Anett György

Anett in 2016

Anett György is a Hungarian driver who races a Lotus Elise in the Hankook Racer Cup in Hungary.

She began her racing career in 2013, in the Lotus Ladies’ Cup, which was based in Eastern Europe. She was seventeen years old, and the youngest driver on the grid. It took her a few races to get into her stride, but she was soon fairly competitive, and averaging fourth or fifth place. Her first podium was at the Hungaroring, behind Adrienn Bende and Liesette Braams. She was fifth in the championship.

Anett returned to the Ladies’ Cup in 2014, and was soon one of the front-runners. By the time the series was cancelled in August, due to a dispute with the Hungarian motorsport authorities, she had scored three third places from six races, and had started from pole at the first round at Oschersleben. Unfortunately, she did not finish that race. She was fourth overall.

Later in the season, she joined the RCM Swift Cup for the last three races, at the Hungaroring. It proved a tough initiation, and her best results were two fourteenth places.

In 2015, she did the full series, and was a much improved driver. In her first race at the Hungaroring, she broke into the top ten, finishing ninth. During the season, she averaged tenth place, with a pair of sixths, at the Slovakiaring and the Hungaroring, as her best results. She was tenth in the championship.

In 2016, she went back to racing a Lotus Elise, but now in mixed competition. She entered the Hankook Racer Cup, and started the season in the best way possible, with a maiden win. This was followed by a second and third win at the same meeting. The wins kept on coming, and she was never lower than fifth in the final classification. She won the championship.

Her championship win allowed her to progress up the European ladder and pick up a drive in the European Touring Car Cup. She drove a SEAT Leon for Zengo Motorsport for most of the season, in the ETCC1 class. It was a challenging season, but she was 14th overall, and a consistent top-ten finisher when she was able to get to the end of races. She also did a couple of guest races in the TCR International Series at the Hungaroring, but was not among the frontrunners. 

During her first Lotus season, Anett became one of a tiny handful of father/daughter racing pairs to compete in FIA-sanctioned series at the same meeting. Her father, Gábor, also competes in the RCM Cup, and they raced against one another in 2015. The same year, Anett navigated for her father on the Szilveszter Rally, in a Suzuki Swift.

(Image copyright Anett György)

Female Drivers in One-Make Series: Hungary

Vivien Keszthelyi

Hungarian female drivers are making big strides into their domestic motorsport scene. The current favoured series is the RCM Cup, which allows very young drivers to race alongside more experienced competitors. The Lotus Ladies’ Cup also attracted a largely Hungarian field, especially in its earlier seasons. Anett György now has her own post. 

Annamaria Abari – Hungarian-born, but now a US passport holder. She did some races in the 2014 RCM Suzuki Swift Cup, finishing 19^th overall, with a best finish of ninth, at the Pannoniaring. Previously, she competed in karting in the USA, and she returned to senior competition after her Hungarian races. In 2016, she returned to cars, but in rallycross. She contested at least some rounds of the Hungarian Junior championship in a Suzuki Swift. She was also a competitive swimmer.

Edina Bús - winner of the Lotus Ladies’ Cup in 2011 and 2012, after an appeal in the case of the 2012 championship. She has 17 wins from 24 races in that series. Before the Ladies’ Cup, she raced Suzuki Swifts in her native Hungary. In 2008, she was fourth in the Hungarian Suzuki Swift Cup, and in 2009, ninth. In 2010, she raced in a bio-fuelled version of the Swift Cup, and was fourth in that. As part of the Ladies’ Cup, she has undertaken various media duties for Lotus. Her activities in 2013 included racing a Ferrari in the Central Europe Zone championship, alongside Norbert Kiss. She also did one race in India as part of the Lotus Ladies set-up. In 2014, she raced in the SEAT Leon Eurocup. Her best result was eighth, at Salzburg. She was 21st overall. Another season in the SEAT gave her 25th overall, with a best finish of thirteenth, at the Red Bull Ring. In 2016, she raced the SEAT in some rounds of the Hungarian touring car championship, and earned a second and third place at the Hungaroring. 

Stefánia Havellant - Hungarian driver who had her first season of racing in 2014. She competed in the Suzuki Swift Cup, in the Hungarian national class. Her best result has been seventh, at the Slovakiaring. She does not appear to have completed all of her races this season. Stefánia may well be from a motorsport family, as there are others in Hungarian motorsport with the surname Havellant. 

