was second in her first race. In 2011, she was fifth in the junior series, as well as competing in autocross at Junior level. 2013 saw her win a second Norwegian junior championship, as will as finishing seventh in the Northern Europe Super 1600 championship. Her car was the Civic. In 2014, she entered two rounds of the European Rallycross Championship, driving a VW Polo in the Super 1600 class. She scored one point. She drove the Polo in some rounds of the European S1600 championship again in 2015, but her season was marred by a pitlane accident involving her father. She did at least some NEZ championship races in 2016, but the results are proving elusive. In 2020, she completely dominated the Danish Super 1600 Rallycross championship, still driving a VW Polo.

Fanny Thrygg - Swedish driver who has been driving in rallycross across Europe since at least 2005. 2005 was her first season in the European Championship, and she was 33rd in Division 2, driving a Peugeot 306. She was 32nd the following year, after finishing ninth in France. She did not do as well in 2007 and was only 35th. A string of final finishes pushed her up to 19th in 2008, still in the ageing 306. She was thirteenth in 2009, after three points finishes. As well as the European championship, Fanny also races in Sweden and makes appearances in other European events, although she does not seem to have competed since 2009.

Camilla Traerup - rallycross driver from Denmark. She has been active in the Danish championship since at least 2011 and has been racing for longer, having started in folkerace events in an Opel Astra in 2007. For most of her rallycross career, she has driven a Group N Honda Civic, in which she was second in class in 2017. Her car in 2018 was a Mitsubishi Colt.

(Image copyright Magda Andersson)

Female Saloon Racers from Thailand

Tachapan Vijittranon

Thai female drivers have made significant inroads into their national saloon racing scene in recent years. Most are active in the Thailand Super Series. A manufacturer-supported women-only one-make series for the Toyota Vios provides a way in for a few. Thai racers Nattanid Leewatanavalagul and Tachapan Vijittranon are now competing abroad too.

Tanchanok Charoensukhawatana - has won the Toyota Vios Lady Cup in Thailand at least twice. She has been one of its leading drivers for several years. In 2019, she moved into the main Vios Cup, earning at least one sixth place. For 2020, she competed in the more powerful Altis Cup on the Gazoo Racing bill. This was a smart move; she won the championship with four out of five wins. In 2024, she may have returned to the Lady Cup, which now uses the Altis. She began racing in 2013 in the Lotus Greater China series and became the first woman to earn a pole position at the Macau street circuit in a mixed race. She later raced in the Lotus Asia Cup alongside her father, Nattavude, in 2014. It appears that she raced a Toyota Yaris in the Super Eco class of the Thailand Super Series at some point, but language barriers mean that details of this are not clear. She has also raced a Toyota GT86 in Japan.

Phattaraporn Chongkitkhemmathat - raced a Honda City in the Super Production class of the Thailand Super Series in 2016. She was fifth in Class C, with two third places. This appears to be her only season in the championship. Previously, she raced a Toyota Vios in a one-make series in 2015. That year, she took part in a six-hour enduro in the car at Bangsaen.  

Panicha Dokchan - Thai racer who competes in the Special AWD and Super Turbo series in her home country. She drives for the Luknut World Pumps team. She has been racing since at least 2017 and has contested the support races for the Buriram 6 Hours at least twice. In the Super Turbo championship, her car is a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8. She raced in the Division 1 class, although she did not contest all the rounds in 2018. In 2019, she did at least some rounds of Thai Touring Cars in a TCR-spec SEAT Cupra. She finished at least one race at Buriram in sixth place. In 2020, she did at least some Super Turbo races. Panicha sometimes uses the name “Elle”.

Nattanid Leewatanavalagul (Kat Lee) - Thai racer who competes in one-makes and touring cars in Southeast Asia. She was third in the Thailand TCR Championship in 2017, driving a SEAT Leon. She won one race at Bangsaen, and scored four second and two third places. This followed two seasons in the Thailand Super Series, driving a Honda Jazz for Morin Racing. She won class C in 2015. Her earliest experiences of motorsport appear to be in a women-only series for the Toyota Vios in 2014. She entered the Chinese Mini Challenge in and did some rounds of the Asian TCR series in 2018. Her best result in TCR was a second place at Bangsaen, driving a SEAT Leon. She raced in the Super Compact class of the Thailand Super Series in 2019. In 2021, she made some guest appearances in the series, but was not registered for the championship. After a break, she did some rounds of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, sharing the car with Dechathorn Phuakkarawut. They were second in the Am class, with three wins. Driving a Huracan, Kat entered the Super Trofeo World Final, finishing eighth in the Am class.

Yotha Pavinee - raced in the Super Eco class of the Thailand Super Series. She was sixth in the 2017 championship, driving a Honda Brio. Her best overall finish was a ninth place at Buriram. In 2018, she stayed with the Thai Super Series but moved into the Super Compact class, driving a Honda Jazz for Morseng Racing. She continued in the series in 2019. 

Tachapan Vijittranon (Ploy) - Thai driver who raced in the Finnish touring car championship in 2017. Her car was a Mini. She had a best finish of second at Parnu from the six rounds that she entered, and she was eleventh in the championship. This was her first foray into European competition, although she has been active in Thai racing since she was 14, in 2012. Her first car was a Honda Jazz. In 2016, she was picked up by a women’s motorsport initiative run by Mazda, and drove a Mazda2 in the Thailand Super Series. She was racing in the Super Compact class and averaged a fourth-place finish throughout the year. It was her second season with the car.

(Image from http://www.nationmultimedia.com)