Natasha Tundo

Natasha co-driving for her father, Frank

Natasha Tundo is a Kenyan rally driver whose usual car is a Subaru Impreza. She is from a rallying family; her father Frank and brother Karl are also rally drivers. Her first experience in a rally car was at the age of three, when her father drove her around part of the Safari Rally course in his own car.

She started driving in rallies in 2015, after several years of co-driving, often for Frank. She and Carl won the 2012 Guru Nanak Rally together in 2011, with Carl driving the family Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX.

She and Chantal Young drove a Subaru Impreza STi in the 2015 Kenyan championship, under the team name “Rally Chix”. Natasha’s best finish was 19th, in the Nakuru Rally. She had entered the Safari Rally earlier in the year, but had to retire; this was her only non-finish of the year. She was 32nd in the Kenyan championship, tied with Rob Hellier and George Njoroge. 

In 2016, she did a full season in the Kenyan championship, in the Impreza. Her best result was an eleventh place in the Safari Rally. This was one of four top-twenty finishes she achieved that year.

Another season in the Kenyan series followed in 2017. Her best finish was twelfth, in the Fly540 RSC Rally. She was also fourteenth in the Eldoret Rally. This was her last time in the driver's seat for a while. Her attentions turned to co-driving for her father again, making trips to New Zealand, Bulgaria and the UK, in this case the 2021 Roger Albert Clark historic rally. Their usual car was a Triumph TR7, but they used a Ford Escort RS1800 for the Silver Fern Rally in New Zealand.

Her comeback as a driver was in 2022, when she was second in the 2022 Lioness Rally with Chantal, in the Impreza. This was an all-female event In Kenya, won by Maxine Wahome in a similar car. Chantal had sat beside Maxine in the previous year's Safari.

In 2023, she was eighth in the Safari Rally, her best result in a mixed event. She does not appear to have competed in 2024.

(Image from monitor.co.ug)

Maxine Wahome

 Maxine Wahome is the leading female rally driver currently active in Africa.

She competes in rallies and autocross in her home country, as well as being a major figure in Kenya’s Women in Motorsport association. 

Her car for 2021 was a Subaru Impreza, which she used in the African championship, finishing tenth. Her best finish was fifth in the KCB Thika Rally, although she also featured strongly in the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally, finishing sixth and winning Group N. She was tenth in both the Kenyan and African championships and third in the African Junior championship.

She was the first woman for several years to finish the Safari Rally in 2022. The event was running as part of the World Championship after a long hiatus. Two female drivers had entered, but Danish Lisa Christoffersen’s car failed scrutineering. Driving a Ford Fiesta Rally3 for the first time on gravel, Maxine was one of a large proportion of the competitors who had to finish under SuperRally rules, earning a 17th place and a WRC3 class win. 

This was her second Safari, although she only entered the national event in 2021.

This followed a win in the Lioness Rally, the first all-female event held in Kenya. She drove the Impreza this time.

Maxine has rallied across East Africa. In 2022, she competed in Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda in addition to Kenya. Her best event was a home one, the Bamba Rally Mombasa, in which she was fifth.

Originally she was a motocross rider and was one of the top three fastest in Kenya. She switched to autocross in 2020, then rallying in 2021.

(Image copyright FIA)

Jade Paveley

 

Jade Paveley is a British rally driver and motorsport broadcaster, often seen in a Subaru Impreza.

Although she is probably best known for her rallying, she began her career on the circuits. Her first year of competition was in 2010, aged seventeen. She was racing in Britcar, in a Mazda UK Mazda MX-5 run by Jota Motorsport. Her usual team-mate was David Hooper. The car was lacking in power compared to others in its class, so Jade was unable to challenge for outright or even class wins, but she became the youngest person to finish a 24-hour race at the season-ending Britcar 24 Hours at Silverstone. 

In 2011, her actual racing programme was quite limited, although she did try out some other roles within motor racing. She tested with the Lotus F1 team as a crew member, and also crewed for the Mazda team during the Valencia 6 Hours. In return, she drove for Mazda in the Snetterton 12 Hour race and was second overall, first in class. 

She also entered some MX-5 Cup races as a Mazda guest driver. As well as this, she undertook various pieces of media work, including captaining a driving squad for a TV show. 

This approach continued in 2012: she was based in Ireland for some Formula Ford races with the Murphy Prototypes team, mainly working as a development driver. She also drove a Mazda prototype at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and undertook some other testing. 

In 2013, she was linked with a Mini Challenge drive, which does not seem to have happened. She drove in some club events including the Birkett 6-Hour Relay, but it is here that she takes the rally path. Her first event was the Toyota Harlech Stages, driving a Ford Fiesta. She was 32nd overall. She also tried co-driving for her father Dave and for Steve Hopewell, but chose the driving seat.

In 2014, she switched full-time to rallying. She competed around the UK in a Subaru Impreza and a Mitsubishi Lancer, with a best finish of fifteenth, in the Glyn Memorial Stages. The Lancer belonged to Dave, who had previously competed in it since about 2007.

She continued to rally the Impreza in 2015, and was an impressive ninth in the Toyota Harlech Stages. 

