Robyn Kruger (Stiel)

 

Robyn Kruger (now known as Robyn Kriel) is a South African driver who usually races a Volkswagen Polo, often in one-make series.

She began karting at five, and moved into circuit racing at fifteen in the Super Hatch series, driving a Ford Fiesta. She won her class championship in the category in 2006 and 2007. 

The following year, she moved into the Engen Volkswagen Cup, a South African one-make championship. In her first year she was fifteenth overall. 

In 2009, driving a Polo, she improved her finishing position to tenth, then ninth in 2011. 

She achieved her first VW Cup podium position in 2012, at Zwartkops. Her final championship position was eleventh. 

In 2013, her career went international. She travelled to Buddh in India for a guest appearance in the VW Polo R Cup, in which she was second, behind her brother Jeffrey Kruger. She was also selected for the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission’s VW Scirocco-R Shootout, and got to the final stage, finishing fourth overall. This made up for crashing out of the first SA VW Cup round earlier in the year.

She raced less than previously in 2014, taking part in club Superhatch racing in the Polo. She scored at least one second place at Kyalami. As well as the Polo, she used a Ford Ka in Superhatch races in 2016.

Apart from occasionally racing a Lotus 7 in historic events, she only took part in the bigger 2018 endurance races in the Polo, which continued in 2019. She and Stiaan won their class in the Phakisa 200 in 2018. Robyn and Stiaan, who later married, raced together for the first time in 2017. They used his VW Polo for endurance races, starting with the Phakisa 200. It was about six months before the team raced again.

In 2020, Robyn raced in the VW Challenge again, finishing seventh in the final standings. This was combined with endurance racing, including a fourteenth place in the Phakisa 200 with Robbie Da Silva.

She switched to sportscars in 2021, racing a Lexus-engined Backdraft Cobra Roadster with Stiaan and Kosie Weyers.

Away from the track, Robyn works as a teacher.

(Image from motorsport.co.za)

Jasmin Preisig

 

Jasmin Preisig is a Swiss saloon racer whose speciality is endurance events.

She began her senior career in 2012 with a guest spot in the Chevrolet Cruze Cup, before taking on the 2013 Opel Astra OPC Cup season in Germany. Her most noteworthy result was a sixth place in the 6-Hour race that was part of that series. She also competed in hillclimbs in a KTM X-Bow. 

At the beginning of 2014, she was one of a small number of drivers selected for a scholarship drive in the Volkswagen Scirocco-R Cup. It was a difficult learning year for her, but her results did improve, and her best was an eleventh place at the Nürburgring. Towards the end of the season, she was getting closer to the top ten and was 18th overall. 

In 2015, she took part again in the OPC Astra Cup, a one-make championship within the VLN. She was third overall with one second place. 

She continued to race the Astra in 2016 in some rounds of the ADAC TCR touring car series. Her best finish was a twelfth place at Hockenheim, from four races. 

She did a full TCR season in 2017, driving the Astra, and earned her first TCR top-ten: a tenth place at the Nürburgring. She was 31st in the championship. At the end of the season she had a dramatic accident at Hockenheim and had to be cut from her car, but she escaped serious injury.

She drove a similar car for Steibel Motorsport in 2018 and the Nürburgring was her best track once again and the scene of her best finish, an eleventh place. She bounced back from her 2017 accident to finish 22nd in the championship. 

Her links with the Lubner team, with whom she had competed since 2016, continued in the 2018 VLN. She drove their Astra for one round in the TCR class. 

In 2019, she was part of Carrie Schreiner's all-female "Girls Only" team for the VLN, driving a VW Golf. She did two rounds of the championship, finishing second and fifth in the SP3T class with Carrie Schreiner and Ronja Assmann. The same team entered the Nurburgring 24 Hours but did not finish. 

Jasmin then left Girls Only and joined up with Max Kruse Racing for the rest of the season. She and her team-mates finished four of their six races in their Golf, with every finish being on the podium in their class: three seconds and one third. Jasmin was eighth in the TCR drivers’ standings.

She rejoined the team for two rounds of the 2020 championship. The Golf was now running in the SP3T class for VLN specials up to 2000cc. Jasmin and her team-mates, Benjamin Leuchter and Andreas Gulden won their class twice. They were fifth overall.

For the rest of the year, she moved to the Creventic 24H Series Continents with the Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power team. Their car was a TCR-spec Golf. Jasmin did not finish the Portimao 12 Hours, but she was second in the first part of the Hockenheim race and won the second leg. She also recorded two third places in the two Mugello races. The Number 1 car which she raced in was third in the TCE teams’ standings and Jasmin was crowned 24H Series ladies’ champion. 

Another season in the Golf in the 24H Series gave her a third place in the TCR class, which probably would have been a class title had she contested the whole season with Autorama Motorsport. She and her team-mates won at Hockenheim and the Hungaroring and were second in their other four races.

