Female Single-Seater Drivers Around the World: the Americas

Suzane Carvalho

Drivers who have competed in the US oval racing feeder series, if they are not on this page, are likely to be found here. Maria Cristina Rosito, Samin Gomez, Roxie Lott, Bruna Tomaselli, Veronica Valverde, Chloe Chambers, Lindsay Brewer, Maite Caceres, Cecilia Rabelo and Ianina Zanazzi now have their own profiles. Argentine drivers now have their own post, as do Canadian drivers.

Maria Francisca Aceitón – Chilean driver who did one season of her national Formula 3 championship, in 2001. She was recruited by a team looking specifically for a female driver, and jumped straight from karting to full-scale single-seater racing, at the age of 22. She was tenth overall. After her single F3 season, she returned to karting, winning a 125cc championship in 2013. She is from a motorsport family; her father was a racing driver too.

Lindsey Adams – raced between 2006 and 2009, starting in regional championships, following five years of successful karting in multiple classes. In 2006, when she was 19, she was second in the Southwest Formula Mazda championship, with two wins. In 2007, she moved into Formula BMW, entering six races in the US championship. Her best result was thirteenth, achieved twice at Miller Raceway. She was 18^th in the championship. She also raced in Formula Mazda again, for more experience, as part of the Skip Barber championship. After that, she stepped away from single-seaters, racing Legends and Late Model stock cars. She won at least one Legends race in 2008. After deferring her college place to race professionally, she started a business career in 2009. During her time on the circuits, she was a spokesperson for breast cancer charities.

Valeria Aranda - usually races single-seaters in Mexico. She has been competing in Formula 1800 since 2017, for part-seasons, although she managed seven races in 2019 and had a best finish of eighth at Monterrey. This and a ninth at San Luis were her first top-ten finishes. For the past two years, she has been racing for the Del Rio team. In 2019, she tried pickup truck racing for the first time and was thirteenth in a round of the Mikel’s Trucks championship at Mexico City. In 2020, she drove a SEAT in 1800cc touring car races, making appearances in three different championships. She did best in the Copa Notiauto, finishing second and fourth at Pachuca. At the beginning of 2021 she was part of an all-female team for the 1000 Milhas Brasil, then she raced in the Mikel's Trucks Series for almost a full season. She was tenth in the championship. Her best finish was seventh at Puebla, one of four top-ten finishes that year. A second season in Trucks led to championship eighth, with a best finish of fourth at Monterrey. In 2023, she raced again in Trucks and her best finishes were two sixth places. She has been involved in motorsport since the age of seven and first raced a car at 17.

Madison Aust - races in the US F4 championship with Kiwi Motorsport. She first worked with the team during a test organised by W Series in early 2022. She was not selected for further testing by W Series. She was 28th in the championship, peaking with a ninth place at New Jersey Motorsports Park but then struggling at Circuit of the Americas. This was in tandem with a part-season in USF Juniors, where COTA was her best track. She finished twelfth. At 16 years old, 2022 was her first season of senior motorsport, although she had done some karting. Her team had plans to enter her into some USF Juniors races in 2022 as well and she did six of the races, attending the Mid-Ohio and Circuit of the Americas meetings. Her best finish was twelfth at COTA. Twelfth was her bet US F4 finish in 2023; she did the first round at NOLA before switching to TC America. Driving a BMW M2, she won the TCX class twice at Virginia and finished on the podium multiple times, on the way to third in the class cahmpionship.

Julia Ayoub - Brazilian driver who raced in Formula Delta in 2021. After a part-season she was eleventh in the Mitsubishi-engined single-seater championship, with a best finish of fourth at Velo Citta. Prior to this, she was active in karting in Europe and was part of the the FIA Girls on Track Rising Stars programme in 2020 and 2021. She also tested an F4 car for W Series at the start of 2022 but was not selected for an F3 test.

Amanda Cartier - raced in US F4 in 2019. She was one of the oldest drivers on the grid at 42 and she only began racing karts in 2014. Her first experience of F4 was the SCCA’s 2019 Formula Pro USA Western championship, in which she was sixth. Her best finish was eighth at Sonoma and she also won the Masters class there. Driving a different F4 car, she made a guest appearance at Circuit of the Americas for the US F4 series for the same World Speed Motorsport team. Her team-mate was Courtney Crone and her best finish was 27th.