In 2016, she did not enter as many events, but kept competing in her father’s Lancer. Despite another short season in 2017, she was sixth in the SMC Stages, in this car, a career-best result. 

She was back rallying an Impreza in 2018 Welsh Tarmac rallies and earned three top-twenty finishes, on her way to a Welsh junior title. The best of these was a 15th place in the Rali Cwm Gwendraeth. This improved to a twelfth place in the 2019 Gareth Hall Memorial Rally. 

Although she did relatively few competitive rallies in 2019, she was quite active in demonstration events for Jaguar. She was brought in to drive their one-off F Type rally special at events including the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Opportunities for rallying were limited in 2020 due to coronavirus, but she did two events in two different cars, the Impreza and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III in which she was thirteenth in the Rali Adfer Coedwigoedd Cymru. This was her first gravel rally and her father navigated for her.

The enforced layoff took Jade in a new direction, however. She launched the Motorsport Now podcast and developed her broadcasting career. In 2021 she has reported on the World Rally Championship. She combined this with some outings in the Impreza, including a twelfth-place finish in the Gareth Hall Memorial Rally.

Another new challenge for her was joining the Excite Rally Raid team for the British Cross Country Championship. She and her two co-drivers won their class at the Parkwood rally raid. The team is preparing for a future Dakar entry. 

Her media career continued in 2022, with stage-end reporting at several WRC events. Her off-road adventures were curtailed by the cancellation of hte British Cross Country series, but she still managed some stage rallies in the Impreza. She did two events at the Epynt ranges in Wales, with a best finish of 27th in the Dixies Challenge Rally.

The Impreza was not forgotten in 2023: it came out for the Three Shires and Lee Holland Memorial Stages.

(Image copyright Jade Paveley)

Christine Giampaoli Zonca

 

Christine Giampaoli Zonca, also known as Christine GZ, is best known as being one of the first drivers in the debut season of Extreme E, an electric off-road championship.

Christine competes under an Italian license, despite spending her early childhood in India and mainly competing in her adopted home of the Canary Islands. She also studied engineering in the UK. Her career encompasses stage rallying and buggy-based off-road rallying. 

Her first rally appears to have been the Corralejo-Majanicho Rallysprint in 2013, although she did not even get to the start in her self-built VW Golf as the rally was cancelled. Throughout her career, she has used her training to work on her own cars

She returned in 2014 and her first event was the San Bartolomé slalom. Christine, the only non-Spanish entrant, was 25th overall, driving a Toyota Corolla. She states on her website that the Corolla was the car that made her want to take up rallying. It remained her favoured car in 2014 and her first stage rally, the Tierra Isla Verde Rally, gave her a fourteenth place with a class win. She achieved two more top-twenty finishes in the Canary Islands and was 18th in the islands’ gravel championship, with a class win. In slaloms, she did even better, with a best finish of fourth in the Isla de Lanzarote-Tinjo event. She was 16th overall in the Canary Islands Gravel championship and won the 2WD class.

2015 had more of the same. She combined slaloms and stage rallies again and achieved her first top ten on the stages, a ninth place in the Isla de los Volcanes Rally. Her car was the Corolla. She entered five rallies that year, but was plagued by car trouble, and only finished two of them. Slaloms were a happier hunting ground and her best finish was fourth again in the Lanzarote-Tinjo slalom. During the season, she was signed up by the Spanish motorsport association for a two-year development programme, supported by Peugeot. Her first event in a Peugeot was the Rallye de Tierra at Malaga, but she retired due to mechanical failure.

In 2016, she started the year with slaloms in a Subaru Impreza. This had been her road car until she converted it herself to Group N spec. Her first event of the year was the La Candelaria - Tias event and she was second overall. Later, she did the Isla de los Volcanes event in it, finishing fourteenth. Her Peugeot deal led to several drives in an R2-spec 208, including a run in the WRC Rally Catalunya. She finished 49th overall. Her best finish in the 208 that year was a 16th place in the Ciutat de Valls Rally, one of the first asphalt rallies she had tried.

She was the top female driver in the Spanish gravel championship and third in the Junior class, as well as third in the overall Spanish women's championship. Away from Spain, she did her first international rally in a Ford Fiesta: the Bianco Azzurro Rose‘n’Bowl event in San Marino. She was 31st.

In 2017, she rallied four different cars, including the Impreza, a Fiesta R2 and two different Peugeots. She entered the Rally of Catalunya in a Peugeot 208, but did not finish. As well as stage rallies, she was very active in off-roading, having joined the US-based Dynamic Racing team. Her events included the Mexican Baja 500 and the Californian Baja 1000, driving a SxS buggy. A year that began with plans to contest the European Rally Championship ended up bringing her into another motorsport world and she showed promise, with a best finish of tenth.

Off-roading became her focus in 2018, although she did enter a Can-Am Maverick buggy into some Spanish gravel rallies too. She was eighth in the Ciutat de Tarrega rally and 15th in the Ralli Vidreres de Terra. In pure off-road competition, she was active in America again, but she also tried her first FIA Cross-Country World Championship rallies in Portugal and Spain. She was tenth in the Baja Portugal.She switched teams to the Avatel setup for European events in 2020, although the coronavirus crisis prevented a lot of events from happening..

