Female Drivers in the Daytona 24 Hours

Tomiko Yoshikawa at Daytona in 1993, when she raced with Desiré Wilson

The Daytona 24-Hour sportscar race is the traditional curtain-opener on the international motor racing scene, held in the last week of January, or the first week of February, each year. Only two races, in 1972 and 1974, have been cancelled or shortened.

It was first run in 1966, after four successful, shorter international sportscar races in the early season. Originally, it was part of the World Sportscar Championship, but this ceased in 1982. Between then and 1992, it was run by IMSA, then the Grand-Am Road Racing Series. It is currently sponsored by Rolex.
Women racers have taken part in most editions, in varying numbers, although sadly, fewer in the past few years. In the past, many notable women have entered, including Lyn St. James, the woman with the most starts, Smokey Drolet, Kathy Rude and Lilian Bryner. Milka Duno scored the best result in 2007 - second - and Lilian Bryner had a string of consistent top-five finishes in the 1990s. Usually, these entries were part of mixed teams, although all-female crews took part in 1966, 1967, 1977 and 1994.

Below is a list of all women drivers who have taken part, by year. In the case of a mixed team, the woman's name always comes first, for clarity.

1966

Rosemary Smith/Smokey Drolet (Sunbeam Alpine) - 30th

Janet Guthrie/Donna Mae Mims/Suzy Dietrich (Sunbeam Alpine) - 32nd

1967

Anita Taylor/Janet Guthrie/Smokey Drolet (Ford Mustang) - 20th

Donna Mae Mims/Suzy Dietrich (ASA 411) - not classified

1969

Smokey Drolet/John Tremblay/Vince Gimondo/John Belperche (Chevrolet Corvette C2) - 16th, class win

1970

Smokey Drolet/Norbert Mastandrea/Rajah Rodgers (Chevrolet Camaro) - 25th

Donna Mae Mims/Jim Corwin/Fred Pipen (Chevrolet Camaro Z) - DNF

1972

No race

1974

No race

1977

Christine Beckers/Lella Lombardi (Inaltera Ford) - 47th/DNF

1978

Janet Guthrie/Hugh Kleinpeter/Jef Stevens (De Tomaso Pantera) - qualified, but did not start

1980

Anny-Charlotte Verney/Skeeter McKitterick/Bob Garretson (Porsche 935) - 9th

Lyn St. James/Mark Welch/Tom Winters (Mazda RX-7) - 17th

Kathy Rude/Tom Nehl/Peter Kirill (Chevrolet Camaro) - 25th

Christine Beckers/Kenper Miller/Dave Cowart (BMW M1) - 47th

1981

Kathy Rude/Philippe Martin/Lee Mueller (Mazda RX-7) - 7th

Gail Engle/Philip Keirn/Bard Boand (Chevrolet Corvette) - 36th

Vicki Smith/ Sam Miller/Bob Lee (AMC AMX) - 56th

1982

Kathy Rude/Lee Mueller/Allan Moffat (Mazda RX-7) - 6th (class win)

Vicki Smith/Klaus Bitterauf/Scott Flanders (Porsche 911) - 25th

Desiré Wilson/Marty Hinze/Preston Henn (Porsche 935 K3) - 45th

1983

Kathy Rude/Bonnie Henn/Deborah Gregg (Porsche 924 Carrera) - 13th

Vicki Smith/Klaus Bitterauf/Scott Flanders (Porsche 911) - 35th

Lyn St. James/John Graham/Drake Olson (Nimrod NRA/C2) - 44th

1984

Margie Smith-Haas/Paul Gilgan/John Zouzelka (Porsche 911 Carrera) - 27th

Vicki Smith/Carlos Ramirez/Jack Miller (Nimrod NRA/C2) - 49th

Deborah Gregg/Jim Trueman/Alfredo Mena (Porsche 924 Carrera GTR) - 69th

1985

Robin McCall/Gary Baker/Joe Ruttman (Chevrolet Corvette) - 39th
Lyn St. James/Tim Coconis/Eric Lang (Argo JM16) - 68th

