Chelsea Angelo

 

Chelsea Angelo races single-seaters and touring cars in Australia. Her career began in Formula Ford and she almost won a National class Formula 3 championship in 2014, but she now races saloons.

She has been involved in senior-level motorsport since 2012, when she was 16. At first, she raced a Formula Ford in the Victoria state championship,  but that turned into an attack on both the Victorian and Australian championships in 2013. She scored her first outright win in the Victorian series. Her best finishes in the Australian championship were sixth places at Surfers Paradise and Sydney. She was thirteenth overall. Despite her win in the Victorian championship, she was only 15th overall as she did not do the whole calendar. 

She raced in Australian Formula 3 in 2014, in the National class, where she was a front-runner. She was either first or second in all of her races, winning seven times, and missed out quite narrowly on the championship. This was the high point of her single-seater career, although the issue of finances was beginning to rear its head.

As well as single-seaters, she has also tested Supercars, and this led to a last-minute race seat for 2015 with the THR Developments team. However, this only stretched to the first round and Adelaide, and she sat the rest of the season out. She finished 18th and 22nd in her two races. 

She signed with the Dragon team for the 2016 Supercar Dunlop championship. After almost a full season she was 21st overall, getting into the top ten once at Sandown. This was impressive, as it followed a DNF due to contact with another car. Her car was a Prodrive Ford Falcon FG and the only known Supercar to be fitted with a cup holder, a nod to her sponsor, Rush Iced Coffee.

Her programme was very limited in 2017, with only one major race. The Dragon team had signed Renee Gracie in her place. She drove a Ford Falcon in the Winton 300 but did not finish. 

2018 was spent in the Australian Porsche Supercup with Wall Racing, who won the championship the year before. Sportscars suited her and she was fifth overall. Her best finish was second at Sandown, one of four podium places including one third place at Phillip Island. 

Hoping to resurrect her single-seater career, she put her name down to try out for the inaugural season of W Series. She was long-listed and attended the winter selection event at Melk in Austria, but was not selected. Chelsea took to social media to express her anger and lack of confidence in the W selection criteria, which she claimed were very unclear and not fully related to on-track performance.

After her W Series disappointment, she threw herself into the Australian TCR Series, driving a Holden Astra for Kelly Racing. It was not the easiest of seasons and she had car problems to contend with, as well as being taken out by another competitor in the third race. She sat out the middle part of the season while the team sorted out the car troubles and returned in November at The Bend. Sadly, a first-race crash put her out for the weekend. Her best finish was twelfth and she was 25th in the championship. Among her team-mates that year was Molly Taylor. 

She also raced a Hyundai Excel in some one-make endurance races with the Brett Parrish Race Organisation, finishing tenth and sixth. Her co-drivers were Ashley Izod and Tim Slade. The sixth spot was with Ashley Izod and was a charge through the field from 20th to sixth.

She planned to race in TCR again in 2020, but the season was cancelled due to coronavirus. 

The following season ran and Chelsea did most of it in a Volkswagen Golf. It was a hard year for her and her best finish was eleventh at Phillip Island. She was 20th overall.

At the beginning of 2022, she posted on her social media that she did not have sponsorship to race, although she has not retired and has not ruled out a return later in the year. She works as a driver coach and personal trainer.

(Image copyright Chelsea Angelo)

Carlotta Fedeli

 

Carlotta Fedeli races saloons in Italy and has been a regular in both one-make series and the Italian TCR championship.

Her first year as a competitive racing driver was 2011, when she took part in the Italian production touring car championship in a Mini. Before that, she was active in karting.

Keeping the Mini but jumping into a new championship, she raced in the Italian Mini Challenge for two part-seasons in 2012 and 2013. The second season was combined with a part-season in the Cupra Ibiza Cup. This was the beginning of a long-term relationship with SEAT, usually in endurance-based competition. 

Following another year in a Cupra one-make series, she made her debut in the Italian Touring Endurance Championship (CITE) in 2015. Supported by the SEAT factory, she was third in the TCR section with three podium finishes. She won the Junior and Ladies’ titles. 

She did a fourth season in a SEAT in 2016, racing in the Leon Eurocup. Her best result was a second place at Mugello, and she would have been a contender for a top-five championship result without a DNF and an indifferent round mid-season. This drive included guest appearances in the TCR International Series in Italy and she picked up a ninth position at Imola. 

