Female Rally Drivers Around the World: Turkey

Simin Bıçakcıoĝlu in Bulgaria in 2012

Burcu Çetinkaya now has her own post. 

Ayşegül Bacak – rallied a Fiat Palio in some Turkish events in 2010. She managed one finish in a major rally: a 31^st place in the second round of the Istanbul Rally Championship. The first round ended in an off. That year, she was also active in hillclimbing, and won at least one Ladies’ Trophy. In 2012, she did some circuit racing in the Volkicar V1 Challenge, a one-make series. She was the fastest of three female drivers taking part that year. 

Nisa Bozkurt -  began her career as a navigator. She has rallied a variety of cars around Turkey, including a Ford Ka in 2001, Citroen Saxo in 2002 and a Fiat Palio in 2004. She drove a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 in the 2005 Rally of Turkey. The same year, she appears to have achieved her best result, eleventh in the Fiat Rally.

Burcu Burkut Erenkul - has been rallying in Turkey since 2008, when she was 19. Previously, she had done some karting, and done some circuit racing - the VW Polo Ladies’ Cup in 2006, and some junior racing in a Fiat Palio in 2007. Her first rally was the Istanbul Rally, and she was 30th in a Fiat Palio, seventh in class. In 2009, she did not have the funding for much rallying, so she did some powerboat racing, and entered the Istanbul championship at the end of the season. She won the Ladies’ and Junior category. For 2010, Ford of Turkey stepped in, and she entered three rounds of the Turkish championship in a Fiesta, finishing two. Her best result was 19th, second in class, in the Bosphorus Rally. The following year, she entered the full Turkish championship, in the Fiesta. She got her best result in the Yeşil Bursa Rallisi - eleventh, and third in class, and followed it with 17th in the Hittit Rallisi. She was third in her class at the end of the season. In 2012, she was more consistent, with three 19th places, and a best of fifteenth, in the Hittite Rally. She won Class 8, and was second in the ladies’ standings, behind her rival Simin Bıçakcıoĝlu. In 2013, she gained a new regular navigator, Seyma Yagiz, and continued to improve. She was in the top twenty in four of her seven rallies, with a best finish of thirteenth, in the Bosphorus Rally. She also won her class in the Kocaeli Rally. Only a retirement and an exclusion in the last two rallies of the season kept her from winning Class 8. She was 16th in the Turkish championship, and second lady, again behind Bıçakcıoĝlu. She continued to rally in 2014, in the Turkish championship. Despite her season being affected by a string of retirements, she was still quite competitive. Her best finish was a fifteenth place, in the Istanbul Rally. She was also 17th in the Bosphorus Rally, a European Trophy event. After missing the 2015 season, she drove a Ford Fiesta in the 2016 Saygili Rulman Ege Rally, but did not finish. 

Didem Coksayar - raced in the Turkish Ladies’ VW Polo championship in 2005 and 2006. She was not among the front-runners. At the same time, she rallied a Fiat Palio run by Delta Sport in the Turkish championship. She entered the 2006 Rally Turkey but did not finish due to mechanical problems. Her best result was a 21st place in the 2005 Castrol Istanbul Rally. She had been active for even longer as a co-driver. Now retired from active competition, she lives in the UK and is married to Michael Vergers.

Yasemin Culfaz – rallied in Turkey in 2010 and 2011. She started off in a Fiat Palio, and contested the Istanbul Rally Championship. Her best finish was 34^th. For her 2011 season, she used a Ford Fiesta, and entered the Turkish championship. It was not an overly successful season, with three out of four rallies ending in retirement. She was 24^th in the Bosphorus Rally, third in class.  

Ozlem Uludag Gulcan - rallies a Nissan Micra in Turkey. Her career seems to begin in 2017 and her first event of 2018, the Hittite Rally, gave her a ninth place, her first top ten. The Hittite Rally was her best event again in 2018 and she was tenth. She did six other Turkish rallies, finishing five of them. In 2019 and 2020, she continued to rally the Micra, picking up her first top ten in the Hittite Rally. She won her first Turkish ladies' title in 2021. Ozlem also competed as a co-driver early in her career.

Ayşe Kar – competes in both rallying and rallycross in Turkey. In 2010, she rallied a Fiat Palio in Turkish National and other events. Her best finish was sixteenth, in the Yeşil Bursa Rally. She was also third in class. The same year, she was active in rallycross in Antalya, in a similar car. Further details are not forthcoming. Photos seem to suggest she did some more racing in 2011, but the specifics of this are also proving hard to find.

