Nattanid Leewatanavaragul (Kat Lee)

Nattanid Leewatanavalagul is a Thai racer who competes in saloons and sportscar racing in Southeast Asia. She sometimes uses the anglicised name of Kat Lee.

Probably her most notable result was when she was third in the Thailand TCR Championship in 2017, driving a SEAT Leon. She won one race at Bangsaen, and scored four second and two third places.

Her earliest experiences of motorsport appear to be in a women-only Thai series for the Toyota Vios in 2013. She did not win, although she managed a victory the following year, and was able to use her experience to move on to the Thailand Super Series. This led to two seasons in the championship, driving a Honda Jazz for Morin Racing. She won class C in 2015 and won at least one Class B race in 2016, at Buriram. That year, she was seventh in the championship.

After her TCR success, she entered the Asian Mini Challenge and did the Thailand rounds of the Asian TCR series in 2018. Her best result in TCR was a second place at Bangsaen, driving a SEAT Leon. As a guest driver, she did not score championship points. She won at least two races at Zhuhai in China in the Mini.

She raced in the Super Compact class of the Thailand Super Series in 2019.

In 2021, she made some guest appearances in the series, driving a Honda, but was not registered for the championship.

Her first races in Europe came in 2022, when she drove another Leon for Monlau Motorsport in some of the 24H Series races. She was part of a two-car, all-Thai squad featuring Sandy Stuvik and she won the TCR class at Catalunya, finishing 16th overall. She did not finish the Algarve race, driving for the same team but with different team-mates.

After a break, she did some rounds of the 2024 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, sharing the car with Dechathorn Phuakkarawut. They were second in the Am class, with three wins and eighth further podium places. Driving a Huracan, Kat entered the Super Trofeo World Final, finishing eighth in the Am class.

In 2025 she moved back to the Thailand Super Series, racing in the Super Touring category in a Honda CRZ with Thanaroj Tanasitnitikate. They won at least one race at Sepang.

(Image copyright Lamborghini)

Rina Ito

Rina Ito is a Japanese driver who has competed in both racing and rallying, in Japan and also in the rest of Asia. 

In common with other drivers including Keiko Ihara, Rina’s first introduction to motorsport was as a scantily-clad grid girl, in 2006, when she was 20. She continued in this role, on and off, until 2017. It was only a couple of years before she got behind the wheel herself and she was karting by 2008.

Her senior rallying career came first and she has been active in Japanese and Asia-Pacific rallying since 2010, usually driving a Mazda 2 Demio to begin with. She took part in the Rally of Hokkaido in 2011, and is listed as an entrant for the 2012 Asia Pacific Rally Championship, although the results are proving elusive. 

She had a decent season in Japanese rallying in 2013, with a best finish of 24th, in the Osaka University Tango Peninsula Tango Rally. In 2013, she equalled this result, in the Hokkaido Rally, still in the Mazda. That year, she competed overseas in the New Zealand Rally, in a Honda Civic, but had an off on the final stage. 

She continued to rally in 2015, mostly in Japan, but with one run in the Rally of Whangerei, in New Zealand, which she did not finish. Her best finish was 27th, in the Fukushima Rally. In 2016, she entered the Shinshiro Rally, in a Toyota Aqua. She was 42nd overall. She drove another Toyota, a Vitz, in 2017, and earned her first top-twenty finish: 20th in the Kumakogen Rally. Another season in the Vitz followed and she had a best finish of 27th in the Hokkaido Rally. 

The 2018 rally season finished in much the same way, although she did take a step forward in 2019, contesting the Japanese championship and progressing well in the JN-6 class. Her best result overall was probably her 24th place in the Shinshiro Rally; she beat 20 other drivers and was also second in class.

Her circuit racing career took a little longer to get going and it was 2012 before she got a significant ride. That year, she took part in two Super Endurance races at Okoyama and Suzuka. She raced a Toyota GT86 in 2013, in the Fuji Champion Cup and also a one-make series for that model of car. 