A similar Golf, run by the Max Kruse team this time, was second in class in the Nurburgring 24 Hours, with Jasmin and three team-mates at the wheel. They were 39th overall from 99 finishers. Jasmin joined them again for three rounds of the NLS (VLN), winning twice and finishing second once.

She only did one race at the Nurburgring in the Golf in 2022, finishing second in class. More of her season was spent in another Golf run by Autorama and Wolf-Power Racing, competing in the 24H TCE Series. She and her team-mates were fourth in class in the season-opening Dubai 24 Hours, then third at Mugello and fourth at Spa, with a fastest class lap.

She entered the 24H of Dubai in 2023, driving an Audi RS3 for Wolf-Power as part of a four-driver team. They were 37th overall and third in the TCR class. She also did the Abu Dhabi, Spa and Barcelona 24H races. She was second in class at Spa and 29th overall, then won the TCR class at Barcelona, finishing 22nd.

The VLN was her main focus in 2024, in an Aston Martin Vantage. She and her team-mates won their class in Round 4. They also entered the Nurburgring 24 Hours, finishing fourth in class and 39th overall, in what was the shortest 24H race in history, curtailed by fog.

(Image copyright Jasmin Preisig)

Ann Taieth

 

Ann Taieth is a highly successful rally driver in Africa who competed between 1972 and 2011. 

She was born in Norway but lived in Kenya, where she did almost all of her rallying. 

She became the first female driver to win a Kenyan rally in 1984, when she was the victor in both the Guru Nanak and Raymond rallies. Her car was an Opel Ascona and she was second in the Kenyan championship after a second place in the Kenya Sanyo 2000 Rally, behind Shekhar Mehta. 

She did enter the Safari Rally at least seven times (in 1972, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1982 and 1984) but did not always get to the finish. Her first attempt was in a Datsun 1600 and she was 18th from 18 finishers, although 67 others did not complete the event. She had received penalties for exceeding speed limits on the road sections, which prompted some newspaper writers to express surprise that she worked as a driving instructor away from the stages.

In 1973 she drove a Datsun and was sponsored by a cosmetics company called ”Lady Gay”, finshing fourteenth. The same combination of car, driver and co-driver Silvia King did not finish the 1974 edition and they were absent from the scene for some time. Ann and Silvia did not finish the 1977 Safari in a Datsun 120Y and then retreated from the scene again. 

Ann paired up with the experienced Yvonne Mehta for the 1980 Safari, although further information is hard to find. It is likely that their car was a Datsun, as both were associated with the make at the time. A final run in a Datsun in the 1982 event ended in another DNF and it was only when she switched Japanese power for German that she really started to get the results.

Her first podium finish was in the 1983 Sanyo 2000 Rally, held around Lake Nakuru. Her car was now an Opel Ascona 400. She and Silvia were third. At the end of the year, they were seventh in the Cholaco Jamhuri Rally. Ann then teamed up with Quentin Thomson and was fourth in the Firestone Coast 600 Rally. 

Her winning season followed in the Ascona and she was second in the Kenyan championship before retiring for many years.

After a long break, she returned to the Kenyan stages in 2010, driving a Volkswagen in the S&L Mortgages Rally. At 61, she was the oldest driver to ever tackle the event. She came back in 2011 for the KCB Bankika Rally in the same car. 

She has been involved in dog breeding in East Africa in recent years.

(Image copyright Robin Hutton)

Michelle Gatting

Michelle Gatting is a Danish driver who has won races in single-seaters and saloons. In 2019, she entered Le Mans for the first time.

She began racing in 2011, after winning two Danish karting titles. A Formula Ford was her first senior racing car and she wasted no time in getting on the pace, finishing fourth in her first race. During the second half of the season, she was a constant presence on the podium and won her first race at Sturup. She was third in the championship.

In 2012, she moved to the VW Scirocco-R Cup in Germany, supported by the FIA Women in Motorsport commission. This was the first of two seasons in the series. She was eleventh in her first year, and fourth in the Junior standings after one class win. She also drove a Scirocco in the Merdeka Endurance Race in Malaysia, but did not finish.

Her second season was much more successful and she became one of the championship’s quickest drivers, managing four podium finishes. These were a third and three seconds early in the season. She was fifth overall.

In 2014, she moved into sportscar racing, and raced in the Porsche Carrera Cup in Germany. Her best result was 15th, in Oschersleben. Towards the end of the season, she did two rounds of the International GT Open. She was eleventh in one race at Spa in an Audi R8 LMS Ultra.

She did not race competitively in 2015, but she did test a Thundersports car, with a view to entering the championship in 2016. Her debut Thundersports season in 2016 was a good one; she scored one win, at Bellahoj, as well as two second places, finishing eighth in the championship. Her car was a Dodge Challenger.

2017 was another strong season, with seven podium finishes and seventh in the Thundersports championship.

In 2018, she raced a BMW in Supertourisme in Denmark, continuing her good run of form. She was third in the championship with three wins, at Rudsborg and Padskogen.  

