Ewy and Anita Rosqvist, at the 1960 Midnight Sun Rally
A number of the drivers featured in the Speedqueens profiles have scored outright wins in international and national rallies. Michele Mouton, Pat Moss, Gilberte Thirion and Rosemary Smith all found success on the world stage, while Louise Aitken-Walker, Paola de Martini, Anne Hall and Christine Beckers, among others, have been victorious in national-level competition. Sara Williams now has her own profile, as do Ramona Karlsson, Ewy Rosqvist, Romana Zrnec, Ann Taieth, Cristina Gutierrez Herrero and Eija Jurvanen. Susan Muwonge can be found here.
Below are short profiles of a few lesser-known female drivers who have won rallies. Due to space constraints and often, a lack of information, the many winners of the women-only Paris-St. Raphaël event are not included.
Jo Cadman - winner of the 1997 Corolla Cup Rally in the Australian Championship. She won state and national class championships in the 1990s, sometimes driving a Mitsubishi Galant. Her only WRC outing was the 1999 Rally of New Zealand, in which she was 32nd in a Lancer Evo 3. More recently, she has been acting as co-driver to her partner, John Mitchell.
Brianne Corn – winner of three US rallies in 2011:
the Roxton Rallye de Paris, Roxton Rumbles and Nocona Rally Stomp 2. She scored
three additional Open Light class wins, and was the Rally America Open Light
Central Division champion. Her car was a Subaru Impreza. She began rallying in
2006, after a couple of years in autocross and Solo competition. As well as
rallying, she has competed at Pike’s Peak on several occasions, in different
classes, winning the Time Attack class in 2011. Since 2012, she has
concentrated mainly on running her own rallycross track in her home state of
Texas, along with her brother.
Nadia Cutro - Argentine driver who usually competed alongside her navigating sister, Florencia (Flor). They have been rallying since at least 2006, and Nadia now enters rallies across South America, including the 2010 Rally Argentina, in which they were 19th. Previously, they have won the N4 Light class in Argentine rallies, and their best overall finish in 2010 was tenth, in the Rally de Tucuman. Their car in 2010 was a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, run by Marcos Ligato’s Tango team. They were selected for the Pirelli Stars driver development programme in 2011, and initially continued with the satellite Tango team, in a Lancer Evo IX. They retired from their first rally, but were eighth overall in the Rally del Surubi-Goya. Later, they switched to a Fiat Punto, and were 17th in the Rally Pagos del Tuyu. In 2012, their car was a Fiat Palio. It was not a brilliant year, with only three finishes out of nine. The best of these was 16th in the Rally Ciudad de Goya. They carried on rallying the Palio in 2013, in the Junior class, supported by Fiat. They did better, finishing four out of eight rallies, with a fourteenth (third Junior team) in the Rally des Misiones, and fifteenth in the Rally de Cordoba. They were fourth overall in the Junior standings. The Fiat team withdrew their support for the rally programme after 2013, and Nadia acquired a Ford Fiesta for the 2014 season. Her season was much shorter this year, with one finish, in the Rally de Entre Rios. She was 17th, fourth in class. Nadia rallied the Fiesta again in 2015, but spent most of the season without Flor on the maps. Her best finish was ninth, in the Gran Premio de Villa Carlos Paz Rally, and she also won her class in the Entre Rios Rally, finishing fourteenth overall. In 2016, she took her first rally win, driving the Fiesta on the Rally de la Naranja. Her co-driver was Luciano Bombaci. The pair continued to work together in 2017. Nadia's new car was a Toyota Etios. It was not as quick as the Fiesta; her best finish was eleventh, achieved in the Tucuman and Cruz del Eje rallies. The same car won her three RC3 classes in Argentine rallies in 2018, including a seventh place overall in the Homenaje a Jorge Recalde Rally. The same car and crew competed in the 2019 Argentine championship. Nadia's best finish was eleventh, on the National section of Rally Argentina. Eleventh was her best result in 2020 too, achieved on the Rally de Balarce, driving the Yaris. This was her only finish of the year. 2021 was much better, with eight finishes from ten rallies, five of which resulted in a top-ten finish. The best of these was a fifth place in the Tucuman Rally. In 2022, she carried on with the Yaris, recording a best finish of ninth in the Rally de la Rioja. There were three more ninth places for her and the Yaris in 2023, one including a class win in the Rally de Villa Dolores.
