Elisabeth de Fresquet

Elisabeth de Fresquet enjoyed a long rallying career in France in the 1980s and 1990s and won six Coupes des Dames in the Monte Carlo Rally.

She rallied in a series of small cars, including a Trabant. The Trabant drive, on the 1992 Monte Carlo Rally, was in support of Romanian orphans. 

Elisabeth’s rally career did not start until she was almost 30. Her first car was a suitably underpowered Autobianchi A112. The Autobianchi Cup for novice drivers in France was in its second year, and this is how she got her start. The car was almost standard apart from some safety equipment and modifications.

She used it for the Monte in 1979 and 1980 and failed to finish either time. The 1980 event ended in a crash on a road section. She continued to rally the Autobianchi on and off until 1985.

Her best international result was 28th, on the 1987 Tour De Corse. She won class A5 in an Opel Corsa. She was 21st in the 1989 Calais National Rally and won class A3, making it her best domestic finish. In 1990, she also won class A6 on the Tour de Corse. For most of this period she was driving a Peugeot 205, apart from her run in the Corsa which was a one-off.

She took part in sixteen World Championship rallies: nine Montes and seven runs in the Tour de Corse. She was the leading female driver in Monaco in 1982, 1985 and 1986, driving a VW Golf, the Autobianchi and an Opel Corsa respectively. In 1980, 1983 and 1984 she won the Promotion class Coupe des Dames, for French championship drivers. 

As she retired from the stages in 1994 she won her first championship, claiming the A6 class of the French asphalt championship. 

On her later attempts, her co-driver was her daughter, Virginie. They competed together between 1991 and 1994. Her son Vincent inherited his mother’s fondness for Autobianchi A112s and is now the president of the Autobianchi Club of France.

Elisabeth is probably better known as a politician affiliated to the UDF party. She was elected to commissions for Paris and Ile-de-France and was part of Francois Bayrou’s 2002 presidential campaign.

Laure Jaussaud

Laure in Monte Carlo

Laure Jaussaud is a French Tarmac specialist who has rallied in France since 2002, usually in a Renault Clio. She won the French ladies’ rally championship in 2007.

Her usual co-driver is her sister, Carine, and they are from a rallying family. For the first couple of years of her career, Laure had other female navigators sit beside her, but Carine started co-driving for her regularly in 2005. Previously, since 2000, she had co-driven for their father, Bernard. Laure has also sat beside her father on occasion.

Laure’s earliest rally outings were in a Renault Megane in 2002, when she entered the Vaison-la-Romaine Rally. By 2004, she had settled on a Renault Clio, a car she would use for the next eleven seasons.

For the first few years of her career, Laure stuck to local rallies, in or around her home département of Hautes-Alpes. In 2006, she scored her first top twenty finishes, two sixteenth places in the Venasque and Neige Hautes Alpes National rallies. The Hautes Alpes event also gave her her first class win, in N3.

In 2007, the sisters won the French ladies’ rally title, their first championship. They employed an all-female crew for at least some of the events. Laure’s best rally was probably the Mont Blanc-Morzine. She was 71st overall, and sixth in the F2 class.

Between 2008 and 2013, she went back to rallying locally, with varying degrees of success. Despite being a short competition season, 2013 was a good year for Laure, who was 20th in the Rallye National Hivernal des Hautes Alpes and 22nd in the Venasque National Rally.

The sisters broke the habit of a lifetime in 2014, abandoning the Clio for a Renault Twingo. One of their first events in the car, the Rallye National des Hautes Alpes, gave them a 20th place, second in class. This was a familiar rally for them, but a good result nevertheless, with 49 finishers, some in more powerful S2000 and N4 cars. The first rally Laure did in the Twingo was the Monte Carlo Rally, which she also finished. She was 33rd overall, against the WRC elite. She was also 32nd in the Rallye d’Antibes, with a second in the Coupe des Dames rankings and a class seventh. This was another competitive event, won by Brian Bouffier for the Hyundai works team.