Zeynep Merkit - rallied in Turkey between 2000 and 2007. She mostly drove a Fiat Palio kit car, although she started with a Citroen Saxo and achieved her career-best result - 16th in the Yesil Bursa Rally - in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII. Her career included four runs in the Rally of Turkey, including one start in the WRC version in 2003. She was driving the Fiat but had to retire. She is still involved in motorsport in Turkey, despite losing her husband Kemal to a motorcyle enduro accident in 2012.

Serpil Pak - one of Turkey’s first female rally drivers. She began her career in 2005, driving a Fiat Palio in the Turkish championship. This was replaced by a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII in 2006. After a quiet couple of seasons, she drove a Ford Fiesta in the Turkish championship in 2010, with some good class finishes. A change to a Subaru Impreza gave her her first top-twenty finishes in 2011, including thirteenth place in the Yeşil Bursa Rally, with a class win. In 2012, in an Impreza, she was 20th in the Istanbul Rally. In 2013, she returned to driving a Fiesta, although it was not the most reliable. Her best finish was fourteenth, in the Bosphorus Rally. In 2014, still in the Fiesta, she achieved her first top-ten finish: tenth in the Rally 34 event. 2014 was a good year for her; she was a consistent top-twenty finisher in the Turkish championship, although she did non-finish twice, at the end of the season. She was also twelfth in the Istanbul Rally. In 2015, she managed another top ten finish, a tenth place in the Istanbul Rally. She was still in the Fiesta, and was seventeenth in the Turkish championship. 2016 was a less busy season for her, although she did fit in some travel, to the ACI Como National Rally, in Italy. Her car was a Peugeot 208, and she did not finish. Back at home, she drove the Fiesta in the Marmaris Rally Turkey, but also retired. In 2017, she entered the Istanbul Rally in a Fiesta, and was 25th overall. 

Melissa Tahincioglu – did a season in the Turkish Rally Championship in 2008. Her car was a Fiat Palio. Her best finish was 18^th, in the Ford Otosan Kocaeli Rally, and she was fourth in class. Her biggest event was the Istanbul Rally, a round of the IRC, and she was 34^th. In 2010, she did one rally, the Kocaeli event, in a Ford Fiesta. She was 25^th overall, third in class. She has also taken part in circuit racing, and was fourteenth in the 2006 Volkswagen Polo Ladies’ Cup, held in Turkey. In 2011, she was one of the leading drivers in the V1 Challenge, held at Istanbul Autodrome. Previously, she had done some one-off rallies in the Turkish championship, in 2002 and 2003, in the Fiat.

Burcu Ürkmez – rallied a Fiat Palio in Turkey between 2008 and 2010. Her first season was her best one, with three top-twenty finishes in Istanbul Castrol rallies. Her next two years were plagued with non-finishes, although she did manage twelfth place in the 2009 Ford Otosan Kocaeli Rally. After that, she seems to have switched to circuit racing, and is listed as a driver in the Turkish Toyota Yaris Cup.

Nehir Yilmaz- erstwhile co-driver who started driving in Turkish rallies in 2016. She was 26th in that year’s Otosan Kocaeli Rally, driving a Fiat Palio. She has been competing as a co-driver since 2002, when she was 23. Among the drivers she has sat beside are Burcu Cetinkaya, Burcu Burkut Erenkul and Serpil Pak.

(Image from www.siminbicakcioglu.com)

Female Single-Seater Drivers Around the World: Finland

Emma Kimilainen

Sanna Pinola  and Milla Makela now have their own posts. 

Pinja Forsman – raced in Formula Ford in 2010. She was driving for the Söderman team. Her best overall finish was sixth, at Alastaro. She was eleventh in the final championship standings, and fifth in the Zetec-engined class. Her race programme also included two North European Zone Formula Ford Cup races, which gave her 19^th in that championship. After 2010, she does not seem to have raced again. 

Laura Koivoluoma - former karter in Europe, who also did some single-seater racing. In 2007, she drove for the Pekka Saarinen team for two rounds of the Asian Formula Renault Challenge. After a few more years of karting, she entered the Finnish  Formula Ford Junior Championship in 2011. She was seventh overall. In summer 2012, she announced her retirement from motorsport, at the age of 24, for reasons never fully explained.

