Female Rally Drivers After 1950: The Rest of Europe

Ekaterina Stratieva in her IRC Citroen C2

This post lists some drivers from the other countries of Europe. This has previously included Turkey, which now has its own page, Poland, Russia, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Inessa Tushkanova now has her own post, as do Dasha Bakai, Asja Zupanc and Mira Nikolic.

Sonja Bastar - Yugoslavian driver of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Between 1979 and 1981, she rallied at least two different Zastava models in Eastern European rallies, usually in Czechoslovakia. The Zastava was one of the least powerful cars available to Eastern Bloc drivers. Her best result came in 1981, when she was 44th in the Tatry International Rally, in modern Slovakia. She also participated in at least three runnings of the Barum Rally. As well as her Czechoslovak adventures, she also appears to have competed in the Delta Rally, in modern Croatia, at least once.

Zulikhan Bidzhanova – Ukrainian driver who competes in her home country. Her car is a Peugeot 205. She began rallying in 2013, and in her first year, was fifth in the Rally Crimea Legend event. In 2016, she scored the third top-ten finish of her career, finishing ninth overall in the Rally of Galicia. She was twentieth in the 2016 Ukrainian championship, and seventh in the Ukraine Rally Legends championship. In 2017, she was thirteenth in the Rally Bukovyna. She entered the Rally Galicia in 2018, but did not finish due to engine trouble. After a long lay-off, she was 20th in the Ukrainian championship, driving a Honda Civic. Her best finish was a fifteenth place in the Rally of Galicia.

Birgitte de Bourbon - Danish driver who rallied in the early 1960s, in different cars. She won the Coupe des Dames in the 1961 Danfoss Midsummer Rally, in an Austin Futura. Her co-driver was Annelise Schønwandts.  At some point in the mid-1960s, she also took part in the Monte Carlo Rally, although further details are hard to come by. She was married to Prince Jacques of Bourbon-Parma, who was also a rally driver. Birgitte sometimes acted as his navigator. She continued to be involved in motorsport after his death in 1964, in a road accident. In 1973, she is reported to have taken part in a classic rally event, but again, further details are not forthcoming.

Mirela Bucovicean - Romanian driver who campaigns a Ford Escort RS2000 in her country’s historic championship. In 2017, her best result was an eighteenth place in the Roumanie Historic Winter Rally. She has also finished the Transilvania Rally, in 46th place, against both historic and modern cars. This was improved to 44th in 2019 and 38th in 2020. In 2021, she was 39th in the Argesului event. Her co-driver is Georgiana Gologan. Mirela works in the fashion industry in Romania.

Alina Carmina Bunica - former karter from Romania. She began rallying in the Dacia Rally Cup in 2007, driving a Logan. She finished the year second in the Rookie standings. Since then, she has moved into the Romanian championship proper, driving a Citroen Saxo VTR and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8. The Saxo was her main car, which she used in 2009 and 2010. She managed two rounds of the Romanian championship in 2011, but had to pull out.

Michaela Debnárová - Slovakian driver, active since 2012. She drives one of two versions of the Peugeot 206, and her navigator is Nikola Zemanová. During her first year, she rallied in Slovakia, with a best result of 19th, in the Rallye Tatry. She was third in class. In 2013, she also did one rally in Hungary -  the Eger Rallye. She was 57th, but the 20th Slovakian driver. Out of her other five Slovakian events, she retired from three, usually due to mechanical problems, but she was fifteenth in the Rally Tríbeč, runner-up in class six. After a break, she returned to competition in 2016, driving a Skoda Fabia and a Ford Fiesta in Slovakian rallies. Her best finish was 27th, third in class, in the Lubenik Rally, in the Fiesta. She was 26th in the 2017 Slovakian championship, driving a Renault Clio. She posted two top-twenty results, the best of these being a 15th place in the Rally Kosice. In 2018, the Kosice event was her best rally again, and she was 21st. She won her class championship in the Czech Rallysprint series in 2019, driving the Clio. In 2020, she only did one rally, driving a Peugeot 208. She was 33rd in the Keskomobile Autoshow at the Slovakiaring. 

Oda Dencker-Andersen - Danish driver. She competed in Europe and further afield throughout the 1970s, initially as a navigator (from the mid-60s), but more and more as a driver as time progressed. She often navigated for Hannelore Werner in major rallies. One of her driving achievements was a class win on the 1973 BNU Rally in South Africa, in a Datsun 1200 GX. She went on to drive in the RAC Rally in 1976 and 1977, in Opel models. In 1980, she co-drove Marianne Hoepfner to second overall in the Himalayas Rally, in a Toyota Celica.