2015 brought more WRC action in the Twingo. Laure was 60th on the Monte, out of 78 finishers. Later in the season, she did her first Tour de Corse, and was 75th, from 96 finishers. She missed out on the Coupe des Dames to Sophie Laurent, who was competing in another class. In between, she did the Rallye National du Laragnais, co-driven by Thomas Escartefigue. She was 23rd, and third in class.

Despite showing that she could hold her own in a World Championship rally, 2015 seems to have been Laure’s last year of competition. At the end of 2015, she was said to have been deciding whether to enter the Monte again, but she did not appear on the list.

She finally returned to the Monte in 2018, at the wheel of a Renault Twingo, with Carine on the maps. She finished 32nd overall and eleventh in class.

In 2019, she drove the Twingo on the Monte again, finishing in 52nd place and making the cut for the final day. She was navigated by Julie Trinquier-Escartefigue. Two other rallies in the Twingo followed, the Laragnais National Rally and the Cote d'Azur Rallycircuit.

Laure's only major outing in 2020 was the Monte. She drove a Peugeot 208 with Julie and they were 44th overall. She entered a single rally again in 2022, finishing 37th in the Rallye National du Laragnais in a Twingo.

(Image copyright Dailymotion)

"Charlotte" (Cécile de Montgolfier)

"Charlotte" in 1975

“Charlotte” was a French rally driver of the early 1970s. She never used her given name in connection with motorsport. She was from the Ardèche region, and worked as an ambulance driver.

Her career began in hillclimbs, in a VW, and later, an Alpine-Renault 1100 and a Porsche 911. Her rally career started in the navigator’s seat in 1970. The Paris-St.Raphaël Rally is described as her first event, although the name of the driver, and the make of the car, is lost. They did not finish, following a roll.

In 1972, she started driving herself, usually in an Alpine-Renault A110 Berlinette. Although she always drove as an amateur, she received sponsorship from Esso. This, and her choice of car, has led to some confusion between her and the drivers of Team Aseptogyl. Charlotte was never an Aseptogyl team member.

Her biggest achievement in 1972 was probably her win in the National class of the Paris-St. Raphaël Rally. She also won two other class awards, driving an Alpine-Renault 1600 with Annie Hanriot.

By 1973, she was tackling some of the big French events, including the Tour de Corse, in a Gordini-engined Renault 12. She did not finish. That year, she was also the runner-up in the Paris-St. Raphaël Rally, in an Alpine-Renault. With Marie-José Hommel, she competed in the Tour de France, but her attempt ended at the Montjuic Park circuit, due to problems with the Alpine during a speed test. In the same car, she was twelfth in the Ronde Cévenole.

In 1974, she was fourth in the Paris-St. Raphaël, and competed in the Tour de France, in the Alpine-Renault, although she did not finish. Her best result was a 15th place in the Rallye du Var. Her other rallies, including the Tour de Corse, mostly ended in DNFs, although she was seventh in class in the Mont Blanc Rally. She did better in hillclimbs, winning several Coupes des Dames and placing well in her class. Another try at the Tour de France led to more frustration, after a spin at Magny-Cours, again during a speed trial, put her out of the running.

In 1975, she tried circuit racing, in the Coupe Renault Elf Gordini. This decision was partly motivated by her amateur status; rallying, at the level of which she was capable, required time for recce and preparations, which circuit racing did not. Charlotte was one of two female drivers in the Coupe, driving a modified Renault 5, the other being Joëlle Pasquier. She was thirteenth on the Le Mans Bugatti circuit, and eighth at Albi. Later in the season, she planned to team up with Corinne Tarnaud for another Tour Auto, in a Porsche 911 this time.

Sadly, this was not to be. Charlotte was killed in a road traffic accident, whilst attending another car crash with her ambulance, in September 1975. She was 29 years old.

(Image from http://pilotos-muertos.com/)

Marta Candian

A Hawk Racing Club Renault Clio. This is not Marta Candian driving!