It was time for a new challenge. She entered the Italian TCR championship again in 2017, this time driving an Audi RS3. Unfortunately, she was disqualified from one race and did not finish the other. 

After a year off to have a baby daughter, she returned to motorsport in 2019, racing a SEAT Cupra in the TCR DSG Endurance series. She was fourth overall with three third places at Vallelunga, Monza and Misano. 

A second season in the series gave her sixth place, with one third at Mugello. Her car was a Volkswagen Golf run by Scuderia del Girasole (“Team Sunflower” in English).

The same year, she attempted to qualify for the all-female W Series, but was rejected after the first round of assessments. She returned to the TCR championship in 2020 and was sixth in the DSG class, with a best finish of third at Mugello. She was driving the Golf again.

Going back to Audi power, she signed for RC Motorsport in 2021, racing in the Italian TCR championship. She won the DSG Endurance title with five class wins. She shared her car with multiple Le Mans winner Emmanuele Pirro for the last race of the season.

After a break, she returned to the Italian Touring Car Championship for 2023. She drove an Audi LMS in TCR trim and later, DSG trim. The latter car worked better for her; she won the first race at Imola and was second or third in the other three races of the series.

2024's racing was limited to three guest appearances in the Italian Touring Car Championship, driving an Audi RS3 LMS DSG. She was ninth and eighth at Vallelunga.

(Image from iltornante.it)

Tasmin Pepper

 Tasmin Pepper is a well-travelled driver from South Africa who has experienced success in both single-seaters and saloons, including race wins in both. 

She began racing in the 2006 South African Formula Ford Championship, aged sixteen. For her first couple of  seasons she combined karting with Formula Ford. Despite this, she was fourth in 2007 and claimed her first podium finishes. Tannith Gardiner stood in for her at Zwartkops.

Moving up the single-seater ladder in 2008, she entered the South African Formula Volkswagen series, a new championship launched that year using Reynard chassis previously raced in Germany. As well as this she raced in Formula BMW Pacific, racing all over Asia as well as her homeland, including three support slots for Formula 1 races. Her best finishes in both championships were fourth places. She was seventh in Formula Volkswagen and thirteenth in Formula BMW. 

A season spent closer to home was rewarded with her first win, at Kyalami, driving a Formula Volkswagen in the South African championship. Another three podiums at Kyalami and Killarney confirmed her fourth place.

In 2010, she continued where she left off, finishing second in the championship with another win at East London and ten podium places. When she finished, she was never out of the top ten, and almost always in the top five. 

She challenged again in the 2011 Formula VW series. Sadly, she did not win this time, although she was rarely out of the top five. She was fourth overall. 

After 2012, she switched from the declining Formula VW to saloon car racing in the Wesbank Super Series, driving a VW Golf. She also returned to karting, including some visits to Europe for the X30 series after winning the South African edition in 2011. Her win was repeated in 2012. 

Volkswagens were to be her favoured car for six seasons and in 2013, she added more wins to her tally: a round of the Polo Cup at Phakisa. Later that year, she was selected for the FIA VW Scirocco R-Cup ladies' evaluation tests, but did not win the following Shootout in Europe. 

She returned home to the Polo Cup in 2014, ending the season fourth overall. This was one of her best final finishing positions, although she bettered it in 2016 and 2018 with second places and outright race wins.

In 2019, she qualified for the all-female W Series, despite being out of single-seater racing for some time. She was a solid midfield but not spectacular finisher, racing in Europe. Her best finish was sixth at Zolder, which she repeated in the non-championship race at Assen. W Series did not run in 2020 due to the global coronavirus crisis, but she was set to compete again in 2021. Sadly, coronavirus seriously curtailed travel to and from South Africa and she was unable to race at all.

She is from a motorsport family; her brother Jordan races and her father Iain used to. She has been involved in one form of racing or another since she was four.

(Image copyright Reynard Gelderblom/Wheels24)

Oksana Kosachenko

Oksana Kosachenko is best known as a Formula One team official and as the former manager of Vitaly Petrov, but she began her motorsport life as a driver.

She had a short competition career in the mid-2000s while she was working as a motorsport broadcaster. Her route into sports journalism was via gymnastics, which she had to give up as a young adult for medical reasons. As she was born in 1966, this would have been in the 1980s. Some sources claim that she was a coach and choreographer to rhythmic gymnasts, but the stories are all rather vague. Her involvement in motorsport started in broadcasting but very soon encompassed driver management and championship co-ordination.