Juliana Chiovitti - raced in the Canadian Bridgestone F2000 Series in 2004. She was fourth overall, with two wins and three further podiums, just in front of James Hinchcliffe. Her performances brought her to the attention of Kathryn Nunn, who invited her to an all-female shootout for an Indy Lights seat at the end of the year. Juliana lost out to Sarah McCune. Previously, in 2000, she was assessed as part of a women’s training programme for Toyota Atlantics, with a view to CART in the future, but this did not lead to anything. She began racing very young, having grown up around her family’s kart track, and was second in a Formula 4 championship early in her career.

Sabré Cook - made her single-seater debut in the first race of the 2017 USF2000 championship at St Petersburg. She was 15th and 17th in her two races. Pre-season, she missed out on a scholarship race seat in USF2000 with the Mazda Road to Indy programme. She was selected on the basis of her karting results. These include three outright championships. Sabré’s first experience in a car was a run in a Spec Racer Ford in the 2017 SCCA National Runoffs. In 2018, she raced in USF2000 again, although she had to sit some rounds out due to damaging the car at Road America. Her best finish was fourteenth at Indianapolis. She also did some rounds of the US Formula 4 championship. She was one of the selected drivers for the W Series in 2019 and finished twelfth in the championship, making her the last automatic 2020 qualifier. Her best finish was eighth at Misano, although she did manage third in the reverse-grid non-championship race at Assen. The 2020 W Series was cancelled due to coronavirus, but she did do some rounds of the Indy Pro 2000 Series with Team Benik. Her best finishes were two tenth places at Road America. In 2021, she returned to W Series, but it was an indifferent year for her and she was 20th in the championship, with an eleventh place at Spa her best result. She also made guest appearances in the MX5 Cup in the USA, finishing twelfth and thirteenth at Daytona. Later in the year, she drove the Yeeti BMW M2 CS in one round of the NLS. For 2023, she signed for the Porsche Carrera Cup in the USA, in the Pro class, but she was unable to complete the season.

Courtney Crone - American driver who won the Formulaspeed National Championship in 2018, driving a two-litre Formula Mazda car and winning nine races from fourteen. She used the same car in SCCA Formula Atlantic and the West Coast Formula Car Challenge in 2017. In 2018, she also raced in F1600, which uses Formula Ford chassis and a Honda engine, as well as some classic Formula Ford. The following year, she tried out Formula 4, making a guest appearance at Circuit of the Americas. Her best finish was 15th. Previously, she raced midget cars from the age of four. She has tried to enter the all-female W Series twice and been unsuccessful. Since then, she has done a few races in midgets including the 2021 Chilli Bowl. In 2022, she signed for the IMSA Prototype Challenge, driving a Ligier LMP3 car for Jr III Racing. Her best finish was fifth in the season opener at Daytona. This continued in 2023, when she was fourth in the LMP3 class pf IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. She also did some rounds of the German Prototype Cup, driving the Duqueine and a Ginetta.

Angela Durazo - raced in Formula 4 in the USA in 2018. She was the first female driver to enter the championship. Her part-season resulted in a best finish of 21st at Mid-Ohio, out of about 36 starters. She is possibly the only racing driver currently active who has rheumatoid arthritis, which curtailed her triathlon career. She works as an actress outside motorsport.

Zoey Edenholm - raced in US Formula 4. Her best F4 result so far has been a ninth place at Virginia in July. 2019 is her first year of senior competition after several years of karting, although she first tried to break into cars in 2017, testing a USF2000 car at Indianapolis. The following year, she took part in the Lucas Oil School of Racing at Sebring, as a recipient of the Pippa Mann Scholarship. In 2020 she made a surprise move into Stadium Super Trucks, entering two races in the Speed Energy championship. In 2021 she made a brief return to US F4 at Circuit of the Americas.

Molly Elliott - raced single-seaters and sportscars in the US in the 1980s. Having raced single-seaters since 1983, she is believed to be the first woman to start a Formula Ford race from pole, at Charlotte in 1986. Her final position in the race was second. She also raced in Formula 2000, finishing tenth in the Canadian championship in 1986. She was named as part of an all-female team for the 1987 SCCA Escort Endurance Championship, driving a Saleen Mustang, but it is not clear whether she actually got to race.