Netta Pekkala – former karter who raced in the 2014 Formula Ford championship. Despite being only fifteen years old, she already had ten years of karting experience, plus some Formula Ford testing, undertaken in 2013. Her best finishes in 2014 were two fifth places, at Ahvenisto and Alastaro, and she was seventh in the championship, winning the Zetec class from three other drivers. This class win was her objective for the year, and she hoped to make an attempt at the outright championship in 2015. Unfortunately, she does not seem to have raced in 2015. She now races snowmobiles.

(Image from http://pwrracingteam.com/)

Female Drivers in Touring Cars: the United Kingdom

Anita Taylor in the Broadspeed Anglia

This is another post mostly made up of previous content, created in order to make the blog easier to get around. There are a couple of new names, and more will appear in future. Jem Hepworth, Elizabeth Jones, Barbara Cowell, Jacquie Bond-Smith, Gillian Fortescue-Thomas, Michaelle Burns-Greig, Geunda Eadie, Micki Vandervell and Joanna Clarke now have their own posts.

Jean Aley - drove touring cars in the 1960s, and also competed in rallies. Her best year for saloons was 1962, when she drove a Mini in the Nürburgring 6 Hours and 500km races. She and Daphne Freeman did not finish the 500km, but she was fifth in class in the 6 Hours, driving with her husband John. In rallies, she normally navigated. She sat alongside Shelagh Aldersmith for the 1963 Monte Carlo Rally.

Anna Barden - winner of the 2018 CTRC Classic Touring Car pre-2005 championship, driving a Renault Clio. She has been racing since 2016 and sometimes competes against her husband, Steve Barden, in the Classic Touring Car series. Further details of her career are proving hard to find as she previously competed under another name.

Joey Cook (Beale) - sister of Jacquie Bond-Smith. Like her sister, her early motorsport experiences were in her father’s “Wavendon Wombat” special, and they sometimes competed as a pairing. The sisters raced together in the FLIRT team in the 1960s, in a Mini Marcos. As a team, they entered the Nürburgring 1000km, Gran Premio del Mugello and Nürburgring 500 KM in 1967. Joey’s best result was 37th, in the Mugello race. She and Jacquie raced in separate FLIRT Marcoses for the Nürburgring 500km. She is still involved in motorsport through historic racing; she and her husband Stephen own and drive a 1962 Lotus Elite, and are members of the HSCC.

Ilsa Cox - winner of multiple British club championships in saloon car racing. She began in 1987. In 1997, she was the Castle Combe Saloon Car champion, driving a Peugeot 205 GTi. Even in her first year in that championship, 1995, she won eight times, and was narrowly beaten to the trophy. In 2008, she won Class A of the 750MC Hot Hatch Championship. More recently, she has been racing a SEAT Cupra in the Eurosaloons championship, and won a race outright at Oulton Park, in 2009. She was second in the “B” class of the series, with three wins. She has 26 career wins. She continued to race the SEAT in the CNC Heads Saloon/Sports championship in 2014. She won one race, and was second in Class D. As well as racing in the CNC Heads series in 2015, she took part in the Classic Thunder Touring Car Championship, still in the SEAT. She was fifth and seventh in these championships, respectively. She raced the SEAT again in 2016, in the CNC Heads series, but only did some of the rounds, and was 26th overall. In 2017, she did some races in the SEAT, but did not do enough of the championship to mount at serious challenge. She was back to winning ways again in 2018, picking up another Castle Combe GT crown in the Cupra and winning nine races outright. She competed in the CTCC Classic Thunder series in 2019, winning at least one race at Silverstone. As well as this, she works as a performance driving instructor, and promotes women’s track days.

Mary Grinham - races a spaceframe Maguire Mini in club events in the UK. Most recently, she has been part of the Classic Touring Car Racing Club’s Classic Thunder series. She has been racing the car since the 1980s, when she took part in Special Saloons, securing class wins. This followed ten years as a motorcycle sidecar racer, and some time spent in Minicross. She first raced a sidecar outfit in 1972.

Joanne Kraemer - began her career in 2002 in UK Clio Cup. She did not compete for a full season due to injuries sustained in a crash, but managed to return. After a break, she drove in Britcar with her father, Rick Kraemer, in 2004. Their car was a Ford Focus. They managed some top-ten finishes, including one at Brands Hatch.

Clare Newbold - raced in the mid-1960s, always in Ford cars. In 1965, she raced a Ford Anglia in the 1000cc class, in British events. These were mostly at club level, so the results have proved hard to find. In 1966, she raced a “Fraud” Cortina, a heavily-modified Ford Special Saloon belonging to her future husband, “Doc” Merfield. They competed together at least once, in a handicap race at Brands Hatch. In 1965, Clare drove this car in the Brighton Speed Trials, and seems to have won something - a video of the time describes her as the winner, but the official records do not support this. She was an early member of the BWRDC and also raced at Goodwood. After her marriage, she seems to have retired.