Later in the season, she joined the Kessel team for the Gulf 12 Hours, having proven her mettle in big-engined, powerful cars. Kessel was running an all-female team. They were second in class and sixth overall. This led to an offer of a drive in Europe with Kessel, including the Le Mans 24 Hours. The team, consisting of Michelle, Rahel Frey and Manuela Gostner, is supported by the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission.

The FIA WiM also supported Michelle in joining another all-female team for the Sepang round of the Asian Le Mans Series, in a Ligier LMP3 car. Her team-mates were Margot Laffite and Katherine Legge. They were running as part of Keiko Ihara’s R24 team, which had two female-crewed cars in the race. Michelle’s team was eighth in the LMP3 class.

Michelle was initially named as a candidate for the inaugural W Series women’s Formula 3 championship, but dropped out in favour of joining the Kessel team and racing at Le Mans. She was one of the Kessel "Iron Dames" with Rahel Frey and Manuela Gostner. They scored the first finish for an all-female team at Le Mans itself for about ten years, ahead of the "sister" Iron Lynx car of their male team-mates. Although the Dames were troubled by their share of car-related difficulties in the European Le Mans Series, they still managed second places in class at Silverstone and Paul Ricard, leaving them fourth in the GTE class overall.

The Iron Dames entered the Gulf 12 Hours again in 2019 and were closing on third place with Michelle in the car. A collision with a backmarker who did not let the faster car through in time put them out of the race.

Driving solo, Michelle did some rounds of the Denmark Super GT championship, driving an Oreca-powered prototype. She won twice at Bellahoj and also picked up a fourth at the same track.

The Iron Dames returned in 2020. They entered the ELMS and although it was not an easy season, they were fifth in the GTE class with three third places at Paul Ricard and Monza. Once more they out-scored their Iron Lynx "brothers".

The three Dames were 34th overall when Le Mans finally ran in September and were eleventh in the LMGTE Am class. This was a second straight finish for the team.

By herself but still part of the "Iron" setup, Michelle did part of the European Ferrari Challenge in Italy. She won the Trofeo Pirelli at Misano and was second at Misano and Imola. Despite only doing half of the season, she was sixth overall.

She also tried out touring cars in the Danish TCR series, driving a 309 for the Peugeot team. Unfortunately she did not finish her two races at Jyllandsringen.

2021 was her best year yet. The Iron Dames ran her in WEC, ELMS and the Ferrari Challenge. Driving an Iron Lynx "Scuderia Niki" 488, she won the first round of the Ferrari Challenge at Monza. Two more wins and a long string of pole positions and podiums meant that she won the championship outright.

Her three WEC outings included a class 13th place at Le Mans with Rahel Frey and Sarah Bovy, 36th overall. They also competed in the Portimao and Monza rounds. The Iron Dames team was ninth in the ELMS LMGTE championship after two third places at Portimao and Spa, with Michelle at the wheel.

She also made some appearances in the FIA Endurance Trophy, in the Iron Dames Ferrari.

The Dames stayed together in 2022. Michelle did five of the six rounds of the WEC for the team, with Doriane Pin and Christina Nielsen subbing for her and Sarah Bovy at Spa. Their best finishes in the large GTE class were two seventh places at Monza and Fuji and they were 14th overall. 

The season included Le Mans itself. It was far from an easy race for Michelle, Rahel and Sarah, but they were the leading Iron Lynx Ferrari crew and finished 40th, seventh in the GTE Am class. 

It was in the European Le Mans Series GTE Trophy where they really shone. The season began with a fourth a Paul Ricard that was almost a debut podium. They were second in the fifth round at Spa, then won the final race at Portimao, their first win. The Dames were third in the championship.

They went one better in the Gold Cup section of the Fanatec GT World Challenge, finishing second. This time, they were second at Paul Ricard and won at Spa.

The three main Dames stayed together for 2023, helped out by Doriane Pin. The established team had a pair of new cars: a Porsche 911 for WEC and a Lamborghini Huracan for IMSA and the Fanatec GT World Challenge. WEC and the Porsche proved to be the best combination, winning the LMGTE Am class at Bahrain at the end of the season. A third at Portimao earlier and some solid fourth places helped them to second in the class championship, in the final season of LMGTE competition. They were fourth in class at Le Mans after running much higher for much of the race but losing ground in the last few hours.

The Dames's IMSA season was limited to four rounds. Michelle and Rahel were 18th in the Daytona 24 Hours and eleventh at Sebring. They also raced at Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta, in commons with many other GTD teams who did not run the full season. Sebring remained their best finish. 

Their GT Wold Challenge season was affected by an early retirement from the Spa 24 Hours, which counted for three of the six point-scoring rounds. Their best result was 28th place overall at Monza, the first race of the season.