Marta Candian was an Italian driver who competed in WRC rallies between 1999 and 2001.

She is a very enigmatic figure; I have been unable to find any pictures of her. A Rallysprint magazine cover from 2000 shows that she had some media profile at the time. She was part of an article on female drivers, including Lara Battistolli, Mascha Mularo and Enrica Munaretto. Despite this attention, biographical details about Marta are extremely hard to come by.

She deserves to have a full Speedqueens profile due to her World Championship participation. If a European Ladies’ Championship were being awarded in 2000, she would probably have won it.

The earliest record of Marta as a competitor appears in 1995, when she co-drove for Emanuele Zecchin. They did the Piancavallo Rally together twice, in 1995 and 1996, finishing once.

In 1998, she starts to appear in major rallies as a driver. She was associated with the Hawk Racing Club team, and she drove both a Ford Escort RS Cosworth and a Renault Clio Williams for them that year. She was 49^th in the Isola d’Elba Rally in the Clio, but did not finish the Rallye d’Antibes in the Escort.

In 1999 she used a Renault Clio Williams on the Portugal, Catalunya and Corsica rounds of the World Rally Championship. She finished the Tour de Corse in 48^th place, her first WRC finish. As well as her southern European WRC rallies, she did some ERC events in the Clio and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5. Her best result was tenth on the Rally d’Antibes, in the Mitsubishi, and she was third in Group N. The Lancer was run by the Hawk Racing Club team again.

She drove the Lancer in the Monte Carlo, Portugal and Catalunya rallies in 2000, and managed to finish the Catalunya Rally in 32nd. She was 47^th on the Monte, but the engine on the Lancer failed in Portugal.

In 2001 she tackled Corsica and Catalunya, and was seventh in Group N in Corsica, fifth in N4 and 33^rd overall. As ever, her navigator was Mara Biotti, who sat beside her in all of her major rally outings.

After 2001, Marta disappears from the scene completely. She seems to have been linked to a drive in Rally Argentina, but this never occurred.

Any further information about Marta and Mara, or any pictures, would be most welcome.

(Image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/pietroz/4448042513/)

Gilberte Thirion

Gilberte in the Porsche 550

Perhaps one of the first in a long line of fine Belgian all-rounders (Jacky Ickx, Marc Goossens, Olivier Gendebien), Gilberte was born into a motoring family in 1928. Her father was Max Thirion, a veteran sportscar racer with Targa Florio experience.

Naturally, Gilberte moved among motoring circles too, and in her early twenties, she was the public relations officer for Champion Spark Plugs. She had inherited her father's passion for motorsport and entered her first rally in 1951, at the age of twenty-three, driving a Healey. She failed to finish the event, the Soleil de Cannes Rally, but was not put off. Later that year, she encountered an aluminium-bodied Gmünd Porsche 356SL racing special, which had won its class at Le Mans, at a motor show. She was smitten, and her father went to great lengths to buy the vehicle for her. Eventually, its owner found it too powerful for road use and sold it to Max, probably to his great relief.

The 356 was Gilberte's car of choice for the 1952 season. With her father as navigator, she entered the Paris-St Raphaël womens' rally, and was rewarded with second in class. The father-daughter pairing entered three other rallies that year. They retired from the Lyon-Charbonnieres and Alpine events, but were an excellent fifth, with a class win, in Gilberte's second Soleil de Cannes. She also teamed up with former French Grand Prix driver, Germaine Rouault, for two African rallies, the Moroccan and the 12 Hours of Casablanca, but failed to finish either. Her final competition of the year was the Tour de France, with Ingeborg Polensky, but they were disqualified. She had had better luck in her first sprint, the 1 Kilometre Flying Start at Wolvertem; 191 kph was good enough for a class record. Switching seats in her rally car, she guided fellow Belgian van den Kaart to a 125th place in the Rally of the Tulips. They were the first Belgian finishers.

