Aliyyah Koloc

 

Aliyyah Koloc is a Czech driver of Emirati and Seychellois descent who races trucks and GTs in Europe, as well as competing in cross-country rallies for the Buggyra team. 

Born in Dubai, she grew up around motorsport; her father Martin Koloc races a number of different cars and is now the principal of Buggyra. Both she and her twin sister Yasmeen began competing as seniors as soon as they were old enough.

It began with a few races in a Renault Clio in the 2019 Eset series. She was only 15 years old and had only just recovered from an injury that put a halt to a promising tennis career. Her first appearance was at Gronik in Croatia, where she won her class in both sprint and endurance races.

She was still only 16 years old when she first got in a truck, entering the French and European championships for the Buggyra team. The French championship was the most successful for her, with a third and a second place at Nogaro. The second place was updated to a win, as on-track winner Adam Lacko was not registered for the championship. Her best result in the European series was eighth, at Most. 

She also set a series of speed records over the 500m distance in July 2020, driving a streamlined Buggyra-Freightliner truck. 

In 2021, she did races in both the French and European truck championships, concentrating on the French. She earned four podium positions: two seconds and two thirds. Her final position on the leaderboard was fifth. The best result of her European part-season was a ninth place at Jarama. This year, she expanded her circuit experience further with some races in the Club Challenge section of the Whelen Euro NASCAR series. Her car was a Ford Mustang, run by the CAAL Racing team. Her sister Yasmeen was her team-mate in a Chevrolet Camaro.

She spent 2022 preparing for her first attempt at the Dakar in a Buggyra prototype, as well as racing GTs in Europe. She competed in some more Eset races in 2021, driving a Mercedes AMG GT3 and GT4 car in different classes. With Yasmeen and Adam Lacko, she entered the 12 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in a similar car, but did not finish. Yasmeen crashed during the first part of the race and injured her wrist.

Aliyyah teamed up with Buggyra designer and racer David Vrsecky for the FFSA GT championship, in another Mercedes GT4 car. He replaced the injured Yasmeen, who had shared the car at Nogaro. She was eleventh in the Silver drivers’ championship. In August, Aliyyah and David raced at the Silverstone Classic for the first time, in the pilot event for the Masters GT4 series. Aliyyah was fourth and third. 

Her Dakar training was based around the Middle East Cup for Cross Country Bajas, driving a Can-Am light prototype run by Buggyra. She won one event outright and scored podiums in two others and won a the championship.

Her Dakar run itself was compromised by problems on the second stage, dropping her and co-driver Stephane Duple to the bottom of the leaderboard. She did steadily improve over the course of the rally and had a best stage result of 36th, on the twelfth competitive section. She was 104th overall.

Less than a week after finishing the Dakar, she was back on the circuits, driving the Mercedes with David Vrsecky. They entered the non-championship 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi and won their class.

Her first 24H Series race of 2023 was the Mugello 12H, in which the team, including Adam Lacko, finished second in the GT4 class, 26th overall. She and her two co-drivers were second in the GT4 class of the championship, with one win at Spa.

She has also tested a bigger T1 Dakar prototype, in preparation for the 2024 Dakar, where she entered in a Red-Lined Revo T1+ with Sebastien Delaunay. Her build-up included testing in Abu Dhabi and some off-road bajas in South Africa. She finished 17th in class in the Dakar itself.

The 2024 summer season was spent in the 24H Series, in a Buggyra-run Mercedes GT4. Her team-mates were David Vrsecky and Adam Lacko again. They won the GT4 class in the first four races of the year, at Mugello, Spa, Algarve and Misano. Despite not doing a full season, they won their class championship, with a best overall finish of seventh at Misano.

She will tackle the 2025 Dakar in a Buggyra vehicle.

Aliyyah is open about having Asperger’s syndrome* and considers it an asset when on-track, as she is able to assess risk efficiently and concentrate.

Image copyright AS Sports Communication

*This is how Aliyyah describes herself, although others do not like this terminology.

Gisela Ponce

Gisela Ponce is a Mexican driver who has raced in both NASCAR and touring cars, and now competes in truck racing.

She is from a racing family: her brother Javier is a racing driver, her father (also Javier) raced for many years, and her grandfather was the president of his regional motorsport association.