Michelle was an integral part of Iron Dames for WEC season in 2024, as well as most of the ELMS championship and some IMSA rounds. Although the Dames - Michelle, Rahel and Sarah - had their share of DNFs in their Porsche, they picked up a historic LMGT3 class win at Imola, and then a second place in the season-ending Algarve race. They were fourth in the LMGT3 championship.

For her other racing efforts, Michelle drove a Lamborghini Huracan, beginning with the season-opening Daytona 24 Hours. The Dames were sixth in the GTD class, 25th overall, assisted by Doriane Pin. The original trio did not finish the Sebring 12 Hours, or the Watkins Glen IMSA race, dropping out after an accident.

The Lamborghini took Michelle and Sarah to eighth place in the LMGT3 class of that year's WEC. Rahel and Doriane did not do a full season with them. Michelle, Sarah and Rahel were fourth in class at Le Mans, 32nd overall, one of their best class finishes. They were also fifth at Spa, after taking the LMGT3 pole, and fifth at Fuji. 

(Image copyright Kessel Racing)

Martina Danhelova

Martina (right) with co-driver Karolina Jugasova in 2015)

Martina Daňhelová (also known as Martina Jerhotová-Daňhelová since 2015) is from the Czech Republic and is one of the leading female drivers in Eastern Europe.

She has been rallying since at least 2008. Her first car was a VW Polo, which she used for her first two seasons. She entered two rounds of the 2008 Czech Sprintrally Championship in the Polo and finished both times, then did six more rallysprints in 2009.

In 2010, she started to participate in some longer stage rallies, including the Rallye Český Krumlov. Her first big Czech rally ended in an accident on the eighth stage but she managed to finish four rallysprints.

However, reliability was an issue that year. Engine trouble put her out of her second Czech championship round, the Herkul Rally Pribram. Her next event, the Rally Jeseníky, was done in a Honda Civic, and she was 51st.

The Polo returned to service for much of the 2011 season, in which Martina did her first European Rally Cup event (the Rallye Český Krumlov), and her first rally outside the Czech Republic (the Thüringen Rally, in Germany). She was 38th in both, her best-ever overall finish. Her other events, a mix of rallysprints and Czech championship outings, gave her a few decent class positions.

For the last two Czech Sprintrally events of the season, she switched to Renault Clio, and continued her good class finishes.

The Clio proved the more reliable of her two cars in 2012; the Polo’s gearbox gave way twice and then had another mechanical failure on the Hustopece Rally. Her best finish was 35th, third in class, in the Rally Agropa, in the Clio.

Her biggest rally was the Barum Czech Rally Zlín, part of the IRC. She drove the Civic and was 63rd overall, sixth in class. At the end of the season, she also drove an Alfa Romeo 147 at the Rallyshow Uherský Brod, although the event was cancelled after first stage following a serious accident.

Her cars for 2013 were the Clio, and the 147, which she drove for two different teams. The 147, run by the Rada Martin team, was mainly used for the Sprintrally championship. Her best rallysprint result was 29th with a class win, at the Rally Agropa.

In January she made another foray into the rest of Europe:  the International Jänner Rallye in Austria, driving the Clio. She was 48th overall, third in class. This was one of four European Cup rallies she contested that year, three of which she finished.

Her best result also came from driving the Clio: she was 24th in the Rally Bohemia and won her class. A second attempt at the Barum Czech Rally Zlín gave her 36th, and third in class. She won her class in the Rally Bohemia, driving the Clio for CK Motorsport.

In 2014 she stuck with one car and team, rallying the Clio in the Czech Republic. Her programme included one European outing, the Jänner Rallye, in which she was 40th. She entered two European Trophy rallies in the Czech Republic: a rear axle broke on the Barum event, and she was 21st in the Hustopeče Rally. Her best results came from rallysprints; she won her class in the Czech Sprintrally Championship.

Her car for 2015 was a Clio, and she was second in the ERC Ladies' Cup after a class win and 42nd place in the Jänner Rally in Austria. This class victory her first points finish in the Ladies’ Cup. The rest of the year was spent in the Czech Republic, taking in one further ERC round, the Rallye Český Krumlov in which she was 34th, third in class.

2016 featured a reduced programme for Martina, who drove a Clio in the Krumlov Rally in May, finishing 46th. She became a mother to a daughter that year and took a step back from motorsport. She still retains an interest in rallying as her family compete - her father Vlastimil Daňhel has co-driven for her on occasion - but she is now involved in breeding horses.

(Image from www.fiaerc.com)

Jessica Hawkins

Jessica (centre) on the winner's podium in 2017

Jessica Hawkins was second in the John Cooper Mini Challenge in 2017. She was a multiple race-winner in her first really successful season, finally displaying the talent she showed in a kart.

As a junior, she won several karting championships, and featured strongly in some major ones.

