Female Rally Drivers After 1950: Spain

Isabel Ramos

There are not many Spanish drivers on my list as yet, but this may change in the future. Information about the Spanish Ladies' Rally Championship can be found here. Emma Falcon now has her own profile. Portuguese drivers can now be found here.

Ana Arche - drove for the Fiat team in 1996. She won the ladies’ award on the Monte Carlo Rally in a Cinquecento, co-driven by Arielle Tramont. She was 61st overall. The year before, she had navigated for Ana Barbero in a similar car, but retired. This was in edition to a full season in the Spanish Cinquecento Cup, and the European Cinquecento Challenge. Later, in 1998, she co-drove for Miguel Fuster in a Peugeot 106 Maxi, in the Spanish championship.

Ana Barbero - rallied small cars in Spain and Europe, mainly in the 1990s. After some early events in a Citroen Visa and Renault 11, she used a Citroen AX between 1991 and 1993, the most fruitful part of her career. Her best result was a second place in the Tino Cao Memorial Rally of Naron. Later, she was part of the Fiat Cinquecento Rally Challenge in Europe. This included her only WRC outing, the 1995 Monte Carlo Rally, where she was disqualified for her car having the incorrect ride height. Her daughter Ana Barreras now competes in ice racing and as a rally co-driver.

Angelica Camacho Pellon - runner-up in the Spanish women’s rally championship in 2016. She was mostly driving a Toyota Aygo, and it was her first season of serious rallying. She won the Ladies’ class on the Rally de La Nucía Mediterráneo, finishing 48th overall. Her best rally was the Rallye Ciutat de Xixona, in which she drove a Dacia Sandero, instead of the Aygo. She was 24th overall. In 2017, she rallied an Aygo in the Spanish Gravel championship, and won another Ladies' championship. Her best finish was 38th, in the Rallye Tierras Altas de Lorca. Another run at the Spanish Gravel championship in the Aygo gave her a best finish of 26th in the Circuito de Navarra, on her way to another Spanish ladies' championship. She also sampled a Hyundai i30 in the La Nucia-Mediterraneo event.

Andrea de la Fuente Lopez - Spanish driver who mainly competes in the Madrid area. She has been active since at least 2017 and drives a Suzuki Swift, although not always run by the same team. During a relatively short career, she has picked up a string of top-twenty finishes in the Madrid championship. The best of these has been a seventh place in the 2019 Rallye Norte de Extremadura. In 2018, she was twelfth in the Rally de Arganda del Rey. She entered the Ciutat de Gandia Rally in 2020, finishing 23rd and winning her class. Her best 2021 finish was a 27th place in the Disputacion de Avila Rally, from 58 finishers. In 2022, she did just one rally, the Rallycrono Ciudad de Cordoba, then another rallysprint in 2023. Her favoured surface is asphalt.

Hortensia Hernández – drove in Spanish rallies in the 1970s, mostly in the Canary Islands. She took part in the all-female rallies of the period, as well as mixed events. Her first big rally was the Rally Primavera-Las Palmas in 1973, a round of the Spanish women’s championship and an all-female event. She was seventh in a Hillman Imp. Later, between 1974 and 1978, she drove a Simca Rally II, and was eleventh in the mixed Rally Isla de la Palma in 1978. When she competed away from Gran Canaria, it was normally in women-only rallies, with some exceptions. In 1974, she was fourth in the Tenerife Rally, and was also fourth in the Spanish ladies’ championship. In 1975, driving a Simca, she won the Ladies’ Cup in the Rally of Spain, a mixed event. This led to a third place in the womens’ championship. Hortensia is still active in rallying, and was still competing in classic events, in a Talbot, in 2013.

Paloma Landete - winner of the Spanish women’s rally championship in 1978, driving a Chrysler Avenger. She entered eight of the 14 rounds of the Spanish rally championship, with a best finish of twelfth in the Rally of Maspalomas in the Canary Islands. She also entered the Rally of Portugal in the same car, with the same co-driver, Matilde Garcia de Oro. In 1976 and 1977, Paloma acted as co-driver for Nuria Llopis, who also won the Spanish women’s championship.