After several seasons of karting, she took her first steps in senior motorsport in 2009, when she was nineteen. Her first racing season was in the VW Stock 1600 championship, driving an original Beetle. Her first outing ended with a third place at her local track, Aguascalientes. She was fourth overall, and second in the rookie standings.

In 2010, she worked with the Volkswagen team and undertook training with them, then competed in a VW Golf in the regional Aguascalientes Copa RC Racing series. She finished second after a very strong season, and won at least one race.

In 2011, she formed her own family team, and contested the 1600cc Mexican Touring Car Championship. She was third in the final standings, having led for part of the season. This run in a national series was accompanied by more races in the Central Mexican touring car series. She was the champion in the VW Sedan class, and second in the Chevy 1600 class.

Her NASCAR adventures began in 2012, when she entered the Mexican Stock V6 NASCAR series for the first time, driving a Chevrolet for the OAM Ramirez team. Her best finish was fifth, at Mexico City, and she was in the top ten for nine of the twelve races. Her finishes gradually improved over the season; her best result was in the last round. She was seventh overall.

As well as NASCAR, she found time for some Mexican touring car races, in another Chevrolet. She scored one podium in the 1800cc Mexican Touring Car Championship, and was seventh overall.  

For 2013, she had a lighter schedule, with only a couple of guest slots in NASCAR. This would become a pattern in her career: a strong year followed by one where she was less active, due to a lack of sponsorship. She only got to her local Aguascalientes rounds, but earned a pair of fourth places.

It was back to business in 2014, with a few races in NASCAR, yielding a fifth and eighth place, at Aguascalientes again. She raced for her family team in the Super Touring 1 Light series, in which she was back on form, finishing fourth.

In 2015, she made a move into truck racing, in the Campeonato Tractocamiones Freightliner. She was fifth overall, having been in contention for a championship win until quite late in the year. This was in addition to a season in the Mexican Super Touring 3 series, where she was sixth, with one podium place. Her car may have been a Chevrolet.

Most of 2016 was spent truck racing, in a Freightliner. She did not do quite as well as in 2015, despite running a full season, but was still ninth overall. Late in the year, she made a guest appearance in the Mexican V6 Series, and was eighth at Mexico City.

A limited season in Trucks followed in 2017. She made guest appearances in the Mikels Trucks and Freightliner one-make series, scoring one seventh place in the latter. She did not finish her Mikels Trucks race at Monterrey.

She also participated in the 24 Hours of Mexico, an endurance race for saloon cars held at Amozoc Puebla. This was her second attempt at the race.

She did two races in Super Touring Light in 2020, but had to cut her season short as she was pregnant. She returned to the tracks in 2022, racing a BMW in the Copa TC2000 Mexico. She was seventh in the championship with a best finish of fourth at Mexico City.

In 2023, she did some endurance racing in a Honda Fit. She and her team-mates won the Endurance 2 category at Puebla. 

(Image from eaglentsracing.com)

Mara Reyes

Mara in 2016

Mara Reyes was the first Mexican woman to race in NASCAR in the States. In recent years, she has been one of Mexico’s leading saloon racers.

She comes from Pachuca, and like many other speedqueens, as well as NASCAR drivers, she got into motorsport through her father. In 1987, when she was ten, she navigated for him in rallies. She had to wait until she was fourteen before she could get on the circuits.

1991 was her first season of circuit racing. She drove a spaceframe VW Beetle in a junior series. She was the only female driver in the championship, and was fifth overall, as well as Rookie of the Year.

The next four seasons were mostly spent in the Mexican endurance championship. Despite still only being fifteen, Mara was tackling 12- and 24-hour races in the GT II class in 1992. She was eleventh in the championship, with a best finish of sixth, earned in a twelve-hour race. Unfortunately, it is unclear which car she drove. In 1993, she moved up to the GT III class. She continued to improve, and was ninth in the championship.

1995 saw her try a wider range of racing disciplines. Her main focus was still the GT III championship, in which she was now a serious contender, with podium finishes. Later in the season, she joined the new one-make Chrysler Neon Challenge, in which she was eleventh. This was only a part-season, as she was sharing the car with her father, Miguel.

Another achievement was being invited to take part in the Shell Grand Prix, in El Salvador. This was a race for Super Touring cars, giving Mara a taste of more power. She was fifth overall, and  third in class. Again, the make of her car is not recorded. That season, she also raced trucks, and a Nissan prototype.