Nerys Pearce - raced in the 2020 Britcar Trophy for Team BRIT, driving a BMW 1-Series. She joined the team for the Silverstone races and partnered Abbie Eaton, then drove with Aaron Morgan at Snetterton. As a guest driver, she was ineligible to score points. She is paralysed from the chest down and is hoping to be part of a Le Mans team consisting only of disabled drivers. Previously, she served as an Army medic and competed in para-athletics, powerlifting and rowing, as well as open-water swimming. She has represented Wales at the Invictus and Commonwealth Games. In 2021 she raced for Team BRIT in Britcar again.

Rona Pearson (Galliford) - raced in the UK between 1962 and 1964. She began her career in club events, using a Mini. Later in he first year, she entered her first international race, the Nürburgring 500km. She and Phil Cadman did not finish after their Mini suffered a gearbox problem. The following month, Rona had more luck in the Brands Hatch 6 Hours, finishing 19th in a BMW 700 with Marie-Rose Tibesar. She later married Peter Galliford and went back to club racing in the UK, before retiring in 1964 to have children.

Jacqui Smith – member of the FLIRT (First Ladies’ International Racing Team) team in the 1960s, with sisters Jacquie Bond-Smith and Joey Cook.  They campaigned two Mini Marcoses together in the 1960s, and raced at the 1967 Nürburgring 500km. Jacqui Smith does not seem to have finished. Earlier in the season, she had been included in the official Marcos team for the Nürburgring 1000km, but did not get to drive on the day. The year before, she was second in the BWRDC’s women’s racing championship, behind Jean Denton. She spent that season racing a Hillman Imp, competing in British club events and winning a Ladies’ race at Brands Hatch. She had been racing since at least 1964.

Mary Taylor - mostly raced saloons in the mid-1960s, and is most associated with Minis. She was racing a Mini by 1963, at least. In 1964, she took part in the Britax Saloon championship, and the following year, she won one of the BWRDC’s Embassy Trophies for the highest placed member at an eligible meeting. Frustratingly, it is not clear what cars she used for the 1964 season, although the award win was for a second place in a Mini. In At some point, she raced an MGB, and is named as an entrant for a Ladies’ race at Oulton Park. She also raced a Frazer Imp and a Lotus Elite. Her career was ended by a serious accident at Silverstone in 1966, where she suffered head injuries, although she later recovered. She was married to fellow racer, Sid Taylor, and was a hairdresser by trade.

(Image from Autosport)

Campeonato Brasileiro Ford Fiesta Feminino (Brazilian Women’s Ford Fiesta Championship)

One-make spec Fiesta

The championship ran for one season, in 2001. It was promoted by Maria Helena Fittipaldi, former wife of Emerson Fittipaldi, in her role as head of the Brazilian women racing drivers’ club, AMPACOM. It was one of her most visible achievements, and the second championship she organised, after a similar series for the Vauxhall/Opel/GM Corsa in 1996. This time, tighter controls on preparation and tuning were exercised, in order to promote a level playing field.

The series consisted of nine races, spread across seven meetings, as a support to the Brazilian Pick-Up Championship. The cars were identically-prepared Ford Fiestas, with 1600cc, 16-valve Zetec engines, similar to those in use in Ford one-make series elsewhere.

Maria Helena Fittipaldi

There were initially 16 entrants, but problems with sponsorship meant that not all of them completed the season, and others were brought in to keep numbers up. A mix of experienced and novice drivers took part, and it appears that experience won the day - Maria Cristina Rosito, who had been competing in stock cars and endurance racing since the late ‘80s, seems to have been the champion. Danuza Moura, who would go on to race trucks, and Suzane Carvalho, who also raced extensively in Brazil, were race winners. Many of the drivers had also participated in the earlier Corsa championship, which Danuza Moura won. Several went on to race in mixed championships, with many ending up in stock cars and truck racing.

Entry List

Maria Cristina Rosito

Juliana Carreira

Patricia de Souza

Mara Feltre

Suzane Carvalho

Alexandra Silva

Andrea Borghesi

Patricia Vega

Maria Cristina Moreira

Peggy Ann Bauer

Laurimele Pagy

Luciana Sarkis

Renata Rabelo

Andrea Klotz

Anita Caldas

Danuza Moura

Delfina Frers

Helena Deyama

Carmen Fontes

Carolina Hanashiro

Anita Negrão

Soledad Derfler

Bia Crestani

Tatiana Bandeira

(Image from www.sonico.br)

Female Drivers in Touring Cars: the Netherlands

Ina van Kooten, Ann Vader and Mabel t'Hooft are congratulated by actress Yoka Beretti after a record attempt at Zandvoort, driving a Ford Corsair, in 1965.