After spending 2019 and part of 2020 in Spanish off-roading, she was announced as a driver for the Xite Hispano-Suiza team for Extreme E, an electric eco-conscious off-road championship which features male-female teams. She was signed alongside rallycross driver Oliver Bennett. They were fifth in the Desert XPrix in Saudi Arabia then sixth in the Ocean XPrix, held at Lac Rose in Senegal. These were their best results of the season; although Christine got progressively quicker as the year went on, the team struggled. She was announced as the 2022 female driver for Veloce in January.

As well as Extreme E, Christine contested the 2021 Iberia Cup for cross-country rallies. She won the T1N class in the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura, driving a Toyota Hilux.

Her time with Veloce in Extreme E started badly with a broken foot in qualifying for the season-opening Desert X-Prix in Saudi. She was replaced by championship driver Hedda Hosas. The long gap between rounds one and two meant that she was able to return for the second round in Sardinia, but she and Lance Woolridge could only manage eighth. They did not reach any finals this year and both drivers were replaced for the final round in Uruguay, with Christine taking over as championship driver. 

She started 2023 as a driver for Carl Cox's team, who had bought out Xite. Together with Timo Scheider, she managed on third place in the first Scottish race, but their car was not fit to race the next day and they dropped out. Christine was replaced by Lia Block for the rest of the season, although she did deputise as championship driver for the last two rounds. 

Much of the rest of 2023 was spent preparing for her first attempt at the Dakar in 2024. She joined the TC Racing team in a Can-Am SSV, partnered by Ricardo Torlaschi. They did not finish.

There were no more Extreme E rounds in 2024, although she was one of the series' championship drivers for the first two races. 

(Image copyright Extreme E)

Jane Gunningham

 

Jane Gunningham was one of Britain’s leading female rally drivers in the 1990s.

She competed to British Championship level between 1992 and 1997, mainly in a Subaru Impreza and a Peugeot 306. As well as home events, she occasionally drove in Europe and the Middle East.

Born in 1974, she started rallying early, at 18. She trained at the prestigious John Haugland rally school in Norway, and was highly-regarded by her mentor. 

Her first car was a slightly unusual one; a Mazda 323. It was her main car in 1992 and 1993 and it did not bring her a great deal of success. The 1992 Vauxhall Astra Stages ended in retirement, then failed to finish her first three events of 1993, including a roll on the first stage of the Granite City Rally in Scotland. Her best event was the Midland Rally in Welshpool. She was 25th overall and sixth in class. Gaining more confidence towards the end of the year, she was 28th in the Premier Stages, from 72 finishers.

A season divided between the BTRDA in the UK and the Middle East championship followed in 1994. Jane joined up with the experienced Pauline Gullick to rally another Mazda 323 in the Qatar and Jordan Rallies. She was 19th in Jordan but her finishing position in Qatar is not recorded.

A 1600cc Peugeot 205 was waiting for her back in the UK. The clutch had failed on the season-opening Wyedean Stages, but otherwise it was a reliable car on gravel. Her best overall BTRDA result was a 31st place in the Castrol Crystal Forest Rally, but she also finished second in class on the Woodpecker Stages. Her 53rd overall sounds less impressive, but there were 141 finishers in the event. 

Away from the BTRDA series, she entered the Masters of Morden Mini Tempest Stages, finishing a career-best seventh. Her co-driver was Julia Rabbett, who would sit beside her for her first RAC Rally later in the year. She was 68th, gaining many places on the final day and making up for some early time penalties.

The British Rally Championship was the logical next step in her career. After a pre-season 21st place in the 1995 Kall Kwik Stages, she switched from a 205 to a 306 and took on her first BRC event, the Rally of Wales. She was 32nd, thirteenth in class, not helped by penalties. After the retirement of the highly-regarded Stephanie Simmonite, she took the lead of the Ladies’ points table.

Sadly, this was to be her last finish of the year, handing the Ladies’ title to Stephanie Simmonite. She retired from the other four BRC rallies, crashing out of two and suffering mechanical failures on the others.

She had more success in the 1996 British championship, ending the season 19th overall in the 306 after three points finishes. The best of these came from a 20th place on the Ulster Rally, just behind her old mentor John Haugland. She was also 22nd on the Manx Rally. 

Away from the BRC, she and her regular navigator Joyce Champion travelled to Belgium for the Ypres 24 Hours. Driving the 306, Jane was 57th and eleventh in class.

Her 1997 season began with a one-off run in a SEAT Ibiza for the Scottish Rally, but she crashed out on the third stage. The rest of the year was spent in a Group N Subaru Impreza, mostly in BRC rallies and co-driven by Stella Boyles. Once more, the Ulster Rally was her best event and she was 19th, sixth in class. This was followed by a 20th place on the Woodpecker Rally. 

Her only other WRC entry, in the 1997 RAC Rally, ended in retirement following an accident on the final day. This would prove to be her final event.

She now lives in Scotland.

Kumi Sato

Kumi Sato is a well-travelled Japanese driver and motoring journalist. In 1997 she became the first female driver to race in Japanese Super GTs. 