In the face of a series of difficult sponsorship situations, she got onto the grid for the 2014 Renault Clio Cup. This was in part thanks to winning a testing shootout organised by the BWRDC, and was helped by some further experience in the car in the 2013 Autumn Trophy. In the end, she only seems to have driven in two rounds, at Brands Hatch, but she was third and fourth. Her team-mate was Jodie Hemming, recently returned to competitive action. Jodie was acting as her driver coach too.

Later in the season, she raced in the British Formula Ford Championship, at Silverstone, scoring two tenths, and an eleventh place. She was team-mate to Michael O’Brien, a fellow youngster.

In 2015, she chose the single-seater route, and entered the MSA Formula series. This was a transitional formula between Formula Ford and Formula 4, as it would become in 2016. It was a difficult season, and she just missed out on a top-ten spot at Rockingham and Snetterton. She was 23rd overall, after competing for just over half a season. She was part of a strong field, including Lando Norris, Dan Ticktum and Enaam Ahmed.

During the winter season, she raced in the MRF Challenge in the Middle East. She managed two fifteenth places at Bahrain. These were her only two races in the championship.

Part-way through 2016, she joined Team HARD Racing for the VW Racing Cup, and was ninth and eighth at Brands Hatch, driving a Golf. She did enter the third race at Brands but did not finish. This experience put her back on her original track of saloon racing, which would pay off.

Jessica’s first race in the 2017 Mini Challenge ended in a win from pole. She followed that up with another win from the front. She aimed for a clean sweep of the Snetterton meeting, but had to settle for third in the third race. She repeated this exactly at Silverstone: two wins, two poles, then a third. She won one more race at Rockingham and earned a further six podium places from eleven races. She could have won the championship if her early momentum had lasted, but she was still a strong second in what was her first full season of competition.

Her sights are now set on a career in tin-tops and she has completed the first year of a three-year plan, which will take her into the BTCC.

This plan had a slight setback in 2018, when she did not race very much, apart from a couple of guest appearances in the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup at Snetterton. She spent most of the year working as a stunt driver.

In 2019, she returned to single-seaters, applying successfully to enter the female-only W Series. She sometimes found herself mixed up in on-track accidents during the season itself and had a best finish of seventh, at Assen and Brands Hatch. She was eleventh in the championship and therefore invited back for 2020.

W Series was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus, but Jess went back to tin-tops and managed to take a big step forward in her career. She signed a one-round deal with Power Maxxed Racing to drive their Vauxhall Astra in the BTCC and raced at Snetterton. Her best finish out of her three races was 20th, but she had been running much higher than that when she was pushed off-track by Andy Neate. She also had to contend with significant ballast in her car due to starting the season late.

Before that, she had a guest drive in the Jaguar i-Pace eTrophy, alongside her partner Abbie Eaton. She was eighth and ninth at the Berlin street circuit.

She made three further BTCC guest appearances in 2021, this time driving a Ford Focus ST run by Racing with Wera and Photon Group. Snetterton was the scene of the action again and she finished all three races, narrowly missing out on a top-twenty placing once to finish 21st.

W Series beckoned again too, but it was not a stellar season for her and she only really got on the pace towards the end, earning a sixth and fifth place at Spa and Zandvoort. She was a backmarker for much of the eight-round championship and finished eleventh overall, meaning she will not be invited back automatically.

She was also announced as a Driver Ambassador by the Aston Martin F1 team. Although this is a non-competing role at present, she travelled with the team for several events in 2021. Her stunt work, which has included appearances in a James Bond film, continued.

Her third W Series season began with a second place at Miami, but it was soon eclipsed by her first win in the British TCR series, driving a SEAT Leon for Area Motorsport and FASTR. Her win, at Oulton, was her only one of the season. She had too many non-finishes to make an impact on the final leaderboard, but she did manage a fifth and sixth at Castle Combe. She was fourteenth in the championship.

Her W Series season was also inconsistent and she was ninth after the shortened seven-race programme. This proved to be her last W Series season as the championship folded at the beginning of 2023. 

Her competitive action was UK-based in 2023. She took part in the Praga Cup, driving for the University of Wolverhampton team with Teddy Wilson. They won one race and were second in the championship. Using the same car, she entered the Zeo Prototype Cup with Shane Kelly. They were frontrunners in that series too, winning their class in five out of six races to finish second.

Away from active racing, Jessica continued to work with Aston Martin and was even allowed to test the AMR21 F1 car in September. She was the first woman to drive a current F1 car for several years. The team also gave her a job overseeing their F1 Academy entry.

She raced an Aston Martin in 2024, although not the F1 car. She drove for the Beechdean team in the British GT championship, in their Vantage. Her co-driver was Andrew Howard and she did six rounds of the nine-race season. She was 19th in the drivers' standings, with  a best result of seventh, achieved at Donington. 

(Image from www.excelr8motorsport.com)

Juliette Slaughter

Juliette with the Kelly Girl Lola

Juliette Slaughter (née Scott-Gunn; also Brindley) was most famous for her Le Mans entry in 1978.