Elisabeth Fagnant - Luxembourg’s only current female rally driver. She has been active since at least 2012, first in a Peugeot 106, then a Renault Clio which she has used since 2015. She admits that as a privateer entrant, she has stuck with the Clio as her budget does not stretch to a more powerful car. Most of her rallying has been in Belgium, as Luxembourg’s motorsport offerings are limited. She did compete in her national rally in 2019, finishing 38th with her regular co-driver Jessica Lemasson. Her best result of the year was an 18th place in the East Belgian Criterium Rally. She has been most successful in shorter sprint rallies and won her class in the 2017 Winning Rallysprint. In 2020 she managed one rally in the Clio, the Trois-Points event, finishing 38th. She returned to this event in 2022, finshing 51st.

Natalia Franchuk - Ukrainian driver who drove both Soviet-style and Western makes of car in rallies between 1996 and 2001. She was probably most successful in a Lada Samara, finishing fourth in this car in the 1999 Rosava Rally. This was one of four top-ten finishes she had during her career. The last car she rallied was a Ford Sierra in 2001. She was 16th in the Rally Stolytsia. Her co-driver was always her sister, Yanina.

Zdenka Fryvaldska-Tamasova - Slovakian rally regular who swapped seats to drive in 2020. She has competed in single-venue asphalt rallies with considerable success, including third and fourth places overall in the OMV MaxxMotion Rallies held at the Slovakiaring in 2020. In 2021, she was eighth and sixth in the same events and picked up four further top twenty finishes in similar rallies. In 2022, she had a best finish of 16th in the Slovakia Rallye Tatry. The following year, she competed in both Slovakia and Serbia, picking up a best finish of fourteenth in the Rally Mionica. Her car is a Honda Civic and she is usually co-driven by Lucie Petrova. She has competed as a co-driver since 2009, sitting alongside a number of drivers until 2018.

Monika Grauberg - Estonian driver who rallied an Opel Kadett in the 2000s. She was most active in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, during which her best result was a 20th place in the 2003 Mulgi Sugis event, from 80 finishers. She normally competed in Estonia itself, but did travel to Latvia in 2003 for the Rally Milzis, finishing 24th overall. She won her class in the Estonian championship that year. Her co-driver was Moonika Kurba.

Viktoria Hojas - Austrian driver who has been in the driving seat since 2014. She started off as a co-driver a year earlier. Her car has always been an Opel Corsa. In 2015, she was runner-up in the Austrian Opel Corsa Cup after winning her class in the Liezen Rally. She was 21st overall, her best finish of the year. She has also been a state rally champion in Austria. She contested the 2017 and 2018 Austrian championships in the Corsa, winning her class in the 2018 W4 Rally and finishing twelfth overall. In 2019, she mostly competed in Germany and was rewarded with a fourth place in the Freislassinger Rallyesprint.

Patricia Grigorescu – Romanian driver who competed in the Romanian Dacia Logan Cup in 2008. Her best result in the Cup was a seventh place, in the Tara Barsei Seat Rally. She was 38^th overall, which was also her best outright finish that year. Her season was plagued by car unreliability, and she only finished half of the rallies she entered. She was sixteenth in the Logan Cup. This was her only season of rallying; Patricia is normally a hillclimb driver, who scored two class wins in 2008. She continues to compete with the Logan in the N2 class, when funds allow. In 2009, she also tried rallycross in France.

Gorana Hunić – Croatian driver who has been competing since 2007, when she was 30. Initially, she took part in hillclimbs, after learning to drive as a pre-teen. Her first stage rally was the Rally Poreč, in which she co-drove a Peugeot 306 with Drazen Pigl, but did not finish. Her first rally as a driver was the 2007 Rally Istra, and she drove a Renault Clio Williams to 31^st place. For the next few years she mainly co-drove for other drivers, and her own career behind the wheel did not take off until 2015. That year, she drove a Ford Focus in the Croatian championship, and was third in her class. Her best individual rally result was 17^th, in the INA Delta Rally. She continued to rally the Focus in 2016, for the AK INA Delta team. Her best rally was the INA Delta Rally again, in which she was 20th. She was the Croatian Ladies' champion that  year, a title she retained in 2017. The INA Delta Rally was once more her best event, giving her 25th and sixth in class. In 2018, she secured another Croatian Ladies' title, which she defended in 2019. Her best 2018 finish was 34th in the Kumrovec Rally. 

Jovana Jovanović - Serbian driver, now competing on a Swiss license, who has been competing in the Balkans and Eastern Europe since 2012. For her first season, 2012, she drove in Serbian rallies, and had four top-ten finishes, including a seventh place in the Zlatiborski Rally. She branched out in 2013, and did some events in Croatia and Bulgaria. Her best result was tenth in the Rally of Bulgaria, a European championship round. She also won her class in the Beogradski Rally in Serbia, and the Stari Stolici and International Hebros rallies in Bulgaria. Her car was a Volkswagen Polo. She exchanged this for a Citroen C2 for 2014. It was a good move: she scored two third places, in the Rally Jahorina and the Beogradski Rally. She was also tenth in the Rally of Bulgaria, a European Trophy round. She was sixth in the Serbian championship. In 2015, she moved to Switzerland, and rallied the C2 there. She was eleventh in the Swiss junior championship, after a season affected by mechanicals and accidents. Her best result was 44th overall, in the Critérium Jurassienne. 