Between 1997 and 2001, she raced GTs in the B class of the Japanese championship. The first car she used was a Toyota Cavalier. The Cavalier was a rebadged Toyota-engined Vauxhall that she raced in 1997 in the GT300 class. The car was shared with Minoru Tanaka and was not able to compete with the fastest in the class but it managed a best finish of fourth at Mine. Kumi raced the Cavalier again in 1998, sharing it with a rota of drivers including Junko Mihara. It was not overly reliable and did not better its fourth place. Kumi is still Super GT’s highest-finishing woman driver.

Her cars included a Tom's Spirit Toyota MR-S, which she used in 2000 and 2001, and a Celica. 

Her best finish in 2001 was 19th, at Suzuka. The MR-S was not particularly reliable and only finished four of its seven races that year.

Although her first Super GT races were in 1997, she had been competing for some time in Japan, having started her career shortly after graduating in pharmacy. She raced in the Super Taikyu series in 1990 and then moved into the Japanese Touring Car Championship for the next three seasons. Her car was a Honda Civic and she managed a couple of podium positions in 1991 and 1993. 

In 1994, she spent some time in the UK, racing another Honda Civic in the Snetterton 24 Hour race for Mardi Gras Motorsport. She also competed in the Spa 24 Hours in a similar car run by Team Honda Challenge. She and her team-mates were thirteenth overall. A second attempt at the Spa 24 in 1995, in a Toyota Corolla this time, led to a 19th place. She was part of an all-female team with Junko Mihara and Michiko Okuyama. The same year, she entered her second Suzuka 1000km in a Porsche 964, but this was not a race that she ever managed to finish.

Her Super GT adventures ended in 2001 but this was only the beginning of a long co-operation between Kumi and the Toyota Gazoo Racing team. She was regular fixture in the Nürburgring 24 Hours until very recently, usually driving a car built by the Toyota group. Her first outing was in 2003, when she was 61st in a Toyota Altezza with two other Japanese drivers.

Her 2004 24 Hours was something of an exception, as she drove a Mazda RX7 for the D-Dream team. They were third in class, 20th overall.

2005 was another exception. She drove a Subaru Impreza in Germany, coming 14th overall and second in class at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Her co-drivers were Stephane Sarrazin, Kazuo Shimizu and Toshihiro Yoshida. 

She returned to the 24 Hours in 2008 and 2011, driving a hybrid-technology Lexus for Toyota Gazoo Racing. 

In 2012 and 2013, she drove for the team in some rounds of the VLN, in preparation for the Nürburgring 24 Hours. 

In 2014, she raced in the 24 Hours again, in a Toyota GT86. She was 54th, with an all-Japanese team. This followed a taste of rallying in TRD Rally Challenge in Japan in a GT86.

She has continued to race newer Toyota cars at the Nürburgring, including a run in the 2016 race in a C-HR SUV.

Daria Bakai

Daria Bakai, also known as Dasha, is a Ukrainian driver who rallies Mitsubishi Lancers in her home championship, regularly finishing in the top ten.

Dasha was keen on rally cars from a very early age. Her first road car was a Mitsubishi Lancer which she had saved up for between the ages of 18 and 20, although in a Red Bull interview, she confessed to having several minor accidents in it. Despite the roadgoing Lancer not being best-suited to high-speed sprints, she began her competition career in drag racing. She decided on rallying as her preferred career after spectating at the Yalta Rally. 

She began rallying seriously in 2014 and competed extensively in both the Ukrainian championship and the regional Kherson Cup. Her car was a very old Group N Subaru Impreza, as it was the only decent rally car she could afford. Her best result was a sixth place in the Kozatske Rally, but her most prestigious result was probably her tenth place in the Galicia Rally. This was her second top-ten of the year, after another tenth in the Skhydnytsia Rally. She was fourth in class in the Ukrainian championship. 

In 2015, she was still rallying the Impreza. Her best result was a sixteenth place in the Yedyna Krayina One Country Rally. 

In 2016, she performed well in Ukrainian championship rallies. She was seventh in the Golden Fall Rally in the Impreza and eighth in the Khersonske Rally in a Peugeot 206. This was despite having to commute home from Belgium, where she was working. She also found time to compete in Belgium for the 6 Hours of Kortrijk, driving a Ford Fiesta. 

In the end, rallying won out over her work and she moved back to Ukraine. A short break followed while she sold the Impreza and searched for a quicker car. 

Half-way through the 2017 season she finally got to drive her favourite car in anger, rallying a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X in a limited programme. She was third in the XADO DRC rally and fourth in the Rally Kuyainik. 

She repeated her third place in the XADO event in 2018, alongside two other top-ten finishes in Ukrainian rallies. One of these was a ninth place in the Rallye Uman, a Ukrainian championship round where she ran as high as fifth.

Her 2019 season in the Lancer was affected by a couple of bad accidents but when she finished, she was strong. She was third in the Rally Severyn, having won the first stage, and fourth in the Rallye Shchuroftsi. 

Her final championship position was sixth in the regional Liman Cup and would probably have been much higher without the mishaps, which included a fire in the XADO event and radiator trouble in the preceding Rallye Kuyalnik. 