Her racing career began in 1970, as Juliette Scott-Gunn, after she inherited some money. There was some history of motorsport in her family; her father had the distinction of being a racing vicar at Brooklands. In 1971, she won the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club’s Helen Spence Trophy, for the best newcomer. She competed in Class C of the Castrol Production Saloon Championship in 1972, in a Ford Escort, scoring one class win at Brands Hatch. In August, she raced in the BWRDC’s “Fast Girls Ford Consul Challenge” at Brands, and was twelfth, out of seventeen drivers, after a spin. The winner of this event, Gillian Fortescue Thomas, was presented with a fur coat by Graham Hill.

She met her first husband, Andy Slaughter, on-track, when he drove into her car! They were both racing in Production Saloons at the time. Between 1972 and 1974, she concentrated on her career in personnel. At one point, she was part of Mark Thatcher’s management team.

When she returned in 1975 as Juliette Slaughter, she was involved in the sport both on and off the track. Her day job was in the press office at Brands Hatch, under the management of John and Angela Webb. The Webbs were skilled promoters, and Juliette gained a reputation is a marketing expert.

One of John Webb’s favourite marketing ploys was using female drivers to create media interest. He had trained up a “stable” of women racers, some from the world of celebrity, or other sports, who raced under his Shellsport banner. They became known as “the Charm School”, and were not always taken seriously. Although John Webb always had one eye on the promotional value of his drivers, he also believed in them as racers, and helped to launch the careers of Divina Galica and Desiré Wilson.

Shellsport acted as the sponsor for the BWRDC’s invitation Ford Escort one-make challenge. It began in 1974, and Juliette took part in two of the three races, with a best finish of second. This was achieved at her home track, Brands Hatch. The series ran as a championship proper in 1975, and she entered three of the four rounds. She was sixth twice, this time at Mallory Park and Snetterton. She managed another two second places at Brands in 1976, behind Divina Galica, but had the consolation of a joint fastest lap and class record in the second race. She set another lap record at Snetterton in 1977, in the same car, and was second in the race itself.

She was an enthusiastic member of the BWRDC. Their 40th anniversary book, Mary’s Girls, tells of her participation in a women’s Demolition Derby in 1975, and a humorous imaginary film called “The Bird Life of a Northamptonshire Village”, in which she was going to discuss “fashion on the grid”.

In 1977, Juliette mainly raced a Shellsport Renault 5 in the Production Saloon championship. She scored at least one fourth place, at a Christmas meeting, and won her class at Thruxton, leading to another BWRDC accolade, the Embassy Club Championship. That year, she was also announced as the second driver in Divina Galica’s Sports 2000 Lola T290. Reports suggest that she took part in at least one event in the car, which was sponsored by the Kelly Girl employment agency. This may have been down to Juliette’s own negotiation, as she had previous experience in the field, and was now a marketing manager at Brands Hatch.

The Lola was one of several cars she raced in 1978. The Renault was kept on for use in Production Saloons, and she also had the use of a Triumph TR7 for production sportscars.

Her biggest race of 1978 was undoubtedly Le Mans. She was driving a Kelly Girl-sponsored Lola T294S, with Ian Harrower and Brian Joscelyne. They suffered engine trouble and did not finish, only managing 61 laps. That said, all drivers had put in some respectable times, particularly considering the age of their car, and their lack of big-race experience.

The following year, Juliette drove a Porsche 924 in the Brands Hatch 6 Hours with Win Percy, and they won their class, finishing 22nd overall. Again, this was a strong performance in an underpowered car, which had proved hard to qualify.

At the same event in 1980, she was ninth with John Sheldon and John Brindley, in a Lola T492. They won the Sports 2000 class.

Away from the major races, and after her Le Mans outing, she accepted a drive from Gerry Marshall Racing in Production Saloons, driving a Triumph Dolomite, in 1979. Unfortunately, no results are forthcoming for this car/driver combination.

Later, she drove a VW Scirocco in the same championship. She finished on the Production Saloon podium six times during 1980, with a best finish of second. This included a drive in the Willhire 24 Hours, as part of a team that included Stirling Moss and Desiré Wilson, and was sponsored by the “mens’ magazine”, Mayfair. She continued with the Scirocco in 1981, when she teamed up with Tony Lanfranchi.

She retired in 1982 to pursue her business career, and other interests. For many years, she put her promotional and organising expertise to good use on the committees for various horse trials, having taken up riding.

Sadly, she died in 2012, at the age of 67, after an eleven-year battle with cancer.

(Image copyright Getty Images)

Lucile Cypriano

Lucile on the podium in 2015

Lucile is a French driver who races saloons. She was the winner of the 2013 FIA Women in Motorsport Scirocco-R Shootout.

Prior to her burgeoning senior career, she raced karts from the age of twelve, winning her first race at seven years old, and finishing in the top ten of several French championships. During her time in karting, she was scouted by the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission as a future talent.