She took part in the Russian VW Polo Cup in 2002 and 2003, with a best finish of tenth at St Petersburg in 2002. Her car was supplied by the “Sport Garage” team and the TV show for which she worked. Initially, she turned down the offer of a race seat but she was persuaded to take part and provide in-car commentary. Her season in 2003 was affected by an accident at St Petersburg; she was not able to start the next race and was off the pace for the much of the rest of the season. 

In 2004, she drove a Sport Garage Polo in some rounds of the Russian Touring Car Light Championship, but she was never among the front-runners. Her best result by a long way was a thirteenth place at the Nevaring near St Petersburg. 

In 2005, she made two appearances in the Russian Touring Car Championship, at Moscow. She finished 17th in both of her races, driving a Honda Civic. This was combined with a part-season in Touring Light, driving the same VW Polo as previously. 

Her competition career ends here but she continued as a commentator, working with European Formula 3 and the DTM for Russian television. At about the same time, her “Manuscript” promotional agency managed the Russian Touring Car Championship.

In tandem with her commentary and racing activities, she worked as a driver’s agent. She was the manager of Russian Formula One driver Vitaly Petrov from 2001, when Petrov was only 16. Under Oksana’s tutelage, he progressed from winning the Lada Cup in Russia, through the junior formulae, regional Formula 3000, GP2 and then Formula One in 2010 with Renault.

Their partnership concluded in 2013 when Oksana took on the role of commercial manager for the Caterham team. She lasted only one year with the team, which went into administration in 2014. 

Almost immediately she repositioned herself as an outspoken media pundit. Even while she was still at Caterham, she gave a superficially telling interview to a Russian paper about team spying and most drivers’ dislike of Monaco. 

More recently, she has made a series of inflammatory statements, including describing the struggling Williams team as “more like a Formula 2 team” and claiming that Aston Martin was unlikely to become a winning team.

She has distanced herself completely from her time as a driver and said on more than one occasion that women were not strong enough to be successful racing drivers.

(Image from fehrplay.com)

The VW Polo Ladies' Cup Turkey

Ann Tahincioglu, Nuray Esener and Melis Ceker

The Volkswagen Polo Ladies’ Cup was an all-female one-make series which ran in Turkey between 2005 and 2006. It was announced as part of a package of new club championships for Turkey in the wake of the opening of the Istanbul grand prix circuit.

The entry list contained a mixture of experienced circuit racers, drivers from other disciplines (including rally co-drivers), women who had achieved fame in other sports and a few celebrities. 2005 champion Ann Tahincioglu had been involved in Turkish motorsport for years and was the oldest driver at 49. Nuray Esener and Sanem Celik also had circuit experience. Didem Coksayar and Melis Ceker had co-driven in rallies; 2006 entrant Burcu Cetinkaya had been a Turkish ladies’ rally champion. Yasemin Dalkilic had set records in freediving and Zeynep Ozenc had represented Turkey in volleyball. The celebrity drivers included fashion designer Secilay Du Pre. 2006 champion Gunes Ippekan started the 2005 Cup as a complete novice and was also the youngest driver, at 25.

Seventeen cars lined up for the first race at Izmit Bay. The championship’s other three rounds were held at Istanbul. An additional race was held at Lausitz in Germany as a guest support for the DTM.

A 1900cc turbodiesel version of the Polo was used. Cars were run by various teams with different sponsorship deals.

In 2006, two drivers in the championship received a guest entry into a round of the DTM-supporting German Polo Cup. Champion Gunes Ippekan and fifth-placed Melis Ceker made the trip to the Netherlands for their two races.

Championship results

2005

1. Ann Tahincioglu
2.  Nuray Esener
3.  Melis Ceker

2006

1. Gunes Ippekan
2. Ann Tahincioglu
3. Nuray Esener
4. Ebru Sile
5. Melis Ceker
6. Ayse Sule Bilgic
7. Demet Kapani
8. Yasemin Dalkilic
9. Didem Coksayar
10. Aysa Alparslan

(Image copyright nurayurkmez.com)

Ronja Assmann

Ronja Assmann is a Swiss driver who mainly races saloons in Germany and has competed in the Nurburgring 24 Hours as part of the all-female “Girls Only” team.

She often races a Renault Clio in Germany, driving for her family team, usually with her father, Winfried.