Daria was unable to start her season in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but she was more than ready when the Ukrainian championship did get under way. Driving the same Lancer, she was fourth in her national championship with four top-five positions. The best of these was a fourth place in the Rally Stolytsia. She was fifth in the Galicia and Trembita rallies.

She was fifth in both the Ukrainian and Liman championships in 2021, driving the Evo X. Her best result was another podium, a third in the Rally Kuyalnik, but she was not far off in the Rally Trembita, finishing fourth and less than 2s off third.

Sabrina Shaw

Sabrina Shaw found fame as the youngest-ever competitor on the RAC Rally, aged seventeen years and two months, in 1998. 

She was briefly British rallying’s “next big thing”, following on from Janie Eaton and Francine Bogg who had been the youngest women drivers before her earlier in the decade.

Her 1998 RAC Rally car was a SEAT Ibiza and she was 79th. This was not her first rally car; she had used a Daihatsu Charade to do her first events in order to get the appropriate signatures on her license. Her first rally came just four days after gaining her driving license and she ended up rolling the Daihatsu down a cliff after a suspension component failed. She was not seriously hurt, although the car was a write-off. It had been borrowed and incredibly, she was loaned another car for the five more rallies she needed to complete to get her international license. 

Her father Lindsay was a rally driver himself and acted as Sabrina’s co-driver for her early events. Experienced navigator Mike Panes sat with her for the RAC Rally.

The SEAT drive was a one-off and Sabrina’s car for her next outing was a Ford Ka. She drove it in the 1999 Vauxhall Astra Stages Rally. She and Julia Rabbett were 54th overall and second in class. This was replaced by a Peugeot 106 which she used for the rest of the year. Most of this was spent in the UK, with outings in the British Rally Championship and the National Rally Championship. She entered the Ulster Rally but did not finish, and was 59th overall on the Bulldog Rally.

She also drove a Peugeot 106 Rallye in the China Rally in 1999, finishing in 25th place, alongside Chinese navigator Shouli Xu. The drive came about through the Chinese magazine Champion Racers, for which Shouli Xu was the editor, and Sabrina’s manager Andy Moss, who was instrumental in bringing rallying to China. Sabrina’s second World Championship rally ended in a 25th place. She had taken part in one of the earliest rallies in mainland China open to international drivers, as part of a female crew.

Later, she acquired an Impreza for the 2000 RAC Rally, but failed to finish, going out on the fourth stage with a mechanical problem. 

She continued to drive the 106 in 2000, in rallies including the BTRDA North Humberside Forest Rally. 

Early on, Sabrina expressed a wish to become a professional driver and she took time out from catering college in 1998 to commit herself. She was instructed and mentored by Gwyndaf Evans and SEAT UK provided her with her car for the 1998 RAC Rally but her family was still having to find large sums of money for each event. The 2000 RAC was her last international rally.

(Image copyright Getty Images)

Susan Muwonge

Susan Muwonge is a multiple rally-winning Ugandan driver active since 2005. She is also known by her nickname, “Super Lady”.

At first, she drove a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 2 in rallysprints. She first competed in 2005, but burst onto the African rally scene in 2007, finishing the Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally in fifth place. Her car was a Subaru Impreza and she was the only woman to do complete the rally. She also won her country’s Clubmans’ championship.

The following year, she made the finish in Uganda, in fifth place. She also took part in the East African Rally Challenge, and was fourth in the Pearl of Africa event. At around this time, other female drivers began to appear in the Ugandan championship, and they often went by nicknames like Susan’s “Super Lady”. Rose Lwakataka, another Ugandan driver, was “The Black Bullet”.

In 2009, she concentrated on the Ugandan National championship, and was rewarded with her first outright win on the UMOSPOC Rally. She was fifth in the final standings.

She went back to rallysprints in Uganda in 2010, then returned to the African stages in 2011. This resulted in two wins in the season-opening MMC Rally and the Independence Rally, on the way to a Ugandan national championship title. She scored points in all of her events and earned two additional podium finishes. This was the first time this title had been won by a woman driver.

She planned to take a break in 2012 after certain rivalries went too far, but ended up back in the Ugandan championship. She did not win this time, but was the sole female finisher in the Pearl of Africa rally, in fifth place.

In 2013, she contested three rallies, coming seventh in the Pearl of Africa Rally in the Impreza, but recording DNFs in the MPU Challenge Rally and the Mosac Easter Sprint.

In 2014, she made another appearance in the Pearl of Africa Rally, and was thirteenth, in the Impreza. This was her only rally, as she had lost her major sponsor.

She was back in action in 2015, in an Impreza. Her best finish was a fifth place, in the Mountains of the Moon Rally. She was also sixth in the Pearl of Africa Rally.

In 2016, she was fourth in the Mountains of the Moon event, in the Impreza.

Susan returned to winning form in 2018, winning the Oryx Energies Elgon Rally outright in the Impreza. She also scored one second and two third places from seven events, the second spot on the crucial last round, which she started five points behind her nearest rival. This was enough to take her to a second Ugandan championship, even before she was promoted to winner of the Mbale final round due to a 10-minute penalty to Hassan Alwi.

Her critics claimed that she only won because three-time champion Jas Mangat withdrew, but she pointed to her previous title and said “you can’t fluke twice.”