Saloon and touring car racing in the Netherlands has attracted a relatively large number of female drivers since the 1960s. This post has been created from existing content, in an ongoing attempt to make Speedqueens easier to read. New drivers will be added in future. Liesette Braams and Henny Hemmes now have their own profiles.

Lilian Andela - active in Dutch motorsport between the late 1970s and early 1990s. She began her career as a rally navigator, in the 1978 Tulip Rally, in a Datsun. In 1988, she competed in the Dutch Touring Car Championship, in a Talbot Simca Rallye 3, in the Super Touring Group A section. She was not among the front-runners. In 1990 and 1991, she raced in the Citroen AX GTI Cup. In 1990, she was again not among the front-runners, but did quite well in the Ladies’ class. In 1991, the story seems to have been the same, although results from this year are proving hard to track down.

Theresia Balk - began racing almost as a joke in the 2005 Formula Woman Nations Cup, with no prior experience and no motorsport background. After that, she bought a BMW E36 and raced in a one-make series in the Netherlands. She signed up for another year but a sponsor pulled out. With the funding she had, she entered some rounds of the 2007 Suzuki Swift Cup. Her time in the series was marred by an early-season accident, caused by the wrong wheelnuts being supplied by the car preparer. A couple of years back racing BMWs followed, working on a very low budget in the Toerwagen Diesel Cup and some rounds of the Dutch Supercar Challenge, where her underpowered car was not big enough to compete. She stopped competing due to financial pressures, and because she was no longer enjoying herself. During her time on-track, Frans Verschuur once got so frustrated at not being able to pass her that he bit his tongue. 

Rianne Bergman – races in the PTC Cup for production cars in the Netherlands. She began racing in 2013, when she was 17, driving for the Lohuis team. Her first car was a Citroen C1, changing to a Toyota Aygo for some of 2014, then back to a Citroen. She won the championship’s Ladies’ Cup in 2014, after really announcing herself in her first year, with a second place in her first race. She was seventh in the combined championship, with a best finish of third. Her best 2015 finish was fourth, at Zandvoort. She was second in the Ladies' Cup, and fifth overall in the championship. She raced a C1 again in 2016, and was fourth in the championship, with two third places. In 2017, she won her first race in the PTC (also known as the City Bug Cup) and was third in the championship. She did at least some races in the C1 in 2018, but does not appear to have competed much. She returned to the tracks mid-2019, racing in the DTC 2 championship in a sportscar run by Stayfast. She won at least two races. In 2021, she raced in the Mazda MX5 Cup, finishing fourteenth and twelfth in the opening rounds of the season. She returned to the PTC series in 2022 and 2023.

Eline Braspenning - races in the Dutch Supercar Challenge. Her debut year was 2007, when she drove a in a couple of rounds of the DNTR series, finishing on the podium twice. She moved on to the Supercar Challenge in 2008. Her car for the 2008 season was a BMW Z3 Coupe, and her co-driver was Esra van Elk. They were driving for Eline’s father’s Braspenning Racing team. Their best finish was third, and they were tenth in the Sport class at the end of the year. During the winter off-season, they took part in one round of the Dutch Winter Endurance Championship, in the same car, before returning to Supercars in 2009 with a BMW E36 M3. Eline, now driving with Iman van Schelven, was fifth in the Sport class after six podium finishes and one pole position. She drove in the Supersport class in 2010, in an E46 this time, but it was less reliable, and she could only manage a best finish of fifteenth. Her usual co-driver was her father, Ron Braspenning. In 2011, she competed in Supercars again, but only managed to enter three rounds, still with Ron in the BMW. They were 18th overall. It was a similar story in 2012: driving in the Sport 1 class, she and Ron were tenth, after four races. Their car was still the BMW. In 2014, Eline and her father competed in the Dutch Supercar Challenge together, in a BMW Compact. They performed well, winning a race in the Sport 1 class at the Nürburgring, and finishing second in another, but they were dropped to eleventh place, as they only did a part-season. 