1953 started very badly indeed. Driving a new Porsche 356, Gilberte crashed badly on the Paris-St Raphaël Rally, right at the end of the event, in which she had been near the front. Her injuries put her out of action for over two months. She and Ingeborg Polensky withdrew from the Rally of the Tulips, and Max Thirion took his daughter's place in the Mille Miglia. (He came second in class.)

Gilberte could have been forgiven for giving up there and then, but she was not that kind of person. In May of 1953 she entered Ingeborg Polensky's Porsche into her first race, an event for Porsches at the Nürburgring. It nearly ended in tears again when she had an excursion off track, but she impressed many onlookers by fighting back to eighth place. The following week, she and Polensky entered the 12 Hours of Hyeres and came fourth in class. Her other race of the year was the Spa 24 Hours. She and Frenchwoman Annie Bousquet drove a Fiat 1100 to sixteenth place overall, the Ladies' Cup and the King's Cup for the best Belgian finisher.

Rallying has not been forgotten. The Alpine event brought mixed fortunes for Gilberte and Lise Renaud. They scored class wins in the Monza stage and the Cannes driving test but dropped to 44th overall with a broken clutch pedal and shock absorbers. The Porsche was running better on the Moroccan Rally, in which they were eighth overall, second in class and the first lady finishers. However, another retirement beckoned for the Thirion/Polensky partnership on the Tour de France, again due to clutch and suspension problems. Again, Gilberte managed to fit in more "extra-curricular" activities. She co-drove Gonzague Olivier to a class win on the Tour of Belgium, and Helmut Polensky to thirteenth on the Sestriere Rally. Driving solo, she set another speed record, just over 201 kmh, at Jabbeke, in her Porsche.

The partnership with Gonzague Olivier continued in 1954. They won their first rally together, the Rallye des Routes du Nord, in February. They also led the Bol d'Or race at Montlhèry until their Porsche's engine failed. Gilberte formed many strong teams with other drivers during her relatively short racing career and another of these began on her second event of 1954. She and erstwhile hillclimber Nadège Washer (later Ferrier) came sixth on the Randonnée des Routes Blanches Rally in the 356. They were also fourth, with a class win, on the Soleil de Cannes.

Her other rallying exploits for that year included a series of events with former Grand Prix driver Olivier Gendebien. As his co-driver, she was tenth on the Lyon-Charbonnieres in a Fiat, and when the roles were reversed the pair did even better. They were fourth on the Evian Mont Blanc-Megève Rally and seventh on the Tour of Italy, scoring class wins both times, in a Porsche and Plymouth respectively. On their racing debut together they were fourteenth in the Rheims 12 Hours in a Gordini.

Other partnerships had not been forgotten: Annie Bousquet and Gilberte contested the Mille Miglia together in a Gordini, she and Ingeborg Polensky drove a works Porsche to top-five finishes on the Tours of France and Belgium, and Lise Renaud partnered her again in the Morocco Rally. 1954 was also a year of superb solo efforts by the Belgian. She was third on the Paris-St Raphaël, 25th on the Rally of Rallyemen and second in class in a sportscar race at Spa, in the Gordini. By far her best result was her first race win; a single-handed drive in the Porsche in the 12 Hours of Huy. The only real disappointment that year was going out of Le Mans early on, in a Gordini T17S. Her co-driver was Andre Pilette. It is not clear whether Gilberte even got to drive.

The next season started with another win in the Huy endurance race, this time in the ageing Gordini 1100. That year, Gilberte switched between this car and a devastatingly quick Mercedes 300SL, as driven by Stirling Moss. In the Mercedes, she won the 1 Kilometre Flying Start of Waterloo, the Come hillclimb, the Coppa Corallo race at Cagliari and the Stella Alpina rally, this time with Olivier Gendebien. The Gordini brought her a sixth in class in the Mille Miglia with Nadège Washer, but gave up before the end of the Bol d'Or alongside Andre Milhoux. Her only other retirement of the year came on the Agadir GP, in a Porsche 550.