Jasminka Komljenovic - Serbian driver who competed in the 1990s and 2000s, initially under the Yugoslavian flag. Towards the end of her career, she was quite successful in Serbian championship rallies, driving a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer. Between 2003 and 2005, she scored four top-ten finishes, the best of these being a fifth place in the 2004 Zemunski Rally. The year before, she was seventh in the Balkan Rally, which was a European Championship round at the time. She rallied occasionally in Bulgaria during her career, driving the Lancer and a Lancia Delta Integrale. This was the car she drove in her only WRC outing, the 1995 Acropolis Rally. She did not finish.

Cristiana Oprea - rallied in the Dacia Logan Cup in Romania in 2016. She was thirteenth in the Cup standings, with a best finish of 40th, in the TESS Rally. She was also ninth in the Romanian junior championship. That season, she also did some navigating, in Romanian rallies, for different drivers. 2016 was her second season of competition, after trying both driving and co-driving in 2015. Sticking with Dacia, she drove a Sandero in the 2017 Romanian championship. Her best result came on the Molduvel Bacau Rally: 25th overall and sixth in class. Her first international rally, the Sliven event in Bulgaria, was her best of 2018. She was 25th overall. This feat was repeated in 2019, with a 22nd place. As well as the Sandero, which she used in Romania and Bulgaria, she drove a Peugeot 208 in the Roma di Capitale Rally, a European championship round, finishing 28th and second in the ERC ladies' standings. Still in the Sandero, she did a couple of Romanian rallies in 2020. In 2021, she did a longer schedule, with a run in the Bulgarian Rally Sliven. Her car was a Peugeot 208. She switched to the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup, driving an electric Opel Adam for a lot of 2022. Her best finish was sixth in the electric class of the Rally Sulingen in Germany. She also did some bigger European rallies in the Peugeot, including a run in the Croatia Rally, which was part of the World Championship. Her final position was 56th, having been allowed to restart with a penalty after not finishing a stage. She did part of her 2023 season in the eCorsa, but switched to a Rally4 ICE Corsa later on, finishing the Barum Czech Rally Zlin in 55th place. She was born in 1992, and works as a freelance PR agent.

Ramona Rusu - Romanian driver who has been most successful in a Dacia Sandero. She used this car in the 2018 season as part of a Dacia one-make series in Romania. She has scored a number of podiums in the Newcomer class. Her best finish has been ninth in the Covasna Winter Rally. Earlier, in 2016 and 2017, she made occasional outings in a Subaru Impreza, including two previous attempts at the Covasna event. She was fifth overall in 2017.

Klavdija Senica - Slovenian driver who competes in rallies in the Balkans, and sometimes further afield in Europe. Her first rallies were in 2011, and her first finish was a 22nd place in the Martinski Rally, in Croatia. Her car was a Fiat Panda. In 2012, she broke into the top twenty, in the Rally Maribor (she was 19th), then the top ten, in the Rally Idrija. She also took part in her first Croatian rally, in Poreč, but did not finish. In 2012, she started the year with a seventh place in the Rally Kumrovec, in Croatia. At the end of the season, she was ninth in the Poreč Rally. In between, she entered the Lavanttal Rally in Austria, and the Rally del Friuli Venezia Giulia, in Italy, finishing the Italian event. She was 20th in the Croatian championship. In 2014, she continued to rally the Panda in the Balkans. Her best finish was 17th, in the Rally Nova Gorica. 2015 was a quieter year, with her only major rally being a second try at the Nova Garica Rally. She was 40th overall in the Panda, and won her class. 

Lada Soustova - Ukrainian driver who has competed since at least 2005, always using a ZAZ 1102 Tavria (a Lada model). Her co-driver is usually Alina Soustova, presumably her sister. Her schedule in the Ukrainian championship usually takes in the Prime Yalta Rally and the Rally Chumatskiy Shlyah. Her best overall finish has been fifteenth, in the 2008 Rally Mariupol. In 2012, her best result was 17th, in the Rally Chernomor. She was 36th in that year’s Cup section of the Ukrainian championship. Her best 2013 result, out of five events, was 25th in the Express Auto Rally. In 2014, she only entered one rally, the Tmutarakan Rally in Russia. She drove the ZAZ, but did not finish. In 2016, she rallied the ZAZ in Russia, finishing seventeenth in the Rally Adygeya. She had a new co-driver, Anne Kachka. The Tikhiy Don Rally was her only event in 2017. Driving the ZAZ, she was eleventh overall, a result she repeated in 2018. In 2020, she drove a similar car in the Rally Taman and finished 15th. In the same car, she was 19th in the Rally Battle, held in Russia. She was eleventh in the 2022 Rally Taman.