Rafaela Ferreira - races single-seaters in Brazil. She began her senior career in 2023, after several years in karting and some tests in F3 and F4 cars. After a couple of races in Formula Inter in the States, which uses the same car as US F4, she took away two fourth places. Her first race at Interlagos in Brazilian F4 led to an 11th place, then a sixth and a ninth. At the time, she was the first female driver to race in the championship. In 2023, she gradually improved over the season, taking her first podium in December with third at Interlagos. She was thirteenth in the championship.

Claudia Fuentes – Chilean driver most famous for her exploits in Formula 3. Her first race was in 2005, when she was 17, making her the Chilean championship’s youngest ever driver. She had a second season in Chilean F3 in 2006, and is described as being quite successful, despite actual results proving hard to find. She may also have raced touring cars, although again, details are sketchy. She began a rally career in 2012, driving a Honda. 

Juliana Gonzalez - Colombian-born driver living in Mexico. She started racing very young, at fifteen, in Mexico, winning one race in Formula Renault and scoring four further podiums. She then moved to the USA, contesting the 2006 and 2007 Formula Ford 2000 championship. She was tenth overall in 2006. Her best 2007 finish was second, at Road Atlanta, and she was usually in the top ten after her first few races. She did not compete for the whole 2007 season, but also took part in some Panam Formula Renault races. In 2008, she moved up to the Star Mazda series, but only managed to start one race, at Sebring. Her final position was fifteenth. She does not appear to have raced since then.

Hannah Greenemeier - began her car racing career in US F4 at the start of 2023. She was one of the winners of the Parella Motorsports diversity scholarship and was signed by Kiwi Motorsport for the F4 championship. Her first races were at NOLA and she was 12th, 11th and 16th in the three rounds. Previously, she was a successful senior-level karter, winning the 2021 US ProTour title. 

Jenna Grillo - raced in SCCA Formula Atlantic in 2017. She was thirteenth in the championship with one third place at Virginia as her best result. She won her class and it was only her first race weekend in the car. Just before then, she was second in the SCCA Spring Sprints at the same circuit. Alongside her single-seater racing, she also drove a Ginetta sportscar in some FARA endurance events. 2016 was her first racing season in cars, and she took part in some rounds of the F2000 series. She was eleventh in the championship. Jenna suffers with fibromyalgia.

Nancy James - veteran club and national racer, active since 1973. Her first car was a Lotus 67 Formula Ford. In the 1990s, she and her husband built their own single-seater cars, in which Nancy set several speed records at different tracks. In 2007, she was still competing in Formula Ford, and in 2001, she raced a Radical at Spa.

Shantal Kazazian – winner of the Chilean Formula 4 championship in 1991. This was a dominant performance, and she claimed her title two races before the end of the season. She was only 18 years old. In 1992, she moved into Formula 3, and became the first female points scorer in Chilean F3, with a fifth place in the first round. She was racing for a team sponsored by Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, along with her brother, Shahan. She did not continue in single-seaters after 1992, although she did participate in some ladies-only races in Argentina, later in the 1990s. After her motorsport career ended, she was a successful jetski racer, before working as an artist.

Kristy Kester - American driver last seen competing in Formula Star Mazda. She began her career in SCCA single-seater events in 2007, and was fourth in a divisional championship. With her own team, she moved up to Star Mazda in 2008. Her best finish was fourth, at Portland, and she visited the top ten on three more occasions, giving her ninth overall. In 2009, she did not fare as well, despite scoring some official support from 3G. Her best finish was only tenth, at Iowa, and she only took part in seven rounds, finishing 22nd. Since then, she has not been able to compete due to lack of sponsorship. She is now a medical student and MMA fighter.

Sabrina Kuronuma - competes in single-seaters and endurance events. She did some races in the Gaúcho Formula 1.6 championship in 2011 and 2012. She was set to move to the USA to drive in the Indycar feeder series, and had a team and finances in place, but health problems meant that this was not possible. In 2011, she was part of an all-female team that raced in the Tarumã 12-Hour event, with Isadora Diehl and Patricia de Souza. They were eleventh overall, in a Volkswagen Golf. She attempted to get to America to race in Formula Atlantic, in 2014, but does not seem to have made it.