Evelin Dorssers - Dutch driver who mainly competes in the DNRT Endurance championship, driving a BMW. In 2021, she won the Touring class of the Zandvoort 8 Hours, as part of a four-driver team. They were 21st overall and it was her third class win in the race. She spent part of the season competing with an all-female team with Danielle Kleyheeg, Audrey Van Ham and Vivienne Weijs, in the same championship. The team, with new driver Sandra van der Sloot, raced in the BMW Racing Cup in 2022 as well as winning their class in the three-round endurance championship. In 2023, they were seventh in the Netherlands 24H race. Previously, Evelin competed in a Mercedes in the SLK Cup in 2018 and 2019. She is also a rally co-driver.

Eva Harkema - drove in the Dutch VW Endurance Cup in 2008, 2009 and 2010. She raced a Golf for her family team, Palmyra Racing, alongside her father, Henk, and brother, Paul. Their best finish in 2010 was eleventh, and they were fifteenth overall. Although they were only 21st in 2009, they scored their best finish to date - ninth. 2008 was very much a learning season, and they were only 36th. In between seasons, they have also raced in the Dutch Winter Endurance Championship. More recently, she has raced in the Renault Clio championship. She was 26th in 2012, after six races with Verschuur Motorsport. She drove the same car in the 2011-2012 Dutch Winter Endurance Series. In 2013, she was twelfth in the Dutch Clio Cup, with a best finish of seventh, at Zandvoort. In 2014, she took part in the Syntix Winter Championship, in the Clio, with Paul Harkema. 

Mabel ‘t Hooft - raced mainly in the Netherlands in the 1960s. She mainly seems to have driven Fiat-Abarth cars, chiefly an 850cc TC model, which she shared with her husband, Dick. Her racing mainly centred on saloon events at National level, but she also took in a few sportscar races in the Abarth. The 1965 GT race at the 1965 Circuit van Zandvoort meeting is a case in point. As well as the Abarth, Mabel drove other cars; one of her best results was a fifth place in a Class B race at the Grand Prix of the Netherlands in 1965, which she achieved in a Ford Corsair GT. 

Amée de Jong (Caron) - winner of the first Ladies’ Cup in the Citroen AX GT Cup, in 1990. She won races outright that year and featured strongly in the mixed standings. In 1992, she found her winning form again, this time in a Suzuki Swift, after a quiet season in 1991, when she some Production racing in a Peugeot 405. She drove in the 1400cc class of the 1992 Dutch Production Car Championship and was second overall. She won two races at Zandvoort, the Pinksterraces round and one of the Interantionale races. She returned for a part-season in 1993, replacing a dismissed driver in the Suzuki works team, but her only race ended in disqualification. She then disappears from the starting lists for quite some time, but she must have kept her Suzuki links, as she made a couple of appearances in the Dutch Touring Car Championship in a Baleno, in 1999.

Danielle Kleyheeg - raced in the VW Endurance Cup in a Golf in the Netherlands in 2009, driving for the Certainty Racing team. She and her team-mates were 28th overall. In 2010, she stayed with the team, and moved into the Toerwagen Diesel Cup. Her car was a BMW 120d. She was 44th overall, again, alongside her team-mates at Certainty. She gained attention due to her car being sponsored by an underwear company. In 2011, she carried on with the Diesel Cup for six races, finishing 37th overall in a BMW 123d. More recently, she has been involved in classic rallying to raise awareness for female cancers. In 2021, she joined forces with an all-female team consisting of Evelin Dorssers, Audrey Van Ham and Vivienne Weijs. They competed in the 2021 DNRT Endurance series in a BMW and won their class in the 2022 edition. They were seventh in the 2023 Netherlands 24H.

Ina van Kooten - raced a Glas 1204 TS in the Netherlands in the 1960s. She appears on the entry lists from about 1965, and then the 1204 was upgraded to a 1304. Although she competed up to ETCC level sporadically, she was not especially competitive, and scored few decent finishes. Mainly, she stuck to National level races in the Netherlands, especially at Zandvoort, up until 1968. Away from the track, she may well have owned a scooter dealership at about the same time as she raced.

Nella Kruizinga - raced in the Netherlands in the 1970s. She is most known for campaigning a VW Golf GTi in the Dutch Touring Car Championship, where she was ninth at the Zandvoort finale in 1978. She also raced the Golf in a one-make series for that car, and was photographed having a coming-together with Martin Burgondie’s car, also at Zandvoort. Further information about Nella’s career is not forthcoming, although she was apparently the girlfriend of racer Fred Krab.