Nadia Cutro - Argentine driver who usually competed alongside her navigating sister, Florencia (Flor). They have been rallying since at least 2006, and Nadia now enters rallies across South America, including the 2010 Rally Argentina, in which they were 19th. Previously, they have won the N4 Light class in Argentine rallies, and their best overall finish in 2010 was tenth, in the Rally de Tucuman. Their car in 2010 was a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, run by Marcos Ligato’s Tango team. They were selected for the Pirelli Stars driver development programme in 2011, and initially continued with the satellite Tango team, in a Lancer Evo IX. They retired from their first rally, but were eighth overall in the Rally del Surubi-Goya. Later, they switched to a Fiat Punto, and were 17th in the Rally Pagos del Tuyu. In 2012, their car was a Fiat Palio. It was not a brilliant year, with only three finishes out of nine. The best of these was 16th in the Rally Ciudad de Goya. They carried on rallying the Palio in 2013, in the Junior class, supported by Fiat. They did better, finishing four out of eight rallies, with a fourteenth (third Junior team) in the Rally des Misiones, and fifteenth in the Rally de Cordoba. They were fourth overall in the Junior standings. The Fiat team withdrew their support for the rally programme after 2013, and Nadia acquired a Ford Fiesta for the 2014 season. Her season was much shorter this year, with one finish, in the Rally de Entre Rios. She was 17th, fourth in class. Nadia rallied the Fiesta again in 2015, but spent most of the season without Flor on the maps. Her best finish was ninth, in the Gran Premio de Villa Carlos Paz Rally, and she also won her class in the Entre Rios Rally, finishing fourteenth overall. In 2016, she took her first rally win, driving the Fiesta on the Rally de la Naranja. Her co-driver was Luciano Bombaci. The pair continued to work together in 2017. Nadia's new car was a Toyota Etios. It was not as quick as the Fiesta; her best finish was eleventh, achieved in the Tucuman and Cruz del Eje rallies. The same car won her three RC3 classes in Argentine rallies in 2018, including a seventh place overall in the Homenaje a Jorge Recalde Rally. The same car and crew competed in the 2019 Argentine championship. Nadia's best finish was eleventh, on the National section of Rally Argentina. Eleventh was her best result in 2020 too, achieved on the Rally de Balarce, driving the Yaris. This was her only finish of the year. 2021 was much better, with eight finishes from ten rallies, five of which resulted in a top-ten finish. The best of these was a fifth place in the Tucuman Rally. In 2022, she carried on with the Yaris, recording a best finish of ninth in the Rally de la Rioja. There were three more ninth places for her and the Yaris in 2023, one including a class win in the Rally de Villa Dolores.
Danielle Furzeland – rallies a Subarua Impreza WRC car in the UK, one of a handful of women to having driven a WRC in anger. She began rallying in 2013, and her first car was a Ford Escort MkI, which was quickly swapped for an Impreza. In her first year, she scored three top-ten finishes, the best of these being a seventh place in the Subaru WRC Spares TSH Stages. 2014 was quite similar, with four top tens and another seventh, in the Smeathorpe Stages. In 2015, she started driving the WRC Impreza, a 2000 model. She was second overall twice, in the Three Counties Stages and the Smeathorpe Stages. She also won her class in the Three Counties event. In 2016, she scored her first outright win: the Prima Motorsport Smeatharpe Stages. She was driving the Impreza. Her best finish in the car in 2017 was third, on the Three Counties Stages Rally. She finished in the top ten of all four events she entered. In 2022 and 2023, she continued to be a top-ten finisher in single-venue rallies. Danielle is from the Furzeland rallying family, and is the daughter of rally crew, Steve and Yvonne Furzeland.