2019 had a much lighter schedule with just three major rallies, one of which Susan finished. She was eleventh in the Lato Milk Mbarara Rally, in the Impreza.

She made a small comeback in 2023, bringing the Impreza to the Boxing Day Sprint at Busiikaa gravel event. She was sixth overall from 26 drivers.

Away from rallying, she is a teacher and runs a small school with her husband.

(Image from https://sports.chimpreports.com)

Megan Verlaque

Megan Verlaque competes in the South African rally championship. She began her own successful driving career after navigating for her sister, Lola.

The Verlaques are a rallying family. Sisters Megan and Lola have been a fixture on the African rallying scene since 2002, with Megan normally the co-driver of the pair to start with. The sisters’ father Edward and brother Oliver also drive and the four have competed together in various combinations.

The two sisters started rallying together in 2002, driving a Hyundai Coupe in the Total Rally South Africa. Megan was eighteen, Lola is older. They acquired a Subaru Impreza the following season and did a complete South African rally championship in 2005. This was the first of three seasons in the Impreza, followed by runs in the African championship using a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX and a Volkswagen Polo in 2009.

Megan’s first turn behind the wheel was in 2009. That October, she won her class in the Toyota Dealer Gauteng Rally, the eighth round of the South African championship. She was 13th overall, driving a Toyota Run-X (Corolla) with Gerhard Snyman.  

In 2010, she had several more outings in South Africa as a driver. Her programme took in the whole SA championship. Despite retiring four times, she won her class in three rallies: the Rally of South Africa, Osram Rally and Cape Swartland Rally. Her best overall finish was 15th, in the Rally of South Africa. Her car was a Toyota Run-X and her co-driver was her brother, Oliver Verlaque.

Part-way through the season, she also travelled to neighbouring Zimbabwe for the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge, but did not finish.

In 2011, she started a partnership with Volkswagen in South Africa and rallied a Polo, running in the S1400 class as a young development driver. Again, she won the class four times, out of five finishes. Appropriately, her best event was the Volkswagen Rally in which she was fourteenth, with a class win. The other class wins were achieved in the Total Tour Natal, Toyota Dealer Gauteng and Garden Route rallies. Her usual navigator was Lirene du Plessis, but she was replaced by Hilton Auffray for the last three events of the year. Despite taking some time to adjust to a new car and co-driver, Megan was the S1400 champion.

In 2012, she had a shorter rally season, and moved into the S1600 class in which she was fifth. She finished all of her four rallies, all in the top twenty. Her best finish was also her most frequent: she was 17th in the Garden Route and Polokwane rallies and the Rally of South Africa itself. She was fifth in the S1600 class overall. The car was an upgraded version of last year’s 1400cc model.

In 2013, she continued in the same vein, with five top-twenty finishes in South African rallies, the best of these being 15th in the Total Rally. She was eighth in the S1600 class. She continued to drive a Polo, but was now running as a private entry. Her VW contract had been a two-year development designed to guide young drivers towards their own, sponsored programmes. Megan was reunited with Oliver Verlaque for most of her season.

After one season as a privateer, Megan did not reappear on the South African rally scene for a while. The other members of the Verlaque family also took a break in 2014.

Megan did some navigation for Jose de Gouveia in 2015 and 2016, in the South African championship.

In 2017, she got back to driving, normally with Oliver Verlaque as her co-driver. She only finished one of her eight rallies, scoring a fifth place in the Sam 100 Rally. Her car was an R2-spec Polo, which she drove for the last four rallies of her year. Earlier in the season, she used a Mk3 Golf, which ran as a Classic entry. All four competing members of the Verlaque family ran as a two-car team with two Golfs.

Megan was less active again in 2018. She entered the Top Fry 100 Classic Safari Rally in Kenya, in the Golf, finishing 19th overall and winning her class. The rally was dominated my much more powerful Porsches and Datsuns. Lola and Edward also entered the sister car.

She also co-drove for Jose de Gouveia in his Toyota Corolla.

Both Verlaque sisters entered the 2019 Top Fry Classic event, Megan in the Golf and Lola in a Mk1 Escort. Megan was 18th, one place behind her sister.

After a break, Megan will enter the Golf into the 2022 East African Classic Safari.

(Image from http://www.sarallying.co.za)

Female Drivers in Touring Cars: Canada

Stephanie Ruys de Perez

Female drivers have been a regular fixture in the Canadian Touring Car Championship during the past few years. Canada has produced a number of other women racers such as Monique Proulx, but it is the CTCC that seems to be their favoured destination at the moment.

Demi Chalkias - Canadian driver who competes in the Pirelli GT Sprint championship. She won the GT4 class of the series in 2018, driving a BMW E36. She has also competed in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in the same car, winning races at Mosport, Shannonville and Calabogie. In 2020, she won a CASC-run GT3 series in the BMW, as well as racing in the Nissan Micra Cup. The year after, she won some races in the Canadian Touring Car Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Mercedes-AMG chose her as part of a three-woman team for an endurance race at Buttonwillow in the USA, alongside Cherie Storms and Nicole Havrda. In 2023, she raced a Mercedes with some success in the SCCC GT4 championship. In 2024, she moved into the GT4 America series, driving a Mercedes. She was third at Virginia, then started from pole in the second race, although she did not finish. the She is from a motorsport background but did not initially try to race herself. She dropped out of a medical degree to work in the automotive world, having been a triathlete earlier in her career.