She began her motorsport career in 2012, at the age of 17, in a KTM X-Bow, driving in the rookie championship of the X-Bow Battle series. She was 18th overall after four races. These were her first legitimate races, although she had been learning and training in a Volkswagen Polo for a year beforehand, until she was old enough for a senior license. Unusually, she did not come through karting and jumped straight into cars. 

In 2013, she acquired the Clio, and used it in the Bohemia Clio Cup, with a best finish of eleventh, at Most. She was 20th overall and fourth in the Junior rankings, as well as becoming the championship’s youngest ever female driver.

Back in Germany, she competed in some rounds of the German Touring Car Cup, in the 2000cc and under class. She normally ran well compared to the other Clios in her races, and her best finish was eleventh overall, at Lausitz. 

In 2014, she continued to race in the same series, and used the Clio to begin with. Later, she changed it for a Porsche GT3 Cup, which gave her better results, averaging about tenth. She did not complete the season. The Porsche was run by Flying Horse Racing, her family’s team. She sampled several different championships in it, including the Porsche Sports Cup and the P9 Endurance series.

Elsewhere, she was part of the dmsj–youngster-Team for the Rundstrecken Challenge (RCN), at the Nürburgring. In a Vauxhall Astra, she achieved one win in the Junior class. During the season, she also drove the Clio and a Honda Civic in the RCN.

The dmsj team retained her services in 2015, and she competed in the VLN, in the Astra. She was twelfth in the OPC Astra Cup class of the VLN, as part of a team of three. She finished the Nürburgring 24 Hours on her first attempt, and was fourth in the Cup1 class, with Winfried and two Flying Horse team-mates. They were 61st overall. 

It was back to the RCN for the 2016 season, in the Flying Horse Porsche. She did two races in the series, as well as a decent run in the Porsche Super Sports Cup, finishing eighth in the main championship and fourth in the Endurance class. During the winter season, she travelled to the Netherlands for the Winter Endurance Championship, and was second overall in a race at Zandvoort. 

In 2017, she did her first races in the Porsche Carrera Cup, making two guest appearances at the Lausitzring. She was driving for the Cito Pretiosa team in its debut year. 

She was also fourth in the Cup 3 class of the Nürburgring 24 Hours, driving a Porsche Cayman. This was run by Arkenau team and shared with her father, Kai Riemer and Peter Scharmach. 

She did not race much in 2018, but did some training and planned to return in 2019, which she did. Ronja became part of the “Girls Only” WS team for the VLN and the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Girls Only was led by Carrie Schreiner and driving duties were shared between her, Ronja and Jasmin Preisig. The car was a Volkswagen Golf GTi, run by an all-female engineering and management team.

The Nürburgring 24 Hours was meant to be their showcase event and in a way, it was. The Golf suffered problems and had to retreat to its garage for a full engine replacement, but the team got it back on track. The car took the finish but was not classified.

The VLN was a mixed bag of outcomes. They were second in the SP3T class in the first race, although they were only 79th overall. The second race in April was abandoned due to snow, then they did not enter the third. Ronja joined another team for the ninth round, driving a Porsche Cayman alongside her father. They were eighth in the Cup 3 class.

As well as the VLN, she raced a Porsche 911 in the Porsche Super Sports Cup in Germany.

The 911 came out for the 2020 VLN, competing in the SP7 class for cars up to 4000cc. Her regular team-mate was Karl Pflanz and they were twelfth in their class championship after a part-season, missing the first round. Their best class finish was third in Round 5, held in August.

(Image copyright Ronja Assmann)

Irina Sidorkova

Irina Sidorkova is a title-winning junior touring car driver from Russia who has recently moved into single-seater competition.

She first raced at a Moscow rally show in 2015, when she was just eleven. This was the beginning of her involvement with the Volkswagen Academy which supported the saloon part of her career. Prior to this, she raced karts in Russia, Estonia and Finland. She won a championship in Estonia in 2012.

Her early interest seemed to be in rallying; she was a junior in the Rally section of the VW Academy and drove a Polo in a Finnish rally, where she was 22nd overall. This was before she even hit her teens.

She then gravitated towards the circuits and raced a Volkswagen Polo in the Russian national junior touring car championship. In 2017, she won two of her eight races, at Fort Grozny and Nizhny Novgorod. She also scored two second places at Smolensk. This took her to second place in the National Junior class of the Russian Circuit Racing series. On ice, she won in St Petersburg, taking home the Ice Circuit Racing Cup.