Vivien Miss – raced in the RCM Swift Suzuki Cup in Hungary in 2014. She did a part-season in the second half of the year, driving for the Proex team. Her best finish was fourteenth, and she was 23^rd in the championship. She was competing alongside her father, János Miss. She does not appear to have raced in 2015.  

Diána Simon – Hungarian driver who races in the Suzuki Swift Cup in Europe. She was a team-mate to Vivien Keszthelyi in 2015. Her best result so far has been a 17^th place. Diána was still only fifteen years old, but under Hungarian motorsport authority rules, could race as a senior. 2015 was her first year of senior competition.

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

Andrina Gugger

Andrina with her SEAT Leon, 2015

Andrina is a former karter from Switzerland, who has raced cars since 2008. Initially, she raced single-seaters, but she has since branched out and become a very versatile driver.

Her first two seasons were spent in Formula Lista Junior in Europe, first driving for Jo Zeller Racing, then for her family Gugger Racing team. She was fourth in 2008 and seventh in 2009, scoring one win in each season. In 2008, this came at the end of the year, at Monza, and followed a third place. In 2009, she won the first race of the season, at Dijon.

In 2010, she moved up to Formula Masters in Germany, driving for Mücke Motorsport. She could only manage fifteenth in the championship, but had a best finish of fifth at Oschersleben, again, in the firstrace of the season. By the end of the year, she had achieved five other top-ten finishes, but several DNFs dropped her down the rankings. During the off-season, she tested a GP3 car, becoming the first female driver to do so, but this did not lead to a race seat.

In 2011, she switched to sportscars, mainly driving a Maserati MC GranTurismo. She was eighth in the Maserati Trofeo Europe, after one podium finish, a third place at Spa. Her programme included six races in the earlier part of the season.

She also drove a Maserati in some Blancpain Endurance Series GT4 races, scoring a second at Magny-Cours and a third at Monza. Although she was scheduled to race at Navarra, she did not make the start. She shared the car with Devis Schwägli, another Swiss driver.

 As well as this, she raced in two rounds of the ADAC GT Masters, at the Red Bull Ring, in a Calloway Corvette. This car brought her less success than the Maserati; she could only manage a 30^th and 31^st place.

In 2012, she drove a Porsche 911 GT3 in the GT Masters, with Otto Klohs. Their best finish was 19th, at Zandvoort. Andrina had a 100% finishing record, but was not among the leading drivers in her class.

At the start of the season, she was thirteenth in the Dubai 24 Hours, driving a Porsche 997 for the same Auto Fach team. She was driving as part of a team of five.  

In 2013, she raced around Europe, including the Lotus Ladies' Cup. She took part in two races at the Slovakiaring, finishing third in one. This was not her only Ladies' Cup: she was awarded the ETCC Ladies' Cup also, finishing sixth in the S2000 class. Her best results were two fourth places, again at the Slovakiaring, and she was driving a Honda Civic.

2014 was very similar for her, with an eighth place in the ETCC, in the Civic. She managed one fourth place, at Spa, and two fifths, at Spa and Paul Ricard. Some non-finishes dropped her down the rankings somewhat, but she held on to the Ladies’ title. She did four rounds of the FIA Lotus Ladies' Cup, at the Oschersleben and Slovakiaring meetings. These gave her four fourths and one fifth place. She was also eighth overall in this championship.

In 2015, Andrina changed her racing direction again, and registered for the SEAT Leon Eurocup. She finished in 21st place, after a rather difficult season. Her best finish was seventh, at Estoril, although she has struggled at other circuits, apart from the Nürburgring, where she was ninth. She was one of five female drivers taking part in the Eurocup this year, and finished second in the Ladies’ standings.

(Image from http://www.andrinagugger.ch/)

Vicky (Vittoria) Piria

Vicky with her F3 car

Vicky, who is half Italian and half English, began her senior racing career early in 2009, at the age of sixteen. Previously, she had driven karts since childhood, although she had only a couple of years of serious competition behind her.