At the end of 1955, Gilberte teamed up with Lise Renaud again, in a Renault 4CV. They were second in class on the Tour of Belgium and 40th (second in the under 750cc class) on the Monte Carlo Rally of 1956. Gilberte later changed to a Dauphine for the Mille Miglia and was second in class again. This year, she would drive many different cars. In between her Renault drives she was second on the Lyon-Charbonnières Rally and first on the La Roche hillclimb in two different Porsches. After her first outing in the Dauphine, she won the Come hillclimb again in last year's Mercedes. A ride in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta with Italian touring car ace Ada Pace was good for sixteenth in the Nürburgring 1000Km race, and the Italian theme continued throughout the summer. She and Anna Maria Peduzzi drove Peduzzi's Ferrari 500TR to two tenth spots in the 1000km races at Paris and Monza, but a return to the Gordini 1100 in the Rheims 12 Hours brought another retirement.

In the Swedish Sportscar Grand Prix, Gilberte and Claude Dubois were twelfth in a Porsche 550. Her final Porsche drive of the year (and her career) was an eleventh place on the Tour de France, with Ingeborg Polensky. After that, she contested two more rallies in a Renault Dauphine, winning her class on the Tour of Belgium with Lise Renaud and winning the first ever Tour of Corsica outright with Nadège Ferrier. This achievement means that Gilberte is one of a select handful of women to have won a World Championship Rally. Rightly, she was awarded the Belgian Order of Sporting Merit at the end of the year.

1957 was her last year of active competition and she only entered one race. She and Nadege Ferrier crossed the Atlantic to race their Dauphine in the Sebring 12 Hours. They came 35th, second in class. Gilberte had entered the race before in 1954 but her and Annie Bousquet's entry was not accepted. Bousquet died in a racing accident at Rheims the previous year and this was perhaps one of the reasons that Gilberte decided to call it a day. She and Annie were sometimes rivals but often team-mates, and had shared ownership of a Porsche for the 1954 racing season.

On reflection, Gilberte had the sense to bow out while still near the top, before other, younger drivers could show her up. After leaving motorsport, she raised a family in Brussels. She died in 2008, aged eighty, after serious health problems arising from Parkinson’s disease.

(Image from www.porsche356sl.com)

Christine Dacremont

Christine Dacremont was a French rally driver and sportscar racer of the 1970s. She competed between 1970 and 1979. She began her career in hillclimbing in 1970, and her first competition car was a Triumph Spitfire. She used the same car in her first rally, the Rallye Fleurs et Parfums at Grasse, also in 1970.

The Triumph was replaced with an Alpine-Renault A110 for 1971, which Christine used in French rallies. Her early results were solid, but unspectacular, the highlights being class seconds in the Rallye D'Ouest and the Paris-St.Raphaël women's rally.

In 1972, she joined Team Aseptogyl as one of its all-female driving squad. This was strangely appropriate. The team was sponsored by a brand of toothpaste and run by Bob Neyret, an ex-dentist, and Christine worked as a dental assistant when not rallying. Her first year with the team was spent in the French championship. She carried on all year, despite being on crutches for part of it, due to a motorcycle accident. Away from the team, she entered her own A110 in the Tour de France, but did not finish.

She continued with the team for the 1973 season. One of her more major outings was the Paris-St.Raphaël, in which she was fourth, in a Fiat 124 Spider. Her biggest rally of the season was her first World Championship event, the Monte Carlo Rally. Co-driven by Marie-Odile Desvignes, she retired before the finish, after the engine of her A110 developed problems. For the rest of the season, she continued to gain experience at home with the Aseptogyl set-up.

The following season, Christine gained her first experience of long-distance events. Driving a Peugeot 504, she took part in a rally raid across the Sahara, followed by the Bandama Rally on the Ivory Coast. She was not among the winners, but the experience stood her in good stead for the World Cup Rally later in the year. The route ran across the Sahara and through Europe to Munich. Christine was second in her Peugeot.