Christina-Myrto Stathaki – Greek driver who rallied internationally between 2000 and 2007. She competed in the Acropolis Rally six times, with a best finish of 46^th place, in 2000, driving a Toyota Corolla. She started her career in a one-make series for the Fiat Cinquecento, in 1996. By 1997, she was among the top ten in the championship. Her best result was a fourth place, in 1998, at Megara, and she was seventh in the final standings. After that, she rallied Toyotas for a few seasons, including a Starlet, Yaris and the aforementioned Corolla. This was her main car in 2002, when she took part in a wide programme of Greek rallies. Her best surface was gravel, and she managed a 25^th place overall in the Agrafon Rally. After this, she became more of an occasional driver. In 2006 and 2007, she drove a Peugeot 206. She is the only Greek female driver of the modern era. 

Chrislin Sepp - Estonian driver who rallies in her home country. She began in 2015, driving a Honda Civic, and continued to use the same car until 2018, when she tried out a Mitsubishi Lancer for the Saaremaa Rally. An axle broke and she did not finish; previously, during the Tallinn Rally, the Civic had caught fire. 2018 was her fourth Saaremaa Rally and she had finished the event in 2015 and 2016. Her best result was a 26th place in the 2016 Saaremaa Rallysprint. She did not enter any rallies in 2019 but she did come out again in 2020 in the Lancer. Her only finish was a 22nd place in the Viru Rally. After another break, she did some more rallies in the Lancer in 2022, finishing 20th in the Paide Rally.

Joana Survilaitė - Lithuanian driver who is the only regular female driver in the Baltic states. From the beginning of her career, in 2011, she has rallied throughout the Baltic region, although that year, she only finished one event, the Saaremaa Rally in Estonia. Her car was a Renault Clio. It was changed for a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in 2012, which gave her a mixed set of results, the best being eleventh, in the Rally Classic Druskinkai and twelfth in the Saulé Rally, both in Lithuania. Her other four results were mostly outside the top twenty. In 2013, she kept the Lancer, which is painted a distinctive pink colour, and added Poland to her rally schedule. She was the ninth Lithuanian finisher, although she does not seem to have been classified in the main results. Her best result by far was sixth place in the Saulé Rally, her first top ten. She had one other top-twenty finish, fourteenth in the Vilnius Rally. In 2014, she contested the Lithuanian championship again, in the Lancer. She retired from the Halls Winter Rally. Her regular navigator is her mother, Vesta Survilienė. 

Lana Sutlović - Croatian driver and co-driver who has been competing, mainly in Croatia and Slovenia, since 2004, initially as a navigator. She began driving seriously in 2007, in a Ford Ka, although she only finished one of her six rallies, the Meðimurski Rally. In 2008, she gained her first top-twenty finish, a 17th place in the Karlovački ORC Rally. Her finishing record was much better this year, still in the Ka. In 2009 and 2010, she competed less as a driver, mostly still in the Ka, and usually finishing just outside the top twenty. For the 2010 Rally Novi Vindolski, she changed to a Peugeot 106, and was 21st. In 2011, she only did one major rally, the Croatia Rally, and she was 29th. After that, she co-drove for a couple of different Balkan-based drivers in 2012, and moved to co-driving full-time in 2015. 

Sidonia Tatoiu - Romanian millionaire media personality who did a season in the Romanian Rally Championship in 2011. She drove a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX or X in five events. She was 19th in the championship, with a best finish of fifteenth, and twelfth in class, in the Tirgu Mures Rally, beating the more experienced Alina Carmina Bunica and future ERC ladies’ champion, Ekaterina Stratieva. She also managed two more top-twenty finishes, both 16th places, in the Tess Rally Brasov and Sibiului Rally.

Maila Vaher - Estonian driver, active since 2010, although she co-drove for different drivers between 2006 and 2008. Between then, she seems to have done some junior rallies in a Honda, but details are not forthcoming. As a senior driver, she always uses a Nissan Sunny GTi, and is navigated by Karita Kivi. She has competed in four Saaremaa Rallies, with a best finish of 63rd, in 2013. Her best overall result so far came in the 2012 UKU Mulgi Rally, where she was 23rd. She was also 29th in the 2013 Rally Võrumaa Suvi, a rallysprint event. This event was her best one in 2014, too, and she was 18th. The Sunny was less reliable this year, and it also let her down during the 2015 Tartu Rally. Her best finish was a 43rd place, in the Harju Rally. Maila's favoured surfaces are gravel and ice.  

(Image from www.automobilsport.com)