Her first season was a busy one, with rides in Formula Renault, Formula Light 2000 and Formel Lista Junior, in Italy and Europe. She started with Formel Lista Junior, racing at the first event of the season, at Dijon in France. She was fifteenth in her second race, but did not finish her first. After a break, she tried out Italian Formula Renault in July, again, for one meeting. She was fourteenth and thirteenth at Misano. A little later, she joined the Light class of Italian Formula 2000 for the second half of its season. Her best finish was ninth, at Varano, her second race. She also managed tenth places at Misano and Adria, and was 19th overall. Despite gaining a lot of experience, she did not compete in enough races in any series to mount a serious challenge. After the close of the main motorsport season, she returned to Formula 2000 for the Winter Trophy, and scored one fourth place, at Adria. This year, she raced under a British license, which she is entitled to hold, due to her mother’s nationality.

In 2010 she concentrated on the Campionato Italiano Formula ACICSAI Abarth championship, but found it tough-going, competing against older drivers with at least a year’s more single-seater experience. She did not score many points. Her best finish was 16th, at Magione. Her early season results were better than her later ones, and she did prove herself capable of running in the top twenty.

She had a full season in 2011, driving in the Formula ACICSAI Abarth series, and Formula Abarth Europe. She was racing for Prema Powerteam in both series. In the Italian championship, she only entered four races, finishing three of them. She was closer to the pace this year, with two eleventh places and a fourteenth, at Varano. In the European championships, she was quite competitive, with a best finish of eighth, at Monza. She also scored two ninth places, at Valencia and Catalunya. The Valencia result was her first of the season. She was eighteenth overall.

In 2012, she raced in GP3. Her initial plan had been Italian Formula 3, and she had posted some very competitive times in testing. However, an offer of a higher-profile series was too tempting for Vicky, and she accepted, despite having limited experience of racing at this level, or in a car this powerful. Her best finish was twelfth, at Monte Carlo. Mostly, she finished in the lower part of the top twenty, although she did manage a fourteenth at Hockenheim. Unfortunately, she crashed quite heavily in the second race, and was injured. She was unplaced in the championship.

Away from GP3, Vicky travelled to Austria for a guest appearance in the Lotus Ladies Cup, early in the season. This was her first experience of sportscar racing. At the end of the season, she travelled somewhat further, to India, for four rounds of the MRF Challenge, at Irungattukotai. She was eleventh, fifteenth, eighth and fifth, learning the track as the race weekend wore on.

2013 was the year she finally got a seat in a Formula Three car. She drove for RP Motorsport first of all, in the European F3 Open Winter Series, where she was fourth at Jerez. For the Open Series proper, she was with BVM Motorsport, alongside Mario Marasca. As had happened before, her season started quite badly, with a 23rd place at Paul Ricard, but she then rallied, and was fourth the next day. She did not manage to better her fourth place for the rest of the season, but she did obtain six more top-ten finishes, eighth and ninth places at Portimao, the Nürburgring, Jerez, Silverstone and Catalunya. She was tenth in the championship, one place behind her team-mate.

In 2014, Vicky decided to move to the States, in order to take her first steps on the Indycar ladder. She signed up for the Formula Star Mazda Pro Series, with JDC Motorsports. Again, she had a difficult start to the season, and was sent out of her first race, at St Petersburg, by a crash, which also put her out of the second race. At Barber, she was thirteenth in both of her races, out of twenty drivers. Sadly, this seems to have been her last involvement with the series.

In 2015, she returned to Europe, and moved into saloon-based competition. She did not race for most of the season, but in October, she took part in the Imola round of the Mitjet silhouette racing series. Part of her year was taken up with her participation in the Roadto24 contest, a TV-based challenge to find a driver for Le Mans.

She did not race in 2016, although she remained involved in motorsport as an instructor and as a brand ambassador. After another long break, she made a comeback as part of the all-female W Series, driving an F3 car for the first time in six years. She was ninth in the championship with a best finish of fifth at Misano.

Opportunities were limited for Vicky in 2020 as W Series was cancelled due to coronavirus. She made a couple of appearances in the Formula Renault Eurocup, which uses a similar car to W Series. Her best result from four races was a tenth place at Magny-Cours. She was also one of the guest drivers for the Smart E-Cup in Italy, racing at Magione. This is a one-make championship for electric Smart cars. 

W Series ran again in 2021 and Vicky was part of it. Unfortunately she was not one of the leading drivers and only once managed to finish in the top ten. Her best finish was tenth at Silverstone, although she came close with an eleventh at Zandvoort. She was 19th in the championship and was not invited back in 2022.