Nan van Lennep – did some touring car racing in the Netherlands in the 1960s. Her car was an 850cc Mini. She did not finish the 1963 Zandvoort Trophy, but was ninth in the Benelux Cup, also held at Zandvoort. At the time, she was married to Gerard van Lennep, of the famous Dutch racing family. She is better known and a model and actress.

Nina Pothof - Dutch driver who  took her first steps in cars in 2020 after a karting career that included a win in the mixed-pair karting event of the 2019 FIA Motorsport Games. She started racing a Citroen C1 in the PTC Cup when the 2020 season finally got under way and was fifth in her first race at Zandvoort, having been demoted from fourth for her car being underweight. At the end of the year she was the leading female driver and one of the leading rookies in the series. She was part of an all-female team for the Zolder 24 Hours, run by Xwift. Nina, Esmee de Vilder, Ellen Leysen, Shana Mertens and Janine Rozendaal drove a BMW 325 and finished second in class. After a quiet year, she signed for the British F4 championship in 2024.

Ellen Sminia - raced a Mini in Dutch Touring Cars in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1969, she was eleventh at the Paasraces and eighth in the Zandvoort Formula 5000 meeting. She also entered the Clubraces, but did not finish. In 1970, she drove in the Paasraces, Formula 5000 and Grand Prix meetings but did not finish any of her races. In 1971, she took part in the Formula 3 meeting at Zandvoort, but does not appear to have finished, this time in a Fiat 600D. 

Liesbet Tolman – chiefly a motorcycle racer, who has competed in the Netherlands since at least 2008, and also in the European Road Racing Championship. In 2015, she raced in the PTC Cup in the Netherlands, scoring points in six races. The best of these was an eighth place finish. She was third in the Ladies Cup. Her car seems to have been a Toyota Aygo. 

Thea de Vos – Dutch driver who raced a Renault Clio in the DNRT championship in the Netherlands. She won at least one race in 2006, at Zolder, and another in 2005. That year, she was ninth in the Sport class of the championship. She continued to race the Clio in the same series in 2007, and was still competitive, with top ten finishes. Her career seems to end there.

Elisabeth Wagenaar – raced in the Dutch touring car championship (NTK) in the 1980s. She first appears in the final round of the 1980 season, in a VW Golf. This would become her signature car. She did almost a full season in 1981, with a best finish of fourteenth, in the Trophy of the Dunes. 1982 was rather an indifferent year, still in the Golf, but with sponsorship from Samsonite in 1983, she became more consistent, and managed her first top ten at the Pinksterraces – a tenth place. Although she scored well in class in 1984, the Golf was not powerful enough to challenge to Chevrolet Camaros and Opel Monzas of the championship. She does not appear in the entry lists after 1984.

(Image from http://www.anp-archief.nl/)

(Thanks to Theresia Balk for her assistance)

Sara Williams

Sara and her co-driver, Patrick Walsh, at the 2012 Wales Rally GB

Sara Williams is currently the most successful female, British driver in the history of  British national rallying.

Sara is a Welsh driver who has been active since 2006, after a year as a navigator to her father, Jonathan. They were a successful team in Welsh club events, and won the 2006 Rali Cwm Gendreath, in a Subaru Impreza. As soon as Sara was 17, she started driving herself, and her first rally car was a Rover 216. She used this rather unusual car in club tarmac rallies.

The Rover was replaced by a more conventional, and faster, rally car, a Honda Civic, for 2007. Co-driven by her father, she entered the Welsh Tarmacadam Championship. Highlights of this year were finishes in the Harry Flatters Rally and the Mewla National Rally. Both of these were 41st places.

She stepped up to the MSA Tarmac championship in 2008, still in the Civic. Navigated by Tony Fisher, she was 39th in the Tour of Epynt, and was the fastest female driver. A couple of offs put her out of contention in a wet Millbrook National Rally, but she was then a career-best 19th in the Abingdon Car-Nival Stages, a non-championship event. Moving out of her normal territory, she contested the Rally of the Midlands, co-driven by her father again, and they were 25th, with the mixed crew award. The Mewla Rally was not as fruitful, with differential problems keeping Sara in 42nd place. Her last event, the Patriot Stages, gave her a 31st, with a newly-adjusted diff. At the end of the season, she won the BTRDA’s Class 3 championship, and the Wessex Ropes Junior award. She decided to branch out and take on some gravel rallies, as well as tarmac, in future.