1975 heralded her return to the World Championship stages in Morocco. Unfortunately, she and Marie-Pierre Palayer crashed their Peugeot 504 and had to retire. Luckily, despite the proximity of dates, this did not interfere with Christine's first attempt at Le Mans. She was part of the Moynet-Simca team that won the 2000cc class. Her team-mates were Michele Mouton and Marianne Hoepfner. They were 21st overall.

In 1976, she won two French rallies, in Ardennes and Chataigne, at the wheel of an Alpine A310. On the world stage, she was eighth in the Rallye du Maroc and fourth in in the gruelling Bandama Rally, in a Peugeot 504. During her career, Christine proved that she was much more comfortable in endurance events, and on rough terrain. This year, her co-driver was Yveline Vannoni, who was previously the navigator for Marianne Hoepfner. Later in the year, Christine tried out a Lancia Stratos rally car, having sampled Stratos power in her second Le Mans. She partnered Lella Lombardi, and was 22nd, second in class.

The following year, she was sixth in Monte Carlo, driving the Stratos with Colette Galli. This remains one of the highest female finishes to date. The Stratos brought less joy at Le Mans: Christine and Marianne Hoepfner retired after only five hours with engine trouble. More trouble struck on the World Cup Rally, which was the most ambitious yet, running from London to Sydney. Team Aseptogyl entered two diesel-powered Fiat 131s, one for Christine and Yveline and one for Marianne Hoepfner and Bob Neyret. Christine was involved in a serious accident near Darwin and spent three months in hospital recovering, wiping out the rest of her season. Thankfully, she made a full recovery.

She returned to the stages once more in January 1978, for the Monte Carlo Rally. Her car, still run by Team Aspetogyl, was a diesel Citroen 2500 CX. She was off the pace in 69th, but not far behind the first diesel finisher, Claude Laurent in a Volkswagen. She also entered the Tour de Corse in a smaller, more proven Fiat 127, but did not finish after an oil line broke.

1978 also saw her last Le Mans appearance. She and Marianne Hoepfner drove a Peugeot WMP P76 prototype run by Aspetogyl. They lasted until the 19th hour, before a head gasket blew. Throughout the latter part of their careers, Christine and Marianne often drove together, sometimes navigating for one another in French rallies. Christine read the maps for other Aseptogyl drivers on occasion, including Corinne Koppenhague.

1979 was her last year of competition. Her main event was the Paris-Dakar Rally. She drove a Lada and does not appear to have finished. Team Aseptogyl did not last much longer, disappearing at the end of the season, although Bob Neyret returned in 1983 with an all-female driving squad for the Monte. Christine was no longer a part, nor were any of the previous major Aseptogyl drivers.

(Image copyright Libol)

Christine Driano

Christine (right) and Guylaine Juillot

Frenchwoman Christine had been rallying for three years when she got her big break in 1984. Citroen France had organised a challenge to find a new female works driver, and Christine was one of the winners, alongside Sylvie Seignobeaux, having impressed the judges with her abilities and finished second in the championship. In 1985, she took up her Citroen prize drive, and competed in a full French Championship programme.

After a couple of years of rallying the Citroen AX Sport, first in France, then in Spain also, Christine hit a good run of form and won the French Class A Championship in 1988. This was a feat she repeated in 1989 and 1990, and soon the bigger stage was beckoning. Her first World Championship rally was the Tour de Corse in 1990, co-driven by Marie-Christine Lallement. The AX failed to finish.

At the same time, the French championship had not been forgotten. In 1989, driving the Citroen, Christine was twelfth in the Rallye des Garrigues Languedoc-Roussillon. In 1990, she was seventh in the Rallye Antibes-Rallye d'Azur.

1991 saw her move away from Citroen. She drove an Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo on the Tour de Corse, supported by Alfa Romeo France, but did not finish.

1992 saw two WRC outings for Christine, co-driven by Cathy Francois this time and back in the Citroen. Driving for a private team, the two women were fourteenth in Corsica and won Class A5. Despite having works support for the Catalunya Rally, they were only second in class there, although still a good 16th overall. Driving an AX, the new pairing were sixth in the Rallye des Garrigues and twelfth in the Rallye d'Antibes.