Julia Landauer – raced single-seaters in the States, before switching to Late Model stock cars in 2009. She came through the Skip Barber system at a young age, finishing sixth in the Southern Regional Series at sixteen years old, in 2007. She won her first Skip Barber championship two years earlier. After a short part-season in the Skip Barber National Series, she graduated to Formula BMW in 2009. Despite three non-finishes in the first three races of the season, she improved, and by the end, at Mosport, she achieved her best finish of fifth, one of three top tens in the second half of the season. She was sixteenth overall. After a break, during which she attended university, she started racing Late Models at her local circuit, Motor Mile in Virginia. In 2015, she was one of the leading drivers in her region, with four wins. This led to a ride in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, driving a Toyota. She was fourth in the championship, with a second and third place at the end of the season. In 2017, she made a couple of K&B Series East appearances, driving for Troy Cline's team, but most of her year was spent in its West counterpart, with Bob Bruncati Racing. She was seventh in the championship, with a best finish of fifth at Douglas County Speedway. She did a couple more races in 2018, earning a twelfth place at Loudon in the NASCAR Pinty's Series. She did six more Pinty's Series races in 2019, earning one top-ten finish at Bowmanville and leading a lap at Hamilton. In 2020, she travelled to Europe for the NASCAR Whelen EuroSeries. She was seventh in the shortened four-round championship, finishing fifth at Zolder. It was back to the States for 2022, when she entered two NASCAR Xfinity races. She finished one at Homestead, in 28th place.

Kim Madrid - races a historic Formula Ford in the USA. She has won races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2022 and 2023, driving a 1978 Crossle. In 2018, she won the Crossflow Cup for historic Formula Fords. She has been racing on-track since 2004 and previously campaigned a Formula Vee, winning the FV1 championship four years in a row, from 2007 to 2010. As well as racing her pink Crossle, she also helps to run championships.

Maria Jose Perez de Arce - Chilean driver who began racing single-seaters in 2019, when she was only fifteen. She raced in Formula Codasur, finishing sixth in the championship for the PDA Comp team. In 2022, she entered the FIA Motorsport Games in the F4 category, representing Chile. She was 21st in the qualifying race and 22nd in the final. In between, she has been active in karting.

Samira Rached – Mexican driver who competes in Formula 1800 and the Super Copa Telcel. She began racing in Formula Vee in 2012, and moved into Formula 1800 in 2014. That year, she was eleventh in the championship, with two top-ten finishes, an eighth place at Puebla and a tenth at Pachuca. At the time of writing, she has managed three top tens in the 2015 series. In 2014 and 2015, she has also been part of the Super Copa Telcel, organised by a TV channel, and was one of its leading drivers in 2015. Another season in the Formula V series was not as successful; in 2016, she did five races, with a best finish of ninth, at Zacatecas. 2017 was a struggle for opportunities, but she managed two races in Formula 1800. She was sixth at Guadalajara and eleventh at Mexico City. 2018 was a similar story: she did two F1800 races, with a best finish of ninth at Mexico City. 2019 seems to have been spent mostly in speed events, although she did start one race at Queretaro. She races for a family team, run by her father, Raul.  

Kay Rathmann - raced in Formula Vee in the late 1960s. In 1969, she was part of the ladies’ contingent in a big Daytona race for Formula Vee, alongside Jenny Nadin and Hannelore Werner. She was classified 33rd, the first of the female drivers, despite not being as experienced as the other two. She seems to have been part of Volkswagen’s “Coupe de Charme” for women drivers in Formula Vee. Also in 1969, she drove in another Formula Vee race, at Daytona, alongside several Mercury and Apollo astronauts, including Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad. She had done some Formula Vee racing with Conrad at the same track in 1968. By 1972, she was still competing, and entered another  big Formula Vee event at Daytona, the Brundage Trophy. She did not finish. Kay was married to Jim Rathmann, who sometimes entered her in his cars.