Her first step into senior motorsport was in 2013, in the French F4 championship. She was still not quite seventeen. Her best finish was eighth, at Le Mans, at the start of the season. It was not the most consistent of years for her, and she was troubled by non-finishes later on, but this was a learning period. She was 21st overall in the championship.

At the end of 2013, she was selected for the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission’s Scirocco-R Shootout. She was one of twelve young drivers who got through to the final stage, and she beat the likes of Naomi Schiff and Gosia Rdest to the award. Her prize was a funded season in the Volkswagen Scirocco-R Championship in 2014.

In 2014, she took her prize drive in the VW Scirocco-R Championship. She held her own on track, and finished all ten rounds. Her best overall finish was eighth, achieved at the Norisring and Oschersleben. She also finished in the top ten on three more occasions: two ninths and a tenth. She was twelfth overall, second out of the championship’s four female regulars.

In 2015, the Scirocco Cup was shelved, to be replaced by the Audi TT Cup. Lucile was set to make a double-pronged attack on the Audi TT one-make series, and the SEAT Leon Eurocup. After quietly dropping out of the TT Cup, her main focus became the SEAT series, and it was a good move. Lucile scored her first senior win at Catalunya, in the last round of the season, having managed two previous thirds, at Estoril and Monza. She was ninth in the championship. 

She also had her first taste of full international competition, making a guest appearance in the Spanish rounds of the TCR International Series, driving a SEAT Leon. Out of two races at Valencia, she scored one twelfth place.

The SEAT Leon Eurocup was her chosen destination for 2016, building on her 2015 success. Her best finishes were a second place at Estoril and a third at Paul Ricard. Despite only completing just under half of the season, she was seventh overall. 

In 2017, she tried something more powerful, in the shape of the French Porsche Carrera Cup. She was thirteenth in the championship for the Racing Technology team. Her best finish was seventh, at Paul Ricard. Her season included a run in the Le Mans Carrera Cup support race, in which she was twelfth out of 21 starters.

She switched to rallying in 2018, entering two French events in a Citroen DS3. Her best finish was 22nd in the Rallye Pays du Fayence. As part of a more extensive programme in 2019, she drove the DS3 in the Pays du Fayence again and was ninth.

She spent the rest of the season in an R2-spec Peugeot 208 which was not quite as fast, but she still ended the year runner-up in the French ladies' championship. Her best finish was a 22nd place in the Rallye Coeur de France. 

In 2021 she got back in a rally car, albeit for one event. She drove the Peugeot in the Rallye d'Antibes Cote d'Azur and was 54th overall.

It was a quiet year for Lucile in 2022, but she announced her return to the circuits for 2023. She was chosen as a member of the all-female Volant Matmut Akkodis ASP team alongside Gabriela Jilkova. They raced a Toyota Supra GT4 in the FFSA France GT championship. Lucile was fifth in the Pro-Am championship with five thirds and one second place in class. 

(Image copyright Lucile Cypriano)

Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky

Mikaela in 2015

Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky is a Swedish driver who has raced in international one-make series for Volkswagen and Audi.

She began karting at the age of twelve, and spent five years in various championships. In 2009, she was fourth in the Swedish Rotax Max championship.

Her first full season of senior competition was in 2012. Instead of learning the ropes in a Swedish national championship, she jumped straight into the VW Scirocco-R Cup, based in Germany, having passed its selection procedure. It was not the easiest of years, with two thirteenths at Oschersleben her best finishes. She was 19^th in the championship. As well as other up and coming young drivers, she raced against guests such as Damon Hill and WRC champion Sébastien Ogier. At the end of the season, she secured an invite to the FIA Women In Motorsport commission’s Scirocco-R Shootout, a competition for female drivers with a funded season in the 2012 Cup as its prize. Mikaela was second, behind Michelle Gatting.

As well as tin-tops, she tried her hand at GT racing, taking part in some rounds of the Scandinavian Porsche Carrera Cup. Her best finish was eighth, at Solvalla, one of three top-tens she achieved in five races. She was twelfth in the championship.

A second season in the Scirocco-R Cup saw a more assured Mikaela. Towards the middle of the season, she broke into the top five for the first time, finishing fourth at the Norisring. She followed this up with a second at the Nürburgring, her best race of the season. She was eighth in the championship.

In a somewhat backwards move, she spent some time in 2013 in Sweden, racing in the Clio Cup, which ran as the Swedish Junior Touring Car Championship. She was twelfth in that championship, too, after a part-season. Her best finish was sixth, at Kinnekulle.

She had her best season yet in the Scirocco-R Cup in 2014, and was the strongest of the female entrants. She won one race, at the Norisring, the first female driver to do so. Despite five more top-tens, four of those being top fives, some poor finishes at Oschersleben and Hockenheim let her down.  She was ninth in the championship.