Gabi Husar - driver and co-driver from Austria. She was active from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s. As a driver, she used a Porsche 911. Her best results were a fourth place in the 1984 Semperit Rally, a fifth in the 1983 Semperit Rally and a sixth in the Janner-Rallye in 1985. In She also won the 1984 Bruckneudorf Rallysprint event outright. Earlier, in the 1970s, she drove a Fiat in European rallies, with less success. As a navigator, she occasionally sat beside Rudi Stohl in a Lada, in WRC events.
Magdalena Misiarz – rallies a Honda Civic in Eastern Europe. She began in 2014, in the Czech Republic, after several years of navigating for other drivers. Her best result was 40th, in the Železné Hori rally, from 80 drivers. In 2015, she drove in many more rallies, in the Czech Republic and Poland itself. She was particularly strong in the SKJS Rally Masters events; her two finishes were a fifth and a ninth place. In the Czech rallies she entered, she did less well, with a 27th place in the Železné Hori rally her best finish. In 2016, she was twelfth in the same rally, driving the Civic, but her best finish was sixth, in the first round of the Polish Tarmac Masters. She was third in class in the Polish Rally Masters championship in 2017, winning her class in the SKARS Tarmac Masters and finishing third overall. In 2018, she was fourth in the Rally Masters championship, with two fifth places in the Ireco and M3Racing rallies. The Rally Masters series was her most effective hunting ground in 2019 also; she won the Mecinka Rally Masters event and was third in the Sobotka Rally Masters.
Maria de Graca Moura Relvas - the first Portuguese female driver to win a rally outright. She came first in the 1965 Grande Rali do Benfica, driving a Mini Cooper S. The same year, she competed on Madeira. The Mini was built in 1963 and she used it during the 1964 and 1965 seasons. Other details of her career are proving elusive, but it looks as if she was already in her 40s when she started rallying the Mini.
Kirsty Nelson - has been rallying in New Zealand since 2006. That year, she won her first rally, the Clubmans Rally of Rotorua, and entered her first WRC event, the Rally of New Zealand. She was 16. In 2007, she continued to rally in New Zealand in a Subaru Impreza, with a best finish of ninth. She moved up to the full championship in 2008 and also started competing internationally, in Malaysia. This continued in 2009. She tried to win funded WRC drives in 2009 as part of the FIA’s Pirelli Star Driver competition, but could not win the final round in Malaysia. She does not appear to have competed since then.
Tiina Tikkinen - winner of the 1994 Naista SM-Kesoil Rally in Finland, driving a Ford Escort RS 2000. In the late 1980s, she rallied a Lancia Delta Integrale in Finland, entering the 1988 and 1989 1000 Lakes Rallies. Like many Finnish drivers of the time, she occasionally competed in the Soviet Union, entering the 1989 Old Toomas Rally in Estonia. Before acquiring the Lancia, she used another Ford Escort in Finnish events in 1987.
Donatella Tominz - winner of the Yu Rally in 1973, driving a Fiat 124 SS. The same year, she was tenth in the Rally San Martino di Castrozza. In 1972, she had been ninth in the same event, and sixth in the Elba Rally, driving the same car. She was Italian and European Ladies’ Champion in 1973. This was at least her third European ladies’ title. She had been rallying since the beginning of the 1970s and her first major international rally seems to have been the 1970 Rally Costa del Sol, in which she was eighth in a Porsche 911. She also entered the 1971 Sanremo-Sestriere event, which she retired from whilst driving the Porsche. Her regular co-driver was Gabriella Mamolo, also known as “Squaw”. They finished in the top ten of several of some of the later runnings of the Paris-St. Raphaël women’s rally.