In 2018, she updated her second place to a championship with three wins in the early part of the season, at Fort Grozny and Smolensk. Three further podium positions kept her ahead of her Polo team-mate, Pavel Kuzminov.

Late in the season, she was entered into the Assen rounds of the SMP Formula 4 championship. This was her first experience of single-seaters and she finished all three races in thirteenth place.

At the beginning of 2019, she was announced as one of SMP’s drivers in the Spanish Formula 4 championship, in a car run by the DriveX team. She was still not yet sixteen. Her first meeting with the series at Navarra resulted in her first top ten, an eighth place. She later finished sixth at Motorland in Spain. Overall, it was a tough learning year and she waas 19th overall. She did slightly better in the SMP F4 series, finishing sixth.

Her management expressed hopes that she will represent Russia in the W Series in 2020, a wish that was granted during the second round of driver selections. The 2020 W Series was cancelled due to coronavirus but Irina took her place in 2021. As preparation, she entered the F3 Asian Championship, driving a Formula Regional car for the first time. She was not among the front-runners and had a best finish of twelfth at Yas Marina.

Her W Series season was very inconsistent and she had to miss three races due to issues with her visa. She impressed many with a second place in the second round at the Red Bull Ring, but could not build up any momentum. She did manage a fourth at the Hungaroring, but was then thirteenth at Zandvoort and was unable to travel for the US rounds. She was ninth in the championship. As a "W Series Academy" team driver, her place in the series is protected. Alongside Nerea Marti, she also undertook an FIA F3 test at the end of the season, but no times were published.

Russian drivers were barred from participation in most major motorsport championships in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. Irina was quietly dropped by W Series, although she is still listed as one of their drivers. She announced that she was taking up body-building, but did return to the Russian Circuit Racing Series. She drove a Subaru BRZ in the Super Production class and was sixth in the championship, with two wins.

She raced a BR03 in the Russian national endurance series in 2023, after making her sportscar debut at the end of 2022 in an Audi RS3 TCR. A deal to run a Ferrari 458 fell through. She did not do a full season but she was fourth in the season-ending Sochi 6 Hours, sharing with Kirill Ladygin.

Driving a Mercedes AMG GT4 solo, she was fourth in the GT4 section of the Russian Circuit Racing Championship. Her best finishes were four third places.

(Image copyright SMP Racing)

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)

Fabrizia Pons

Fabrizia Pons is Italian, and is best known as Michele Mouton’s navigator during the most successful part of her career, sitting beside her for all four of her rally wins. She is also a driver in her own right.

Even before she started rallying, she competed in motocross between 1971 and 1975, in Italy, starting off in the junior categories. She combined a motocross racing schedule with studying to be an architect. It was only a major accident that made her re-evaluate where she wanted to be in motorsport, and switch to rallying n 1976.

Her first rally car was a Group 1 Autobianchi A112, which she used in Italian events, including the Rally Ciocco, in which she was 19th. Her navigator was Gabriella Zappia. The pair also drove an Alfasud in the Sanremo Rally, finishing 29^th overall. Among her rivals for the Coupe des Dames was Michele Mouton, in an Alpine-Renault, who went out with a broken radiator.

Fabrizia and Gabriella won the Italian ladies’ championship that year, which was no mean feat for a crew in their first year of competition.

For 1977, she changed to driving an Opel Kadett, still in Group 1. She and Anna Gatti took part in that year’s Sanremo Rally, but did not finish. They were more successful in Italian rallies, and defended her ladies’ title.

1978 was her best year in that car; her third attempt at Sanremo gave her a ninth place, making her one of two people to have scored world championship points in the same event as both driver and co-driver.

The Kadett was run by Conrero Squadra Corse, and Fabrizia earned herself another strong finish on the Targa Florio Rally, finishing fourteenth overall. They were behind sixth-placed Anna Cambiaghi, in a Lancia Stratos, but had accrued enough points for Fabrizia to take a third Italian ladies’ title.

This was her final full year as a driver. At the start of the 1979 season, she swapped seats and launched her career as a co-driver. She had done two Monte Carlo Rallies as a navigator, but she was now in the role full-time. By the end of the year, her navigation and organisational skills had helped Lucky Battistolli to two outright wins, in Austria and Germany.

When Michele Mouton was signed by Audi for the 1981 season, she was on the lookout for a new co-driver, having parted ways with Françoise Conconi, who had been her regular navigator for some years, and not quite clicking with Annie Arrii, her replacement. Fabrizia joined her for the Rally of Portugal, and began a five-year partnership that included four WRC wins, the FIA Ladies’ Trophy and the 1982 Halda Trophy for the best navigator.