Post W Series, she moved into GT racing, entering the Italian GT championship in a Porsche 991 GT3. Sharing the car with Francesca Linossi, she finished as high as third in the Pro-Am GT Cup class at Mugello. They got quicker towards the end of the season. Her second season in the championship, in 2023, was in another 991, shared with Kikko Galbiati. They did three races togethe,r with one win at Vallelunga.

Vicky's new challenge for 2024 was electric powerboat racing: she was signed by Sergio Perez's E1 Championship team alongside Dani Clos. However, she still found time for a round of the Italian GT Championship, driving a Porsche 911 and finishing second in the Pro-Am class at Monza. She also did some races in the Swiss Porsche Sprint Challenge. 

(Image from http://www.toilef1.com/Semaine-des-femmes-en-sport-auto.html)

The Lotus Ladies' Cup

In the 2010s, Lotus has been promoting itself through one-make racing series across the world. In eastern Europe, one of these series is the Lotus Ladies’ Cup.

The Cup had its first season in 2011, and was based in Hungary. The cars were 1600cc Elises. The drivers were recruited through media advertising and training sessions held at the Hungaroring. The majority of the drivers were complete novices, and several of them were known media figures, including TV presenters and beauty queens. Fourteen drivers in all took part: twelve for the whole championship, and two for guest appearances only. They were organised into teams, who ran the cars. The championship consisted of thirteen races across six rounds, in Hungary, with one race in Slovakia.

The first winner was Edina Bús, one of the only 2011 entrants with previous motorsport experience. She won ten of the races.

2011 Final Results

1. Edina Bús

2. Adrienn Walterne Dancso

3. Nora Budaházi

4. Adrienn Bende

5. Ramóna Kiss

6. Szilvia Szas

7. Anett Benik-Garami

8. Ágnes Bánki

9. Anett Köváry

10. Nóra Nánási-Ördög

11. Brigitta Nagy

12. Agnes Molnar

13. Kata Répa

14. Fanni Szentgyorgyi

In 2012, the championship returned. Eleven drivers took part this year, in six teams. Again, it was based in Hungary, with outings in Slovakia, Austria and the UK, in support of other Lotus championships. The title went down to the last round, with Edina Bús up against Adrienn Bende, a former model who was acting as the championship co-ordinator. Adrienn won the race and the title, despite a protest from Edina that the finish procedure not been followed correctly.

2012 Final Results

1. Adrienn Bende

2. Edina Bús

3. Nora Budaházi

4. Ágnes Bánki

5. Szilvia Szas

6. Anett Köváry

7. Anita Tóth

8. Brigitta Nagy

9. Adrienn Vogel

10. Zsóka Kapócs

11. Alexandra Kocsis

The Ladies’ Cup ran again in 2013. This time, it was an FIA-sanctioned championship, and attracted drivers from all over Europe, and one Puerto Rican driver. It was completely dominated by Sheila Verschuur, of the Netherlands, who won nine of the twelve races. Adrienn Bende won the other three.

The "Lotus Ladies" also travelled to India during the European off-season, to compete in the Ultima Queens Cup, a women's race, at Buddh. Sheila Verschuur was the winner.

2013 Final Results
1. Sheila Verschuur
2. Adrienn Bende
3. Szilvia Szas
4. Liesette Braams
5. Anett György
6. Veronika Vanyova
7. Dorottya Kapitány
8. Szilvia Bujdosó
9. Glory Fernandez
10. Fruzsina Marenec
11. Renate Wilschut-Sanders
12. Andrina Gugger
13. Kim Guven van den Berg

A fourth Ladies' Cup was held in 2014. There was a decent-sized grid, with some interesting guest drivers, including former pro, Catharina Felser, and ski champion, Cornelia Hütter. However, the championship was shortened to six races, due to a dispute between the organisers, and the Hungarian motorsport authorities. Adrienn Bende and Adrienn Vogel were the leading drivers, and the only ones to record wins.

2014 Final Results
1. Adrienn Bende
2. Adrienn Vogel
3. Renate Wilschut-Sanders
4. Anett György
5. Szilvia Bujdosó
6. Andrina Gugger
7. Fruzsina Marenec
8. Veronika Vanyova
9. Glory Fernandez
10. Beáta Patkó
11. Catharina Felser
12. Cornelia Hütter

(Picture from http://www.facebook.com/LotusLadiesCup/photos_stream)