A more ambitious Christine entered seven WRC rounds in 1993, as a works Citroen driver. She started well in the Monte Carlo Rally, coming thirteenth in the larger-engined AX GTI, third in Class A7. Thirteen was her lucky number that season as her second rally of the year, Portugal, gave her another thirteenth place. She was back in the AX Sport and came second in Class A5. Her home rally, Corsica, was a disappointment, as she and Guylaine Juillot retired, and the Acropolis ended in another non-finish. Things picked up in the tough Argentinian mountains with a 21st place, but she could not quite maintain the momentum for New Zealand and San Remo, where she and Marie-Christine were 44th and 26th respectively. Still, her early-season performances were enough to secure her the WRC Ladies' Cup. This was not well-received by some of the other female competitors. They believed that she had been awarded the cup for entering more rallies than other women who had scored better individual results, and she was labelled a "pot hunter" by some. I think this is a trifle unfair, as she started the season very well and managed some creditable overall finishes.

She also competed in French rallies in a Lancia that year.

After a considerable lay-off, Christine returned to the stages in 1997, driving the Citroen Saxo Kit Car which would later become the car to beat in the Super 1600 class. She was fourteenth in the Rallye Internationale du Var, with Karine Tabone.

Her rally career seems to end there. As well as taking on the stages, Christine also took part in ice-racing in France, as part of the high profile Andros Trophy series. In 2009, she made a guest appearance in two races of the French Super Production Championship, driving a Peugeot 306. She won one race from pole.

Since then, she has kept a low profile.

(Image from a Citroen promotional card)

Anna Cambiaghi

Anna Cambiaghi is a multi-talented Italian lady who took part in rallies and sports and touring car races, and was most active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was born in 1951.

She seems to have begun her motorsport career in rallying, in 1973. Her first rally car was a Fiat 124 Spider, which she used to the best effect in the Lugnano event, finishing second.

She campaigned the Spider and an Alfa Romeo in the Italian Championship in 1974. That year, she also finished the Tour de France in an Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV. Her first major events seem to have been in 1975. That year, she was ninth in the Targa Florio, driving an Alfetta with Serena Pittoni. They won their class. She also drove the car in the Italian Rally Championship, and won the Ladies' title for the second time.

In rallying, she made four WRC starts between 1977 and 1979. Her only finish was a 56th in Monte Carlo in 1979, in a Citroen CX 2400. Her only start in 1977 was the Tour de Corse, in a Toyota Celica. She was part of the all-female Team Aseptogyl in 1978, and entered the Sanremo and Corsica rallies, in a Lancia Stratos and Fiat 127 respectively. Her Citroen drive in 1979 was also through the Aseptogyl set-up. Her three non-finishes were all due to mechanical failures.

Before her rally exploits, Anna tried her hand at more big sportscar races. In 1976, she was part of a Jolly Club effort in the Imola 500km, driving an Osella PA2 Abarth with Giorgio Pianta. She drove for Jolly Club several more times that season. After travelling to Germany for the Nürburgring Six Hours, Anna, Gaudenzio Uboldi and Luigi Colzani were eleventh in an Alfa Romeo GT. At Salzburg, Anna was scheduled to drive the Osella, but did not.

At Monza, she took part in a European GT race, and was seventh, winning the GT1600 class. Her car was an Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA and her team-mate was Giancarlo Galimberti. This was a private entry, rather than a Jolly Club one. Another private Osella drive, in a Group 6 race at Varano, netted her another seventh place. As well as this, she was runner-up in the Italian GT Championship in the Alfa, and Italian Ladies' racing champion.

In 1977, she continued to race sportscars and briefly switched to a Lancia Stratos run by Jolly Club. In the World Championship for Makes, she was eighth at Mugello. For the rest of the year, she drove a series of Osella models and was ninth in the Vallelunga 400km in a PA2. She drove the same car in the Targa Florio, Imola 250km and the Monza 500km, but only finished the Targa Florio.