Crystel Charest - raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2016 and 2017. Her car was a Mini Cooper run by Octane Racing both times. Her best result came in 2016: a fourth place at Trois-Rivieres. Previously, and alongside her CTCC events, she raced the Mini in the Super Production Challenge in Canada. She was a career-best sixth in the 2017 championship, after an eleventh place in 2016 and twelfth in 2015. She only managed one appearance in the series in 2018, at Trois-Rivieres. She did not finish the first race and could not start the second. In 2022, she reappeared in the Mini for the Canadian Super Production Challenge Series. Crystel has been working as a dentist in Quebec since 1992.

Marie-France Gagné – raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2014. She drove a Mini Cooper in the Touring class. It was her first season in the series, and she acquitted herself well, with a best finish of sixth, and tenth in the 22-driver Touring class. She was competing with her husband, Éric Lacouture, as a team-mate. They are both dentists.

Nathalie Hénault – raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2014, after several years of regional and club competition. She was racing in the Super class, and her car was a Subaru WRX. Right from the first round, she was on the pace, finishing eighth. Her best finishes were a pair of third places, both at Calabogie. She was fifth in the championship, and probably would have been higher without a string of DNFs near the end of the season. A second season of the CTCC ended quite similarly in 2015; Nathalie was more consistent, and had a better finishing record, and was fifth again, with a best finish of fifth at Shannonville. Her car was the Impreza. She raced in the Subaru in at least some rounds of the GT Challenge in 2016. In 2017, she was third in the Super Touring class of the CTCC, driving the Impreza. She scored two seconds and two third places.

Marie-Soleil Labelle - races in the Nissan Micra Cup in Canada. 2020 was her first season of competition and she is the championship’s youngest ever entrant, aged 16. Her best result so far has been fifteenth at Calabogie at the end of August. She was 21st in the championship. In 2021, she was 23rd overall in the Nissan championship, eleventh in the Micra class. This improved to third overall in 2022, with three third places. She moved up to the Sentra one-make championship in 2023. She did the Sentra series in both Canada and the US in 2024. Before switching to cars, she raced karts in Canada up to international level. She intended to race single-seaters and was on a development deal to race a Formula Renault in Europe in 2021, taking part in the Ultimate Cup.

Nicole Martin-Favreau - Quebecois driver who raced in Canada in the 1960s and possibly into the early 1970s. She mostly raced in the sedan categories, often against Francois Favreau, whom she married in 1966. Her cars included a Lotus Cortina and a Shelby Mustang which she used in Production Sports races in 1965. The Cortina was probably her most successful car and she raced it from 1966 onwards. Among her results were a fourth and fifth place at Mont-Tremblant in the 1967 Quebec Group B Sedan series. She started an all-female racing team in 1968, in the Quebec Formula B single-seater championship, although details of this are hard to find.

Lindsay Rice - raced in the CTCC in 2017. She scored two fifth places in the GT Sport class at Mosport, but the rest of her part-season was affected by a string of DNFs and a non-start. She had attempted to make her CTCC debut at Trois-Rivieres in 2016, but was unable to start. Her usual car is a Porsche 911, which she also used in club racing in 2016. She was more successful there. As well as racing the Porsche, she did some Nissan Micra Cup races in 2016, at Mosport. In 2018, she drove a different car, an Audi RS3 LMS, but only entered one race at Mosport, finishing sixth. She completed most of the 2019 championship in the Audi, finishing fifth in the TCR class with five top-tens, the best of these being a fifth at Calabogie. Lindsay does not have a motorsport background and did not start competing until she was in her mid-twenties.

Stephanie Ruys de Perez – raced saloons in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1972, she was fourteenth in the Sanair Trans-Am race, in a Mini Cooper. She is best known for racing for the Comstock team, one of the first commercially sponsored racing teams. She also raced a Sunbeam Imp in 1966. Among her other cars was a Chevrolet Camaro. More detailed information about her career is not forthcoming, although she was quite famous at the time, appearing on TV adverts.

Ashley Sahakian - raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2017. This was her rookie year in the series. She drove a Ford Mustang and was fourth in the GT Sport class, two places below her team-mate and brother, Chris Sahakian. Ashley’s best finish was third, at Mirabel. She made some more appearances in the Mustang in 2018, earning a best finish of seventh at Mirabel. Prior to the CTCC, she did part-seasons in the Nissan Micra Cup in 2015 and 2016. She was not among the front-runners but did improve in her second year. As well as motor racing, she plays football and is a former model.

(Image copyright Getty Images)

Patrizia Sciascia

Patrizia in 2004

Patrizia Sciascia was the Italian Ladies' Rally Champion in 2005. She has driven in five WRC rounds: all five San Remo rallies between 1996 and 2000. Her best finish was 32nd, third in class, in 2000.

She was born in 1971 in Sanremo. Her father was a rally driver and she was interested in the sport from an early age.