Virginia de León - Canary Islander who rallies a Fiat Punto in her home islands. 2014 appears to be her first year of competition. Mostly, she has taken part in slalom competitions in her rally car, and her best finish has been eleventh , in the Los Caracolitos event. Her best rally finish has also been eleventh, in the Rally Ciudad de Puerto del Rosario. She retired from her other gravel rally, the Rally de Antigua. In 2017, she was back in action in a Skoda Fabia. Her best finish was 17th in the Isla de los Volcanes Rally. This was one of three top-twenty finishes for her this year. She could not quite match that in 2018, with a best finish of 21st in the La Vega Nueva Rallysprint. In 2019, she was eighth in the Canary Islands Skoda Fabia Cup, with a best finish of 17th in the Ciudad Puerto del Rosario Rally. Rallysprints were her best events again in 2020 and she scored an eleventh place in the Naviera Armas Slalom. She ran well on gravel in 2021, finishing sixth in the Rally de Tierra Isla Verde. 

Milagros Ortega - winner of the Spanish women’s rally championship in 1971. She was driving a Renault 8 with Yolanda Maruri and won two of the championship’s four events. In 1972, she drove a Renault 12 in mixed competition, taking part in the Firestone Rally in Spain, but her result is not forthcoming. She only appears to have entered one women’s rally that year, the Saibil event, in which she was second. She was joint seventh in the championship.

Ruth Ortega Macias - rallied in Spain between 2017 and 2019. Her first car was a Peugeot 206 but it was quickly replaced by a Dacia Sandero which became her main car for the next two seasons. Most of her rallying was done on asphalt, but she did one season on gravel in 2019 and her best result was probably a 56th place in the Terra da Auga Rally. She became a mother fairly recently and too a break from the stages, but she was back rallying the 206 in 2021, in the Galician championship. In 2022, she acquired a Citroen C2 GT for tarmac rallies, but did not finish any of the four she entered. The C2 was replaced by a historic Fiat Seicento in 2023, and she finished on rally in it: the Rally Rias Altas Historico.

Monika Munoz - driver and co-driver from Spain, active since 2012. She started as a co-driver before moving to the driving seat in 2013. Her car since then has been a Citroen ZX. She mostly competes in rallysprint events and her best result has been a 24th place in the Aramaio event in 2020. Her best stage event has been the Rally Goilurrak, in which she finished 25th in 2020 and 2021. She has also finished 45th in the Gernika Rally, in 2020. After spending most of 2022 in the ZX, she drove a Peugeot 208 in the Villa de Llanes Rally, finishing 50th. Back in the ZX, she was 30th in the 2023 Aramaio Rallysprint, winning her class.

Helena Taberner – active in Spanish rallies since at least 2010. Among her early cars was a Peugeot 205, which she used in between 2010 and 2014. It was replaced by a Citroen Saxo in 2015. She competes in the Catalunya rally championship, driving for the Motor Club Sabadell team. Her best result in 2015 was a 28^th place in the Aviá Open Rally. She rallied the Saxo again in Catalunya in 2016, earning another 28th place in the Ciutat de Valls Rally. 

Nuria Viñas – three-times winner of the Spanish women’s rally championship, between 1972 and 1974. She used a BMW 2002 Ti, and was especially effective in the women-only rallies organised in Spain in the early 1970s. By this time, she had been competing for quite a while, and before her BMW, she had rallied in a Fiat-Abarth 600, taking part in the Costa Brava Rally in 1967, and finishing 18^th overall. Hers was a lengthy career, and she was still active in motorsport in 1978, driving a Ford Escort in hillclimbs in Catalunya. 

“Yolanda” (Simonetta Garih) – rather mysterious Spanish driver of the 1970s, whose full name is not usually recorded. She won the Spanish Ladies’ Rally Championship in 1974, driving a Mini Cooper. This seems to have been her first major season of competition. She was a leading figure in the Spanish women’s rally scene of the time, winning many events. She was third in the 1976 championship. As well as the women-only rallies popular in Spain at the time, she also entered mixed competitions. She was eighth in the Rallye Ciudad de Oviedo in 1974, in the Mini, and fourteenth in the 1975 Rallye Principe de Asturias, driving a Saab 96. Later, she was fifteenth overall in the Rally of Spain in 1977. Her car was a SEAT 1430. That year, she was third in the Ladies’ championship. This improved to second in 1978.

(Image from http://www.raliforum.net/)