1986

Deborah Gregg/Mike Brockman/Steve Durst/Jim Trueman (Tiga GT285) - 47th 

1987

Lyn St. James/Scott Pruett/Bill Elliot/Tom Gloy (Ford Mustang) - 7th, class win

Deborah Gregg/Scott Pruett/Scott Goodyear/Bobby Akin (Ford Mustang) - 9th

Linda Ludemann/Scott Schubot/Jim Brown (Tiga GT285) - 16th

1988

Linda Ludemann/Scott Schubot/Jim Brown (Spice SE88P) - 43rd

Lyn St. James/Deborah Gregg/Mark Martin/Pete Halsmer (Mercury Capri) - 44th

1989

Linda Ludemann/Scott Schubot/John Williams (Spice SE88P) - 26th

Lyn St. James/David Loring/Marty Roth (Ford Mustang Probe) - qualified but did not start

1990

Lyn St. James/Robby Gordon/Calvin Fish (Mercury Cougar XR-7) - 5th, class win

Linda Ludemann/Scott Schubot/Tomas Lopez (Spice SE88P) - 17th

1993

Tomiko Yoshikawa/Desiré Wilson/Ron Fellows/Pieter L. Baljet (Ford Mustang) - 47th

1994

Lilian Bryner/Enzo Calderari/Renato Mastropietro/Ruggero Grassi (Porsche 911 Carrera) - 15th

Kat Teasdale/Leigh Miller/John Graham (Porsche 968) - 17th

Tammy Jo Kirk/David Murry/Angelo Cilli/Anthony Lazzaro (Porsche 911) - 34th

Linda Pobst/Kat Teasdale/Margy Eatwell/Tami Rai Busby/Leigh O’Brien (Chevrolet Camaro) - 47th

1995

Lilian Bryner/Enzo Calderari/Renato Mastropietro/Ulli Richter (Porsche 911 Carrera) - 5th, class win

Margie Smith-Haas/Craig T. Nelson/Ross Bentley/Dan Clark (Spice SE90) - 62nd

1996

Lilian Bryner/Enzo Calderari/Renato Mastropietro/Ulli Richter (Porsche 911 Carrera RSR) - 4th, class win

1997

Claudia Hürtgen/Ralf Kelleners/Patrice Goueslard/André Ahrlé (Porsche 911 GT2) - 4th, class win

Lilian Bryner/Enzo Calderari/Renato Mastropietro/Ulli Richter (Porsche 964) - 22nd

1998

Lyn St. James/Jeret Schroeder/Pete Halsmer/Tom Volk (Kudzu DL-4) - 25th

1999

Lilian Bryner/Enzo Calderari/Renato Mastropietro/Carl Rosenblad (Ferrari 333 SP) - 4th

Claudia Hürtgen/Stéphane Ortelli/Enrico Bertaggia/Robert Nearn (Porsche 911 GT2) - 25th

2000

Allison Duncan/Christian Vann/Stephen Watson/Raffaele Sanguiolo (Dodge Viper GTS-R) - 6th

Claudia Hürtgen/Hubert Haupt/Hisashi Wada/Robert Nearn/Nigel Smith/Stephen Earle (Porsche 911 GT2) - 55th

Lilian Bryner/Enzo Calderari/Angelo Zadra/Marco Zadra/Carl Rosenblad (Ferrari 333 SP) - 64th

2001

Kim Hiskey/Hugh Plumb/Michael Culver (Porsche 996 GT3) - 10th

Milka Duno/David Gooding/Raffaele Sanguiolo/Stefano Zonca (Dodge Viper GTS-R) - 31st

Claudia Hürtgen/Robert Orcutt/Jürgen Lorenz/Heinrich Langfermann (Porsche 996 GT3) - 42nd

Lilian Bryner/Enzo Calderari/Ulli Richter/Jürgen Alzen (Porsche 996 GT3-R) - 52nd

2002

Kim Hiskey/Randy Pobst/Steven Ivankovich/Spencer Pumpelly (Porsche 996 GT3) - 73rd

2004

Mae van Wijk/Tracy Krohn/Ron Forristall/Andres van der Dys/Armando Trentini (Porsche 993 GT3 Cup) - 31st