It was not long before Rina was competing internationally. She travelled to Korea in 2015 for the Korea Speed Festival, driving a Hyundai Veloster Turbo. She did three races, with a best finish of sixth. Back home, she took part in one-make championships for the Mini and the Toyota GT86. 2016 was her first year in the Professional class, having already raced in the Celebrity class. It was also her first involvement with Team Bride, for which she would later race in the Super Taikyu series.

2017 featured a lot of single-sex racing. She competed on-track in Japan's all-female Kyojo Cup and the Thai-based Toyota Vios Lady Cup. She won the Lady Cup title in 2017. A second season in the Kyojo Cup, which uses small sports prototypes, gave her a seventh place in 2018.

She seems concentrated on rallying in 2019, still using a Toyota Vitz. She was second overall in the JN-6 class of the Japanese championship after three runner-up places. Her best overall finish was 23rd in the Sammy Yokote Rally. She did at least some rounds of the Kyojo Cup too.

The shortened 2020 season included another run in the Kyojo Cup, finishing fourth. 2021 was also a short season, with one run in a Yaris in the MCSC Highland Masters Rally. She was seventh in the Kyojo Cup. 

There still wasn't much rallying on the horizon in 2022; she drove a Mazda 2 Demio in the Rally of Hokkaido and finished 34th. On-track, she was tenth in the Kyojo Cup, with a best finish of sixth at Fuji in the last round of the series. She also used her Vita Kyojo car in a mixed Vita two-hour enduro at Fuji, finishing 27th. In another mixed team, she raced a Suzuki Swift in the Sepang 1000km at the end of the season, finishing thirteenth and first female driver.

She was eighth in the 2023 Kyojo Cup, finishing fifth in the first round. She also raced a BMW Mini in Japan. Changing direction, she returned to rallying in 2024, driving a Mazda2 Demio. Her best finish was twelfth in the Hatoguruma Rally Gravel. 

Another season in the Demio followed in 2025. She was good on gravel again, finishing fifth in the Hatagaruma event. 

(Image copyright Rina Ito)

The Toyota Vios Lady Cup

The Toyota Vios Lady Cup is a one-make championship for the Toyota Vios in Thailand.

Toyota has been using one-make racing series to promote the 1500cc, compact Vios throughout southeast Asia and actively encourages female drivers, including celebrities, but Toyota Thailand has the only dedicated women’s championship.

In 2019, the Lady Cup ran as part of the Thai Super GT package and shared a grid with the Toyota Altis one-make series, which is open to men and women. This has varied a little by year; some seasons it has been part of the Division 2 Vios Cup.

The championship began in 2008 and has been held every year since then. It currently consists of five rounds, held at Saphan Hin Park, Bangsaen, Korat, Chang (Buriram) and the 700th Anniversary Stadium. Races are 20 laps long. Grid sizes fluctuate between about eight and twenty cars.

Tanchanok Charoensukhawatana has been the series’ most successful driver in recent years, winning at least two titles. In 2019, she moved onto the main Vios Cup grid. The championship has several long-term competitors, including Bamisa Busitarnuntakul and Danielle Char, who is from Hong Kong. Most of the drivers hail from Thailand, although a few like Danielle Char and Japanese champion Rina Ito come from abroad to race. Other Japanese entrants have included drifter Michie Mimoto and former grid girl Miyu Kitabayashi. Although there is no celebrity class as in the Philippines, celebrity drivers seem to be welcome and have included Anglo-Thai model Nathalie Davis in the past.

The 2023 championship used Ativ and Yaris cars instead of the Vios, although the format remained the same. In 2024, it seems to have been merged with the mixed Ativ grid.

Below is a highly incomplete list of Vios Lady Cup (and successors) champions, which will be added to when more information is found.

2025

2024 

2023 Siriphakon Yabyon

2022 Minnie Sitarvee?

2021 

2020 Ratchakarn Vajarasthira

2019 Thammalapa Praewphan
2018 Tanchanok Charoensukhawatana

2017 Rina Ito (Japan)

2016 Tanchanok Charoensukhawatana

2015 Praewphan Thammalapa

2014 Nattanid Leewatanavaragul

2013

(Image copyright Boxza Racing)