After a good 1995, she was offered support by Daimler-Chrysler of Mexico for 1996, and her single-seater career began. The company arranged for her to attend the Skip Barber racing school. Saloons had definitely not been forgotten, however; her second season in the Neon Challenge included a win and a third place, plus three pole positions. Again, she was part of the Chrysler team. She was eleventh in the championship. Some more Truck racing netted her more good results, and she was eighth in the Mexican championship.

She continued to be competitive in the Neon Challenge in 1997, winning a race and coming second in another. She was tenth overall. Her Truck results kept improving, too, and she was fourth in the championship. This year’s big challenge was meant to be a one-make series for the Ford Mustang, but Mara’s sponsorship only stretched to one race, in which she was fifth.

In 1998, she put together a deal for a full season in the Mustang, and was ninth in the championship. By now, she was showing some real speed in a race truck, and she was that year’s championship runner-up. This earned her attention from the Scuderia Rodriguez team. After learning to drive a single-seater in 1996, she drove one competitively in 1998, coming seventh in Formula Mexico, a series for Skip Barber Formula cars.

Mara continued to race in multiple series in 1999, but it was truck racing in which she really excelled. She was second in the Mexican championship again, and would win the title outright in 2000. This was the first of two truck championships, as she defended her title in 2001.

During this period, she not only raced HGVs, but Pickups as well. She took to Pickup trucks immediately, and was second in 2001. In 2002, she raced in a Dodge Pickup championship, finishing third.

She continued to race the Mustang, and improved steadily, finishing eighth in 1999 and moving up to fifth in 2000 and 2001. She was tenth in 2002.

2003 was a season when a lot went wrong for Mara. She struggled for sponsorship, and did only a few races in the Mustang, and in Pickups, at the start of the season. She had established herself in third place in the Pickup series, but slipped down the rankings due to her enforced absence.

Things improved dramatically for her in 2004. She was signed by the Telmex team to contest the Corona Mexican Stock Car Championship. This was a new championship, and Mara claimed the first pole position. She was sixth overall, with one podiium finish. The series was very popular and had large grids, and the final points table was very close towards the top.

Her Mexican stock car adventures inspired her to try for a seat in NASCAR, and her team and sponsors agreed. Driving for the Telmex team, she was classified 18th in a K&N Pro Series race at Irwindale, in 2004. She had been running as high as twelfth, but was black-flagged and just sneaked a qualification instead. This did not deter her, and she took a step up to the Busch Series in 2005, one below the Sprint Cup. She was signed to drive Jay Robinson’s Ford for the Mexico City round. This ended in a disappointing 35th place finish, although she was only five laps down. She had secured her place in the annals of motorsport, however, as the first Mexican woman to race in a NASCAR-sanctioned event.

Another season in the Corona series in 2005 gave her eighth. She had worked her way up to second place when she had to drop out due to illness. This signalled the end of her time with Telmex, and the conclusion of the first part of her career. She retired for a long time, to spend more time with her family. This was partly down to problems with sponsorship, too.

After a long lay-off, she returned to the track in 2015, driving a Mercedes in the V8 Super Copa. She was ninth overall, despite being out of the cockpit for the best part of ten years.  

In 2016, she was third in the Mexican Super V8 Challenge, taking one win at Monterrey, and three second places. These were her first podium places since her comeback. She was supported by the Arris-Telmex team, and picked up plenty of favourable media attention.

That year, she also made a return to NASCAR, in the Mexican series. Her Arris-Telcel team got her guest spots on the grid for the first two rounds, in Mexico City. She was eighteenth and fourteenth.

She planned to race with the Telmex team again in 2017, but this does not seem to have happened.

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

Female Drivers in Truck Racing

Minna Kuoppala in 1995

Women drivers have enjoyed some success in truck racing, both in Europe, especially France, and in the Brazilian Formula Truck series. Aliyyah Koloc now has her own profile. Heather Baillie, Divina Galica, Ellen Lohr and Stephanie Halm have all also competed in truck racing, in Europe.