After a disappointing season in the 1985 British championship, Fabrizia retired from full-time competition to have a family. Before her sabbatical, she had one more go at the steering wheel herself, driving an Audi Quattro in the Lady Rally dei Castelli Malatestiani, held on the island of Rimini in 1985. She was the winner, from Paola de Martini in a Ferrari.

Her career got going again in 1995, when she teamed up with Ari Vatanen at Ford, and she was back to winning ways in 1997, assisting Subaru driver Piero Liatti to victories in Monte Carlo and Portugal.

In 2008, she and Michele did the Rally of Otago together in a Ford Escort, finishing 35^th. Prior to that, she was Jutta Kleinschmidt’s regular rally-raid navigator at Volkswagen, having done the same for Ari Vatanen.

In recent years, she has paired up again with Lucky Battistolli in the Italian Historic Championship, normally in a Lancia.

She is a member of the FIA’s committee on women in motorsport, and is also sought after by representatives from other sports for her organisational expertise. Teams and events she has supported include the New Zealand Olympic squad, and the European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships. She now runs her own school for rally co-drivers.

(Image copyright Victor Patterson)

Circuit Racers from India

L-R: Mira Erda, Sneha Sharma, Neha Dabas, Ria Dabas

The Indian motorsport scene is growing rapidly. In the past two or three years, female drivers have been part of this, in both single-seaters and saloon racing.

Alisha Abdullah – best known for racing motorcycles (she is one of India’s only professional bike racers), but started on four wheels, and still competes in cars occasionally. Between 2010 and 2012, she raced in the Indian Volkswagen Polo Cup, with a best overall finish of eighth, in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, she scored her first podium. After a few years of racing bikes almost exclusively, she travelled to Thailand for a women’s race, part of the 2014 Toyota Vios Cup. She won the race outright. In 2016, she planned a return to four-wheeled competition, but this did not seem to happen. She spent a lot of time running and promoting her women's riding academy. She raced a Honda Civic in a national championship in late 2020 and scored one third place.

Neha Dabas – the elder of the Dabas racing sisters. In 2015, she competed in the Volkswagen Vento Cup in India. This was her first season of racing. Her best overall result was eighth, in the second round at Coimbatore. In 2016, she was selected again by Volkswagen India as one of its twenty drivers for the Vento Cup, but she did not make the final grid. She was previously, as a teenager, a national-level basketball player for India.

Ria Dabas – the younger of the Dabas racing sisters. Her first season of racing was in 2015, when she was chosen as one of the drivers for the Volkswagen Vento Cup in India. Previously, she raced motorcycles, and was India’s youngest female superbike racer. Despite her track experience, she was not quite as fast as her sister, and had a best finish of thirteenth, at Buddh.

Megaa Ganga (KS) - raced in India as part of the all-female Team Ahura in 2018. Her first race was at Kari Motor Speedway. She was one of six women drivers chosen to represent the team in the JK Tyres LGB Formula 4 championship. Megaa was the fourth fastest of the six and was the leading Ahura driver in the first race. She was 19th overall in the championship, the second of the Ahura drivers. Her best finish was twelfth at the BIC circuit in Greater Nolda.

Uma Hataria - raced in India between 1986 and 1987, when she competed in stock cars. She is said to have won a championship in 1987, although details are scarce of her career. She now directs a racing team and is the inspiration behind her son Sarosh’s founding of the all-female Ahura Racing. In 2019, Uma tested an LGB Formula 4 car with the latest crop of Ahura drivers.

Shriya Lohia - races single-seaters in India. Her first year in cars was 2023, when she was 16. She entered the third round of the F4 India championship at Madras International Speedway, finishing tenth in her first two races. In 2024, she competed in the series full-time, driving for the Hyderabad Blackbirds team. She was 22nd overall, with a best finish of eighth in the first round at Madras. Too many non-finishes dropped her down the order. Prior to 2023, she raced karts from the age of nine.

Mrinalini Singh - raced in India’s RGB Formula 4 championship as part of the all-female Team Ahura. She earned her place in the team through a talent search in 2018 and did the whole Formula 4 season in 2019. Her best result seems to have been a fourteenth place at Kari. She was banned from the sport in July 2020, having tested positive for a banned substance.

(Image copyright M. Periasamy)