Monserrat de la Rosa – Mexican driver who races in the Telcel Super Copa in her home country. She started racing single-seaters in 2011, in the Mexican Formula Vee championship. After doing some touring car racing in her national championship in 2012, she took part in Formula V-1800 in 2013. For some of the season, she tested a FF2000 car in the USA, with the hope of a race seat in 2014, but this did not transpire. She did compete in the smaller “Pony” class of the Super Copa, but not in the main draw. She was seventh at Tangamanga. In 2015, she returned to V-1800, for at least one race. She also took part in a celebrity race at San Luis, which she won. At the same meeting, she was fifteenth in a V-1800 race. Early in the season, she was linked with a drive in a GT3 car, but this only seems to have been some testing. Throughout her career, she has struggled for sponsorship, and has only raced a few times each season. In 2016, she switched to dirt track racing ("Car Cross"), and was third in her novice class. She launched her own dirt track team in 2017 and won some races in 2018. 

Glenna Sacks - raced in Formula Vee in America in the 1970s. Her career began in 1972, and she initially raced a Datsun that used to belong to her husband. The next year, she moved into single-seaters, mostly Formula Vee. She was doing well in SCCA events until a serious accident wrote off her car and left her with shoulder and neck injuries. She bounced back, without the wrecked Vee, and later raced a Formula Ford and an Austin-Healey Sprite.

Sara Sanchez - former karter who has raced single-seaters in Uruguay. She appears to have competed in a junior series called Super Formula 2000 in 2008, which may have been a Formula Renault series, although details are sketchy. Her best finish was fourth. In 2009, she entered Formula Chevrolet in Brazil, but only drove in one race, at El Pinar. She was seventh. The championship was cancelled shortly after, due to lack of entries. The same happened in 2010, leaving Sara with one unclassified finish to her name. Sara is Brazilian.

Kerstin Smutny - mostly races open-wheel cars in the USA. She began her senior career at 16, in 2006, in the Formula TR Pro Series for Formula Renault cars. She was eighth in her first season and seventh in her second, in 2007. In 2008, she dropped back down to racing Midget cars, and was fourth in the Washington state championship. A detour into saloons then followed; she drove in the VW Jetta TDI Cup, and was 21st overall. After that, she took a break from motorsport, partly enforced by a lack of sponsorship, and returned in 2012, back in single-seaters. She entered some rounds of the Formula Car Challenge Championship, in a FormulaSPEED Mazda. She was third and second at Infineon Raceway, and was third in the championship. She did not race in 2013 or 2014, but was active in karting in 2015. Her racing plans were put on hold during 2016, due to pregnancy. 

Nicole Solano – Costa Rican driver who raced in Formula Renault (Formula 2000) in the Americas in 2010. She was third in one race at La Guácima, in Costa Rica, and seventh in three others, but the rest of her results, and her championship position, are not forthcoming. She was only fifteen years old in 2010. Her brother, André Solano, also raced in the championship, and was the eventual winner. Nicole does not appear to have raced since then.

Ginni Swanton – raced in Star Formula Mazda between 1995 and 2004. For quite a lot of this, she was part of the Pro section. In the National-level competition, her best season was 2003, when she was 19^th overall. Her best race finish was fourteenth, at Nazareth. In 2004, she did eight races with Bucknum Racing, and was 29^th. Previously, in 2000, she raced in the Formula Mazda Western Division. In 2001, she raced in both series, and ran quite well in the Western Division, with at least two top-ten finishes, at Phoenix. As well as dedicated Star Mazda races, Ginni also competed in SCCA races, in her Star Mazda car.

Mianna Wick - most famous for her historic racing in a 1996 Lola Indycar, which she first drove in 2015, after testing a later Indycar a year earlier. Her Indycar activities have mainly been shows, although she also appears to have done some hillclimbs. She started racing cars in 2013, after several years of karting, including Superkarts. Her first car was a Formula Ford 1600, in which she won a Flying Miata Time Trial in 2013. She acquired a Formula Mazda for the 2014 season, and won two races at the SCCA Labor Daze meeting. In 2015, she was first and second in the Formula Mazda at the SCCA Freedom Sprint. 2016 was mostly spent concentrating on raising sponsorship for running the Indycar, as well as some driving in the car.

(Image from http://www2.uol.com.br/suzane/pilotos/suzane.shtml)