Marcia Arcade – Brazilian driver who was the first woman to race in Formula Truck, in 1998. Her truck was a Scania, and she was not initially among the front-runners. She contested six races in 1998 and 1999. In 2001, she entered three more races, in a Ford truck, but again, did not challenge for wins. She was nicknamed “Furaçao”, or “Hurricane”.

Reinhilde Braun – German driver who raced in the European championships in the mid-1990s. Her first major season was 1994, and she was fifth in the Truck class. In 1995, driving a Mercedes, she finished eighth in the championship. In 1996, she ran her own racing team, with Sisu trucks and Minna Kuoppala as driver, with some success. Further details about Reinhilde’s career are proving hard to find. She may have also been involved in the haulage trade.

Jennifer Janiec – French driver who raced trucks in Europe between 2009 and 2011. In 2009 and 2010, she finished tenth in the French truck racing championship. In 2011, she took part in the European championship round at the Nürburgring, in a MAN. Her best finish was 16^th. Her first European outing was one of her first major truck races, in 2008. She was 17^th overall at Barcelona. In 2012, she was down as a reserve driver for the Le Mans truck race, but it is unclear whether she got to drive. She had raced at the event the year before. Previously, she raced single-seaters and small sportscars in France, including four seasons of Formula Renault, from 2007. After a long time out of the driving seat, she returned to the French and European championships in 2019, driving a Man. She raced at Paul Ricard in the French series and the Nurburgring in the European. In 2020, she made a guest appearance in the French championship at Nogaro, finishing seventh and tenth. This expanded to seven races from the twelve-race 2021 season, narrowly missing out on a top-ten finish at Albi. She improved as a driver in 2022 and did almost the whole season. Her best finishes were seventh places at Charade and the Nurburgring and she was twelfth in the championship. Another full season in 2023 gave her thirteenth place, with a best finish of seventh at Charade. This was one of several top tens she achieved during the year. In 2024, she concentrated on the French championship, finishing 18th overall. Her best race finish was eleventh at Paul Ricard. She is from a family of truck racers, and her brother, Jean-Pierre, remains active in the sport.

Minna Kuoppala – Finnish driver active in truck racing in the 1990s. She raced in the European championships between 1994 and 1998. Her first season gave her eighth in the SuperTruck class. In 1995, she was ninth in the Super-Truck class. In 1996, she drove for Reinhilde Braun’s Mercedes team, finishing sixth in the Truck class.  After a lull in competition, she was seventh in the Truck class in 1998. In 1993, she had won her class in the British championship, and was fourth in class B in the European series. Her trucks were usually Finnish-built Sisus. Earlier in her career, she raced single-seaters in Finland. In 1989, she was fifth in the Finnish Formula Ford 1600 championship. Even earlier, she competed in karting, against Mika Häkkinen and Taru Rinne.

Celine Miral - races trucks in France. She began racing in 2022, driving a Renault and a DAF in the French championship for the Bejuit team. She was 29th in the championship after a part-season and her best finish was fifteenth at Le Castellet. She had been involved in truck racing for a while as part of the Bejuit team, which is staffed by engineering students, but only took the wheel herself at the age of 45. Her first experience of driving the truck at speed was during the Paul Ricard qualifying. She did another part-season in 2023, driving the DAF, and was 31st overall. She raced a DAF again in 2024 and was 31st again after a part-season.

Laurine Orsini – races trucks in France. 2015 was her debut season, driving for her family’s team (both her father and brother are ex-truck racers). Her truck is a Mercedes Axor. Coming into the French championship with no prior motorsport experience, she was not one of the front-runners, and finished in 16^th place, with four points. Previously, she competed in eventing on her horse. She did another season in the French championship in 2016, in the same truck. Her final position was fourteenth, having scored points in two of her three races. She planned to race in 2020, but had to pull out due to problems stemming from the coronavirus epidemic. In 2021, she did the Nogaro round of the French series, finishing three of her four races.

Aline Rambeau – French driver who raced trucks in the 2000s. In 2005, she took part in the European championship, in the Supertruck class, driving a MAN race truck. She was relatively competitive, and a regular visitor to the top ten. The best moment of her season was a win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Camions. Her final championship position is not currently forthcoming. Her first season of truck racing seems to have been in 2002, when she also raced a MAN in the Coupe de France, and was third in the championship. As well as racing trucks on circuits, she also took part in rally raids, in the Truck class. She entered the 2004 Dakar in a Mercedes, and also did some other cross-country rallies. Her co-driver was Jo Adua.  