Carole Vergnaud - French driver who was a member of the Citroen works team. Internationally, 1987 was her best year, driving a Visa Mille Pistes. She was twelfth on the Monte Carlo Rally and won her class on the Swedish, finishing 24th overall. The season previous was her best on the national circuit and she won the 1986 Mille Pistes Rally outright in the Visa. This was one of three podium positions she scored in French rallies, the others being second in the Terre de Charente Rally and third in the Terre de Provence event. She stayed with Citroen for 1989, although her only international finish came on the RAC Rally, in 41st. Later, she was eleventh in the Rallye des Garrigues. As well as rallying, Carol raced Citroens on the track with some success.
Stephanie Zorn - long-term presence in German rallying, usually in rallysprints. She did her first major rallies in 1998, in a Seat Cupra, although she did not finish either of them. Her first Rally Deutschland came in 1999, and she was 32nd, tenth in class, in the Cupra. A break from rallying then followed, but she was back in 2007, this time in a Renault Clio. After that, she concentrated almost exclusively on rallysprints until 2013, and was fifth in the 2008 Heidelbergring Rallysprint. She is a regular top-ten finisher, and was ninth in the Rosenhof event in 2011 and 2012, and seventh in the Fontane Rallye in 2012. In 2013, she entered more stage rallies again, and her best result was seventh, in the Rallye Stade. She secured five more top-twenty finishes. In 2014, she repeated her fifth place in the Heidelbergring event, still in a Clio. Later in the season, she bettered it, with a fourth place in the Holsten Rally. This was one of seven top-ten finishes she had that year. In 2015, she won her first event outright: the Holsten Rally, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6. She was also second in the Rallye Atlantis, in the Clio, and third in the Heidelberg Rallyesprint. She just missed out on another win in 2016, finishing second in the Rally Sonderjylland in Denmark, driving a Clio. She also scored five class wins, all in the Clio. The Clio was her favoured car again in 2017. Her best finish was fourth, in the Aller-Weser Rally. This was one of six top-ten finishes that year. Another busy year in 2018 included another win in the Heidelberg Rallysprint, plus three third places and a multitude of class wins. There were no more wins in 2019, but Stephanie continued to be highly competitive, especially in sprint rallies. She scored two fifth places in the Heidelberg and Fischereihafen Rallysprints and was ninth in the Stormau asphalt rally. The Heidelberg event was her best again in 2020; she was third in a new Citroen DS3 R3T. This was one of five top-ten finishes. She continued to rally the DS3 in 2021 and this year, did better in full stage rallies. Without an entry into the Heidelberg Rallysprint, her best event was the Buten und Binnen Rally, in which she was fourteenth. In 2022, she was back to winning, taking the Heidelberg Rallysprint again. She was also second in the Stuvenborner and Hanseaten Rallysprints, and third in the Fischereihafen Sprint and Stormarn Rallye. Most of 2023 was spent in a Renault Clio RS, with a best finish of ninth in the Rosenhof Rallye. Away from rallying, she competes in equestrian sport.
(Image from http://www.classicmotor.se/)
Donatella Tominz - winner of the Yu Rally in 1973, driving a Fiat 124 SS. The same year, she was tenth in the Rally San Martino di Castrozza. In 1972, she had been ninth in the same event, and sixth in the Elba Rally, driving the same car. She was Italian and European Ladies’ Champion in 1973. This was at least her third European ladies’ title. She had been rallying since the beginning of the 1970s and her first major international rally seems to have been the 1970 Rally Costa del Sol, in which she was eighth in a Porsche 911. She also entered the 1971 Sanremo-Sestriere event, which she retired from whilst driving the Porsche. Her regular co-driver was Gabriella Mamolo, also known as “Squaw”. They finished in the top ten of several of some of the later runnings of the Paris-St. Raphaël women’s rally.