That year, she also took part in rallycross, racing an RX Lites Ford Fiesta. She raced in the Swedish and Turkish rounds, and performed best in Sweden; she was fifth in the final. In Turkey, she got as far as the semi-final. At the end of the season, she was fourteenth in the championship. She had a similar experience during her part-season in the Swedish Supercar Lites championship: fifth in on final at Höljesbanan, and eighth overall in the championship.

In 2015, she entered the Audi Sport TT Cup, the successor to the now-defunct Scirocco series. A series of non-finishes, including a crash at Oschersleben, dropped her down the leaderboard to fifteenth. However, her race results were quite good, and included a third place, at the Norisring. When she made the finish, she was almost always in the top ten.

For 2016, she remained with the Audi marque, but took a step up into sportscar racing, in an R8 LMS. She raced in the ADAC GT Masters in Germany, for Aust Motorsport, as a team-mate to Marco Bonanomi. It was a steep learning curve for both of them, and Mikaela had a best finish of tenth, at Oschersleben. She was just out of the top ten on two more occasions, and was 52nd overall. Her 2017 plans had to be adjusted, as she broke her leg at the end of 2016.

2017 was another Audi-based year. She took part in the Swedish Touring Car Championship, which was run to TCR regulations. Her car was an Audi RS3 LMS. The season was slow to get going, with two DNFs in the first two races. Her best finish was an eighth place at Solvalla, one of two top-tens she scored during the year. She was 20th overall.

She was in the R8 again for the ADAC GT Masters. Neither she nor any of her Audi Sport Racing Academy team-mates fared particularly well. Mikaela's best finish was fourteenth, at Zandvoort.

In 2018, she concentrated on the STCC and was tenth overall, posting a historic first win at Karlskoga in August. This was one of five top-ten finishes for her.

Her 2019 season got off to an excellent start with a win at Knutstorp. It was her first race in the rebranded STCC, now running under TCR regulations and known as Scandinavian TCR. Her car was a SEAT Cupra as she did in 2018. She was sixth in the championship after a second place at the Drivecenter Arena and thirds at Falkenberg, Karlskoga and Mantorp.

Away from actual competition, she was named as an official tyre tester for the forthcoming Extreme E electric SUV championship. She undertook testing and PR duties for the Alejandro Agag-run enterprise. She was initially not down to race in 2021, having not been selected by a team, but she was selected late on by Jenson Button's JBXE squad.

Another STCC season in a Cupra for PWR was relatively successful. She was ninth in the championship with her best finishes being two thirds at Mantorp. Again, she was slightly inconsistent, although her two DNFs in the first and last races of the year did not help her final leaderboard position.

In 2021 she ran parallel seasons in Extreme E and in the STCC and enjoyed success in both. She partnered Kevin Hansen at JBXE and although they did not manage to win any of the off-road sprints, they scored podium finishes in Senegal, Greenland and Sardinia and were in with a chance of a championship podium until the closing round in the UK. They were second in that race, but had to settle for fourth, just a point behind Catie Munnings and Timmy Hansen who had won a race.

Cupra were her rivals in Extreme E, but she drove for their team in Scandinavian TCR. Her season started very strongly with a second and third place at Ljungbyhed and she was one of the leading drivers from then on. A win eluded her until October, when she scored her first at Mantorp and followed it up with another at Knutstorp. She was unable to catch her team-mate Robert Dahlgren, who was the runaway championship winner, but was a secure second.

She concentrated on Extreme E in 2022, driving for Rosberg X Racing this year with Johan Kristofferson. The pair won two races in Saudi and Sardinia and were the only team to score more than one win, but the better reliability and consistency of Team X44 meant that they were the champions, with Rosberg X Racing in second place.

Rosberg Racing was the 2023 championship-winning team, with Mikaela and Johan still at the wheel together. They won both Sardinian races, one from pole, and another race in Chile, sandwiched between second places in Sardinia and Chile. Their improved consistency, thanks to two thirds in Saudi, meant that they stayed ahead of Acciona Sainz and Veloce.

Driving solo but staying with one-make electric racing, Mikaela raced in the RX2e category of the European Rallycross championship, for the Swedish-run Team E. A third in Norway and second in Belgium was enough to give her third in the championship. 

Circuit racing had not been abandoned either; she made guest appearances in the Scandinavian Porsche Carrera Cup towards the end of the year.

Mikaela and Johan's final season in Extreme E together - the championship ended after 2024 to make way for Extreme H - began with a win in Saudi. They were then fourth in their other three races, leaving them third in the standings. She also did a full European Rallycross season with Team Yellow in RX2e. Again, her first race was her best, ending in a second place in Sweden. She was fourth overall. 

She is the daughter of rally driver Susanne Kottulinsky, and granddaughter of Freddy Kottulinsky, another rally driver. Although she grew up in a motorsport family, she had no interest in it whatsoever until she was a teenager, preferring dance and gymnastics.

Mikaela’s profile rose due to her being romantically linked to Max Verstappen. However, she remained focused on her own racing career and moved on quickly. 

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