Débora Rodrigues - truck racer from Brazil. She has been competing in Formula Truck since 1998, and in recent years, has driven in rounds of  the Brazilian and South American championships. So far, she is the only woman to do so. Her best championship finish has been sixth, in 2006. She was tenth in the 2011 South American series. In recent years, her best race finish has been fifth, at Cascavel in 2012. In 2013, she managed another tenth in the South American championship, after running in both the Brazilian and SudAm series. Her race truck is always a Volkswagen. Away from truck racing, she is a TV presenter and former model. She also branched out into cars in 2013, entering two rounds of the Mitsubishi Lancer Cup. She returned to trucks in 2014, in a MAN, and raced in both championships. Her best finish in Formula Truck was a seventh place, in Buenos Aires. She was 16th in the championship. In 2015, she was twelfth in Formula Truck, driving a MAN. She mostly finished in the lower half of the top ten. This improved to ninth in 2016, with a best finish of fourth, at Campo Grande. She had a dramatic crash during her 2016 season and does not appear to have raced in 2017. In 2018 she raced in Copa Truck, finishing twelfth. She was third in the 2019 championship after picking up three third places. 

Lenka Vlachova – Czech driver who did a season of European truck racing in 2000. Her truck was a Sisu, run by Martin Koloc’s team. Although she was not one of the front-runners in the championship, she managed to score a few points, and was fourteenth in the final standings. Lenka may have done some truck racing in the Czech Republic previously, but further information is proving hard to track down.

(Image from http://www.kauppalehti.fi/)

Heather Baillie (McAlpine)

Heather is a Scottish racer, active in the 1980s and 1990s. She was a race winner in different driving disciplines, and enjoyed modest success on the track.

Her career began in earnest when she won a season’s Kit Car racing in a driving competition, having been entered by her father. This was in 1984, when she was 19, and followed some sprinting and hillclimbing in a Formula Ford. Her Kit Car season, in 1985, resulted in a class second overall.

In 1987, she went back to single-seaters, and raced in Formula First, the entry-level formula of the time. The 1987 season was not the easiest, with a crash putting her out of the first round at Brands Hatch. However, her second year as a Formula First driver saw her make progress, with a best finish of fifth, and tenth in the championship. Her time in this series was marred by a pitlane accident involving another Formula First car, at Brands Hatch. The car was driven by a novice, whom Heather was actually instructing at the time. She broke both of her legs and had to take time out from racing.

In 1989, she had another go at single-seaters, in Formula Forward. This resulted in another best finish of fifth, and eighth in the championship.

During this time, she was also racing a Suzuki Swift in saloon races, including the Willhire 24 Hours, held at Snetterton, in 1988 and 1989. She won her class in 1988.

She was a race-winner in the Ford Fiesta championship of 1990, finishing third in the points. Her win came at Oulton Park. The same year, she mastered small saloons as well as much bigger machinery, winning a British truck racing championship. Her British truck record included three wins and three seconds, from six races. She raced in some European Truck championship rounds, too, and was fourth in one race at Paul Ricard.

1991 was again focused around saloons, and she raced a Ford Sierra Cosworth in the Production Saloon championship. Although she could not quite repeat her heroics of the previous year, she had a best finish of second, and was sixth overall in the championship.

In a surprise switch back to single-seater racing, she contested eight rounds of the Japanese F3 championship, in 1992. She was part of the She’s Racing team. This was not an easy season for Heather, who did not manage to score any points.

1993’s activities are not completely clear, but it seems that she did some more truck racing, in the British Chamionship. It is clear from pictures that she also took part in one European championship round, at Le Castellet, driving a Chris Hodge TRD. The results are not forthcoming.

Back in the Asia-Pacific area in 1994, she raced a Toyota Celica with Gwenda Searle, at the James Hardie 12 Hour race in Australia. They did not finish.

Heather’s last significant motorsport activity was winning two AC Cobra races in the UK in 1995, racing as Heather McAlpine, following her marriage.  The same year, she was one of the instructors for the Daewoo Lady Driver competition.

Although she claimed in 2002 that she had not retired, she has not been seen competitively on the circuits since then. She has, however, been on them; in 1996, she started an all-female track day team, driving a SEAT Ibiza. Among her “fellow” drivers was Barbara Armstrong.