Fittingly, the Sanremo Rally was her first big international event, in 1995. Her car was a Peugeot 309 and she does not appear to have finished. She returned to Sanremo in 1996 and got to the finish this time, in 41st place. Her car was an Opel Corsa.

Her next two Sanremo Rallies, in 1997 and 1998, ended in retirement. She used a Ford Escort Cosworth in 1997, and a Renault Clio Williams in 1998. The Clio became her regular car for the next four seasons.

She continued to compete in Italian national rallies, with her annual WRC outing at Sanremo. In 2000, she finished in the top ten for the first time, coming in tenth in the Rallye Limone e dei 100,000 Trabucchi, held in Piedmont.

It went a little quieter for Patrizia for the next two seasons, but one highlight was a seventh place in the 2002 Rally Alba. She was driving the Clio and was one of 71 finishers.

In 2003, she took another step forward in her rally career with her first podium. Driving the Clio again, she was third in the Andora Rallysprint. That year, she alternated between the Clio and an Opel Astra, with the familiar Clio giving her better results. She was 19th in the Rally della Lanterna and won class N3 in May. The Astra may have been more difficult to drive, but it was in this car that she ventured back into international competition, after a break of two years. She entered the San Marino Rally, a European Championship round, and was 49th, eleventh in class.

For 2004, she settled on Cristina Biondi as a co-driver. The two had worked together on and off in 2003. Patrizia went back to the Clio as her car of choice; she only drove the Astra once, in the Rally Prealpi Trevigiane Terra. She was 39th and second in class. Again, the Clio suited her better. She was third in the Andora Rallysprint at the start of the season, and third again in the Rally del Valli Imperiesi in October. In between, she had her best-ever finish in the Sanremo Rally, which was no longer a WRC round. She was eleventh, and won class A7.

Between the end of 2004 and the start of 2005, Patrizia was announced as the winner of the “Woman in Blue” prize. Subaru Italy was keen to recruit an all-female crew for a shot at the Italian ladies’ championship, and she was judged to be a better bet than Monica Burigo, who started rallying at about the same time.

Patrizia duly won the ladies’ prize in 2005. Her car was a Group N Subaru Impreza and her best results were two fourteenth places, in the Sanremo and San Marino rallies. She was a frequent top-twenty finisher and was also sixteenth in the Mille Miglia, which had been revived as a stage rally.

In 2006, she stayed on as a Subaru Italy driver. Her programme was shorter than in 2005, but still included some of the big Italian rallies. She was 20th in Sanremo, co-driven by Samantha de Colle this time. Her best result was another third in the Rally del Valli Imperiesi. She was the leading Group N competitor.

Her contract with Subaru ended after 2006 and she returned to rallying the Clio. She was fifth in the Andora Rallysprint and contested some Italian sealed-surface events. The best of these was the Beta Rally Oltrepo, in which she was 19th. She was 27th in Sanremo.

2008 started in the same fashion. She drove the Clio in the Targa Florio and Mille Miglia, finishing 23rd and 27th. This led to a ride in a Peugeot 207 S2000 car. Its first outing was Sanremo, where Patrizia did not finish. Later, she entered the Rally del Valli Imperiesi again. This was always a good event for her, and she was fourth this year.

She was fifteenth in the 2009 Targa Florio, driving the Peugeot, and later used it for the Sanremo Rally. It wasn’t one of her best Sanremo drives, but she was solidly midfield in 32nd place. In between, she had a one-off drive in the Impreza for the San Marino Rally, and drove the Clio in the Rally Friuli Alpi Orientali. Both of these yielded more midfield finishes.

After 2010, she became a very occasional driver. She picked up another Peugeot 207 seat for Sanremo in 2010, finishing 30th. It was a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) this year.

She was 15th in the Ronde di Andorra in 2011, driving a Clio. Later in the year, she won her class in the Ronde Enna, Sicily. She was sixth overall.

In 2015, she came out of retirement for a guest appearance at the Monza Rally Show, driving a Peugeot 207. She did not finish.

After another long break, she debuted a Volkswagen Polo R5 at the 2020 Rally Sanremo. The event was cancelled due to extreme weather conditions. Patrizia then entered the Trofeo delle Merende a couple of weeks later. She was seventh overall, from over a hundred finishers. In a different Polo, she was sixth in the Ronde delle Valli Imperiesi, then 31st in the Rally Sanremo.

The R5 Polo came out again for the 2022 Rallye Sanremo Leggenda and Patrizia was second this time, one of the best overall results of her career. This was followed by a fifth place in the Rally di Alba. The car was then swapped for a Skoda Fabia Rally2 and she was fifth again in the Rally 1000 Miglia. Another fifth place followed in her favourite Valli Imperiesi Rally. She did one more rally in the Polo in 2023, but then got back in the Skoda for three rallies, which all ended in top tens. She was second in the Rally del Palme, one of her best finishes ever. She was also seventh in the Valli Imperiesi and ninth in the Rally Prealpi Orobiche.

Away from motorsport, Patrizia works as a lawyer. She has been involved in motorsport-related cases, including disputes with the Italian motorsport authorities.

(Image copyright Rally Company)