Milka Duno/Robby Gordon/Doug Goad/Stéphane Grégoire (Crawford DP03) - 35th

2005

Maria de Villota/Luca Drudi/Luis Monzon/Gabrio Rosa (Ferrari 360 Modena) - 24th

Milka Duno/Dario Franchitti/Marino Franchitti/Dan Wheldon (Crawford DP03) - 33rd

Mae van Wijk/Dave Gaylord/David Murry/Rod Emory (Porsche 996 GT3 Cup) - 39th

2006

Milka Duno/Dario Franchitti/Marino Franchitti/Kevin McGarrity(Riley Mk XI) - 8th

Danica Patrick/Jan Lammers/Rusty Wallace/Allan McNish (Crawford DP03) - 50th

2007

Milka Duno/Patrick Carpentier/Darren Manning/Ryan Dalziel (Riley Mk XI) - 2nd

Katherine Legge/George Robinson/Paul Dallenbach/Wally Dallenbach Jr (Riley Mk XI) - 25th

2009

Danica Patrick/Andy Wallace/Casey Mears/Rob Finlay (Crawford DP08) - 8th

2013
Melanie Snow/Madison Snow/Sascha Maassen/Marco Seefried/Klaus Bachler (Porsche GT3 Cup) - 19th

2014
Katherine Legge/Andy Meyrick/Gabby Chaves/Alexander Rossi (DeltaWing) - DNF

2015
Christina Nielsen/Christoffer Nygaard/Brandon Davis/James Davison (Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3) - 29th
Katherine Legge/Andy Meyrick/Gabby Chaves/Memo Rojas (DeltaWing) - DNF

2016
Christina Nielsen/Alessandro Balzan/Jeff Segal/Robert Renauer (Ferrari 458 GT3) - 20th
Sabine Schmitz/Klaus Abbelen/Patrick Huisman/Frank Stippler/Sven Muller (Porsche 911 GT3R) - 27th
Ashley Freiberg/Bret Curtis/Jens Klingmann/Marco Wittman (BMW M6) - 48th
Katherine Legge/Andy Meyrick/Sean Rayhall/Andreas Wirth (Panoz DeltaWing) - DNF

2017
Katherine Legge/Andy Lally/Graham Rahal/Mark Wilkins (Acura NSX GT3) - 29th
Christina Nielsen/Alessandro Balzan/Sam Bird/Matteo Cressoni (Ferrari 488 GT3) - DNF

2018
Katherine Legge/AJ Allmendinger/Alvaro Parente/Trent Hindman (Acura NSX GT3) - 22nd
Christina Nielsen/Patrick Long/Robert Renauer/Mathieu Jaminet (Porsche 911 GT3 R) - 41st

2019
Simona de Silvestro/Katherine Legge/Bia Figueiredo/Christina Nielsen (Acura NSX GT3) - 32nd

2020

Tatiana Calderon/Katherine Legge/Rahel Frey/Christina Nielsen (Lamborghini Huracan) - DNF

2021

Katherine Legge/Christina Nielsen/Earl Bamber/Rob Ferriol (Porsche 911 GT3) - 32nd

2022

Katherine Legge/Rob Ferriol/Stefan Wilson/Nick Boulle (Porsche 911) - 37th

2023

Katherine Legge/Sheena Monk/Marc Miller/Mario Farnbacher (Acura NSX) - 22nd

Rahel Frey/Sarah Bovy/Michelle Gatting/Doriane Pin (Lamborghini Huracan) - 46th

2024

Rahel Frey/Sarah Bovy/Michelle Gatting/Doriane Pin (Lamborghini Huracan) - 25th

Ashton Harrison/Graham Doyle/Danny Formal/Kyle Marcelli (Lamborghini Huracan) - 42nd

Tatiana Calderon/Katherine Legge/Sheena Monk/Stevan McAleer (Acura NSX) - DNF

Lilou Wadoux/Matthieu Vaxiviere/Nicklas Nielsen/Luis Perez Companc (Oreca-Gibson LMP2) - DNF

(Image source unknown)