(Image copyright Rexscanpics)

Stephanie (Steffi) Halm

Steffi with her race truck

After six years of karting in her native Germany, Stephanie Halm took her first steps in full-sized motorsport in 2001. She had won two regional championships in her final two years of karting. Her chosen path was single-seaters, and she joined the popular Formula König. After a hesitant start at Oschersleben, where she was thirteenth, she had a very competent debut season. In Round Two at Lausitz she was sixth, at Salzburg she was eighth, and was ninth at the Nürburgring. Her second visit to the Lausitzring gave her another eighth, and she was seventh at Hockenheim. In the penultimate round at the Nürburgring she was seventh, and at the final race at Oschersleben she scored her best result: fourth. This consistent performance was good enough for seventh in the championship.

After this strong start, she switched to the more powerful and competitive Formula Renault 2.0 in 2002. Driving for the Auto Hackel team, she was not as comfortable with the car as she had been the previous year. She was 19th and fourteenth in her first two races at Oschersleben, 20th in both races at Hockenheim, 18th and 16th at Lausitz, 21st and thirteenth at the Nürburgring, 16th at Salzburg, 20th and 17th at the second Nürburgring meeting, and 15th and seventh at Oschersleben, saving her best result for last once more. She was 19th in the drivers’ standings, and did not return to the formula the following year.

Formula Volkswagen was her choice of competition in 2003. In her first two races at Oschersleben, she was out of the top ten, partly due to missing qualifying in order to sit an exam at school. She broke into the top ten with a ninth spot in the fourth race at Hockenheim. She scored an eighth place at the Nürburgring and was tenth and eighth at Salzburg. Showing more consistency, she was seventh and eighth at the Lausitzring, and seventh and tenth at Oschersleben. She was eighth overall.

She then changed to tin-tops, recording the first female win in the Alfa Romeo 147 Cup in 2004. Her victory at Oschersleben, the second round of the championship, was also the first win by a female driver in a diesel-powered car. She did not do quite as well for the rest of the season, but was still good enough for sixth overall, and second in the junior driver standings.

She repeated this feat in the Mini Challenge in 2005. Driving for the ROMA Wiesmann team, she won one of the races, and finished the year in sixth.

She was retained by the team for the 2006 season, and did not disappoint. She won one race, and finished in the top three on four more occasions. In the end-of-season final, she was fifth. Overall, she was fourth, comfortably ahead of Johannes Stuck.

In 2007, she did some races in the Porsche Carrera Cup, as part of the Tolimit Inventure team, with Hannes Plesse. She was supported by Eve Scheer, a Porsche Cup regular. Sadly, the Porsche did not suit Stephanie at all, and she was off the pace all season. She had a best finish of eleventh at Zandvoort, and did not finish four of her races. She was 23rd overall.

Going back to what she knew, Stephanie returned to the Mini Challenge in 2008. She won twice during the season, at Hockenheim and Oschersleben. Her other results were a sixth at Hockenheim, a rare DNF and related 21st at Oschersleben, eighth at the Nürburgring, fifth and sixth at Oschersleben, fourth and second at Hockenheim, a pair of twelfths at the Nürburgring, fifth at Oschersleben, and tenth and sixth at Salzburg. She was fourth again, driving for the GIGAMOT team.

As well as one-make series, Stephanie has tackled some longer races. In 2005 and 2006, she was part of an all-female endurance team consisting of her, Nicole Luttecke, Kati Droste and Catharina Felser, driving a Mazda RX-8. They raced in the Nürburgring and Dubai 24 Hour events, coming fourth in class at the Nürburgring. They were not classified in Dubai. She also joined the Daikin team for the 2006 Zolder 24 Hour race. Her car was a BMW 120d, and her team-mates were Alexandra van de Velde, Gaby Uljee and Caroline Grifnée. They did not finish. After a short hiatus from endurance events, Stephanie returned to the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2008. She was driving a Mini Cooper run by the Schirra team, aided by Harold Proczyk and Heide von Bohlen und Hallbach Friedrich. They were 94th, and twelfth in class.

Schirra Motoring continued to work with Stephanie in 2009, entering her into another Mini Challenge. Her season did not go as well as previously, with her best finish being second at Silverstone. She incurred three retirements that year, which was unusual, and may explain her lack of usual pace.