1977 also featured her first Le Mans entry. She retired in a factory-supported Osella PA5, after two other drives fell through: one in a Jolly Club Stratos and one partnering Giorgio Francia in another Osella. Raymond Touroul and Alain Cudini were her co-drivers. The following year, she was a reserve entry, having failed to qualify in a Lola T96/7 with Pascale Geurie and Martine Renier.

During 1978, she continued in international sportscars, but not with any success. A drive in Carlo Rebai's Porsche 935 at the Mugello 6 Hours led to a DNF, and she did not even get to start in Ruggero Parpinelli's Osella PA5 at the Nurburgring 300km.

1979 was a quieter year on the sportscar front, with just a run in the Giro d'Italia in a Fiat Ritmo. This season, she did some more rallies, including her last WRC entry and the Rally of Brazil. In this event, she was fourth, driving a Fiat 147.

She used the same Ritmo model in European Touring Car races in 1980. Along with "Gilena" and Santucci, she was seventh in the Monza 4 Hours. With Santucci, she entered the Vallelunga 500km but did not finish. Along with Marianne Hoepfner and Lella Lombardi, she drove an Opel Commodore in the Mugello 24 Hours, but did not finish. In 1980, she also tried her hand at Formula Three in Italy, without great success. She entered three races in a Ralt RT1 but did not score points. Unbelievably, she still found time to win the HGV class of the Transafrica rally raid too, driving a 19-tonne Iveco.

Briefly, she returned to Formula 3 in 1981. This was a one-off entry in the Ralt, and again, she did not score any points.

In 1981, Anna was reunited with the Jolly Club team, and forged what was probably the most successful partnership of her career. Driving the Jolly Club Chevrolet Camaro in European touring car enduros, she got together again with ex-Formula One driver Lella Lombardi. Both drivers had been active in Osella sportscars in previous seasons, but had only competed together once before, despite often driving for the same teams.

Their first race together was the Monza 4 Hours, and they did not finish, but they made up for it in the next race, the Vallelunga 500km, by finishing fifth, with a class win. At the Donington 500km, they were third, and aat Salzburg, they started from pole, but could not finish. It was the same story at Brno, although they were using the sister car of Luigi Racing that time. A third grid position led to the same engine-related retirement, and sadly, so did Anna and Jean Xhenceval's pole at Zolder.

The Camaro was replaced with an Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV6 in 1982, which proved more reliable. Anna and Lella were fifth at Monza, ninth at Vallelunga, fourth at Donington, seventh at Pergusa, and did not finish again at Brno. They scored class wins at Pergusa and Donington and their performances were enough to give them the Group Two class of the ETCC.

After two seasons in the ETCC, Anna took a break from competition. On her return in 1985, she joined back up with Jolly Club and went back to the ETCC in an Alfetta GTV6. She was ninth at Zeltweg with Marcello Cipriani and Massimo Siena, but could only manage 18th with Dagmar Suster in the EG Trophy.

In 1986, she stayed in the ETCC but jumped ship to CiBiEmme and drove their BMW 635i. Her team-mate was Georges Bosshard. They were 15th at Donington, eighth at Hockenheim, thirteenth at Anderstorp and eighth at Brno.

After 1986, she returned to rallying, especially rally raids. Having driven a few events in a Peugeot in 1986, Anna competed as both driver and navigator in Italy in a 205 and a 309. Later in the year, she drove a Suzuki prototype in the Pharaohs Rally, with Daniela Angei. The following year, the same pairing completed a rally raid on Sardinia in the same vehicle, but changed to a Samurai prototype for the Pharaohs Rally. They won the up to 1500cc prototype class.

Anna's last year of competition was 1989. Her last event was the Safari Rally, in a four-wheel-drive Mazda. She does not appear to have finished.

More recently, she has been working in motorsport organisation, acting as "sportive lead" for the Honda IRC  team.

(Image from www.omniauto.it)