Carole Vergnaud - French driver who was a member of the Citroen works team. Internationally, 1987 was her best year, driving a Visa Mille Pistes. She was twelfth on the Monte Carlo Rally and won her class on the Swedish, finishing 24th overall. The season previous was her best on the national circuit and she won the 1986 Mille Pistes Rally outright in the Visa. This was one of three podium positions she scored in French rallies, the others being second in the Terre de Charente Rally and third in the Terre de Provence event. She stayed with Citroen for 1989, although her only international finish came on the RAC Rally, in 41st. Later, she was eleventh in the Rallye des Garrigues. As well as rallying, Carol raced Citroens on the track with some success.
Angela Vilariño – versatile Spanish driver of Basque origin.
She began her motorsport career in hillclimbs, in 2003, when she was 18. Between
then and 2007, she competed up to European level, and had some excellent
finishes. After a break, when she became a mother, she returned to hillclimbs,
and also did some circuit racing in the VdeV Endurance Championship, driving a
Norma. She had another year in the championship in 2009, and did her first
rallies in 2010, as well as more hillclimbs. Her first rally cars were a Suzuki
Swift and a Subaru Impreza, and in her third-ever rally, the San Sebastian
Rally, she was fourth overall. In 2011, she concentrated on rallysprints in the
Basque country, and won four of them, in the Impreza. She won the championship,
but only after an appeal against being excluded from the final round. For the
next couple of seasons, she went back to hillclimbs. In 2014, she became the
first female driver to win the Spanish championship. In 2015, she returned to
rallying, contesting the Spanish Tarmac championship in an Opel Adam, for the
works Opel team. Her best result was 16th, in the Comunidad de Madrid Rally, and she had three more top twenty finishes. She was 24th in the championship, and won the Ladies' trophy. She won the Coupe des Dames in the 2016 European Hillclimb Championship.
Stephanie Zorn - long-term presence in German rallying, usually in rallysprints. She did her first major rallies in 1998, in a Seat Cupra, although she did not finish either of them. Her first Rally Deutschland came in 1999, and she was 32nd, tenth in class, in the Cupra. A break from rallying then followed, but she was back in 2007, this time in a Renault Clio. After that, she concentrated almost exclusively on rallysprints until 2013, and was fifth in the 2008 Heidelbergring Rallysprint. She is a regular top-ten finisher, and was ninth in the Rosenhof event in 2011 and 2012, and seventh in the Fontane Rallye in 2012. In 2013, she entered more stage rallies again, and her best result was seventh, in the Rallye Stade. She secured five more top-twenty finishes. In 2014, she repeated her fifth place in the Heidelbergring event, still in a Clio. Later in the season, she bettered it, with a fourth place in the Holsten Rally. This was one of seven top-ten finishes she had that year. In 2015, she won her first event outright: the Holsten Rally, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6. She was also second in the Rallye Atlantis, in the Clio, and third in the Heidelberg Rallyesprint. She just missed out on another win in 2016, finishing second in the Rally Sonderjylland in Denmark, driving a Clio. She also scored five class wins, all in the Clio. The Clio was her favoured car again in 2017. Her best finish was fourth, in the Aller-Weser Rally. This was one of six top-ten finishes that year. Another busy year in 2018 included another win in the Heidelberg Rallysprint, plus three third places and a multitude of class wins. There were no more wins in 2019, but Stephanie continued to be highly competitive, especially in sprint rallies. She scored two fifth places in the Heidelberg and Fischereihafen Rallysprints and was ninth in the Stormau asphalt rally. The Heidelberg event was her best again in 2020; she was third in a new Citroen DS3 R3T. This was one of five top-ten finishes. She continued to rally the DS3 in 2021 and this year, did better in full stage rallies. Without an entry into the Heidelberg Rallysprint, her best event was the Buten und Binnen Rally, in which she was fourteenth. In 2022, she was back to winning, taking the Heidelberg Rallysprint again. She was also second in the Stuvenborner and Hanseaten Rallysprints, and third in the Fischereihafen Sprint and Stormarn Rallye. Most of 2023 was spent in a Renault Clio RS, with a best finish of ninth in the Rosenhof Rallye. Away from rallying, she competes in equestrian sport.
(Image from http://www.classicmotor.se/)
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