In 2010, she drove in the Porsche Super Sports Cup in Germany, and this particular Porsche, a 997, suited her well. She was third overall. Driving a similar car in 2011, she was fourth in the Barcelona 24 Hours for Besaplast Racing. She and her team-mates, Roland and Sebastian Asch, Franjo Kovac and Martin Tschornia won their class.

The rest of 2011 was spent in the Mini Challenge, and in the European Truck Racing Championship, driving a Mercedes truck. In the Mini, Stephanie was ninth, competing against some of her Barcelona team-mates. However, she did not have the pace of her early seasons, with another best finish of second at Salzburg. In trucks, she was less competitive, with a best finish of twelfth in the final race, at Le Mans. She did not compete in all forty races of the season.

Stephanie maintained her ties with Besaplast in 2012, and the same team that competed in the Barcelona 24 Hours, drove in the Dubai equivalent. They were 28th, second in class. She also made a successful return to the revamped MINI Trophy, winning the second race at Oschersleben, after coming third in the first. She scored five more podium positions, and was third overall in the championship. She also drove the Besaplast Mini in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, but did not finish. Assisted by Jurgen Schmarl, Franjo Kovac and Fredrik Lestrup, she completed 154 laps.

Truck racing had not been forgotten; driving a MAN, Stephanie guested at the Nürburgring round. Her best finish of her four races was eighth.

In 2013, she completed six rounds of the European Truck Racing Championship, in a yellow MAN truck. She was fifteenth overall, after a more consistent run of points finishes. Her best finishes were a series of eighth places, achieved at Navarra and Most.

Stephanie drove in the European Truck Championship in 2014, and was more competitive. She did the whole season in a MAN, for Lion Truck Racing. Her best round was at Navarra, in Spain, where she achieved three sixth places. She also came sixth in one of her Nürburgring races. Her normal position was somewhere in the top ten, and she was joint tenth overall at the end of the season.

Her fifth season in the Truck championship showed more improvement. Still driving for the Lion Truck team, she was eighth in the championship, despite not running a full season. Her best circuit was undoubtedly the Hungaroring, where she scored her first win, and another podium, a third.

As well as trucks, Steffi returned to cars in 2015. She drove a BMW Alpina G6 GT3 in the DMV-GTC (German GT Championship), with Hermann Wager. They were 16th overall, after a part-season, and Steffi's best finishes were three class podiums.

In 2016, she was a real contender in the ETRC. She won four races, at the Nürburgring, the Hungaroring and Le Mans. This left her fourth in the championship, not far behind third-place man, Rene Reinert.

She kept up her form in 2017, keeping her fourth place in the championship. She won at the Red Bull Ring, Slovakiaring and Le Mans, and earned second places at the two other Slovakiaraing races.

Steffi was sixth in the 2018 European Truck championship, two points behind fifth-placed Norbert Kiss. She won two races outright, at the Nürburgring and Zolder. Her wins were supported by a long string of podium positions.

She continued to be a leading driver in the European Truck championship in 2019, finishing fourth overall. Although she did not record another win, she was very consistent and earned herself and Schwabentruck Racing eleven podium positions, five seconds and six thirds.

The shortened 2020 season was not one of her best. Driving an Iveco truck for her own team, she scored a series of fifth places at Most and the Hungaroring. This was enough for fifth in the championship.

2021 continued to be disrupted, but the ETRC season ran for most of the year. Stephanie grabbed her first podium at the Hungaroring, coming second in the fourth race of the weekend. Over the season, she earned three more second places at Zolder and Jarama, finishing sixth in the championship.

A full season went ahead in 2022 and Stephanie was a consistent top-ten finisher, usually much higher than that. Her best finishes were a string of third places at the Nürburgring, the Hungaroring, Zolder and Jarama. Her 2023 season was spent with the Schwabentruck team again and she was sixth overall. A win eluded her, but she scored podium finishes at Poznan, Most, Le Mans and Jarama. Three of these were second places.

She was back on the top step of the podium in 2024, winning in Race 2 of the Nurburgring and in the last round at Jarama. After averaging one podium finish at each race meeting on top of her wins, she was fifth in the European championship.

(Image from http://www.steffi-halm.de/)