In 2009, she drove in club and national events, mostly in Wales, now in a Subaru Impreza. The increase in pace was immediate: on her first rally in the car, she was a credible 21st, on the Red Kite Stages. Her next event was the Wyedean Rally, run on snow that year, which was only her second-ever forest rally. She kept it on the road and was 28th, picking up the Ladies’ and Young Driver trophies once more. The Telford Winter Stages gave her her best finish yet: twelfth overall, and on snow again. She was then 16th in the Bulldog Rally, but retired from the Plains Rally with gearbox problems. However, things looked up again in the Severn Valley Stages, in which she was ninth, her first top ten. It was back to twelfth place for the Mid Wales Stages, but back into the top ten in the Swansea Bay Rally. Sara was eighth overall. She kept up her top-ten pace in the Coracle Stages, where she was ninth, crashed out of the Neath Stages, and crawled to the finish of the Woodpecker Rally. Her last event was the Cambrian Rally, and although the Impreza was fixed in time, she had another off, and lost too much time to be a serious contender.

In 2010, she kept the Impreza, now painted pink, and entered the ANCRO Forest Championship. The year was an up-and-down one, and started slowly, with retirements from the Wyedean and Sunseeeker rallies, both due to differential failures. Her first finish came in the Plains Rally, where she was 16th. The Severn Valley Stages led to another retirement, but Sara made the most of her weekend at Epynt, by co-driving for Wayne Palmer on the second day. The Mid Wales Stages was another disappointment: she dropped out with turbo problems after running as high as second. However, at the Coracle Stages, she managed to stay in second place, earning another career best finish. Then, she retired from the Neath Valley Stages with more mechanical problems, and was 19th in the Woodpecker Rally, despite hitting a log and ending up in a ditch. Towards the end, the season picked up, with eighth in the Cambrian Rally and third in the Sweet Lamb time trial. This was preparation for the biggest rally of her career: the Wales Rally GB National event. She did not allow nerves to get the better of her, and after a fast, consistent weekend, she was fourth overall. Her driving won her the John Easson award, and people were starting to take notice of her.

In 2011, she carried on using the Impreza, upgraded to an N12B for the 2010 Wales Rally GB. Sara’s programme included BTRDA, Welsh forest and selected BRC events.  The season started somewhat quietly, with a safe, but unremarkable 21st in the Wyedean Rally. The car was running far more reliably now, and Sara had only one retirement. Soon, she was back in the top ten with a ninth in the Mid Wales Stages. Two BTRDA rallies followed, the Somerset Stages and Plains Rally, and she was 16th and eleventh. The Severn Valley Rally was her best event of the year, a sixth place finish. The Nicky Grist Quinton Stages and Woodpecker Stages ended in 17th and 26th respectively, but the Cambrian Rally was a disaster. Sara crashed heavily and the car suffered extensive damage. Fortunately, it was repairable, and she was back in action for the Sweet Lamb time trial, the shakedown for that year’s Wales Rally GB. She was fifth. The Wales Rally GB National B event itself was somewhat of an anti-climax, with turbo troubles meaning that the Impreza was down on power for a lot of it. She was 17th, with the ladies’ award as consolation.

2012 started frustratingly once more, with a 35th place in the Wyedean Rally, although she was eighth in her class. After a twelfth in the Mid Wales Rally, she was back into the top ten in the Somerset Rally, in eighth place. A broken gearstick put her out of the Plains Rally. The second half of her season was marked by much greater consistency. Apart from 16th in the Woodpecker Rally, she was a regular in the top ten. She was fifth in the Severn Valley Stages, fifth in the Coracle Stages, sixth in the National B Wales Rally GB, and third in the Sweet Lamb Time Trial. Her last rally of the year, the Cambrian Rally, was fast becoming her bogey event, as she crashed out again. Nevertheless, she was second in her class in the Welsh Clubman Championship, and the top lady driver.

In 2013, she looked to build on her growing successes. Her first event was the Mid Wales Stages, a change from her usual programme, and she was fifth. This was followed by her first event outside the UK, the Loughman Forest Rally in Carrick on Suir, in Ireland. She soon got used to the terrain, and was ninth. For a change, she then went back to the Honda Civic with her father, for the London Rally Heroes event, in aid of the Help For Heroes charity. They were 22nd overall, with a class win. A month later, she returned to the Welsh gravel for the Swansea Bay Rally, and was rewarded with her first win. This was first outright win for a female driver since Louise Aitken-Walker in 1983, and it was the same event, 30 years later, which Sara won.

The Severn Valley National Rally, in June, ended in an accident, and this typified the dramatic up and down nature of this season for Sara. It was followed by a third in the Coracle Stages, a favoured hunting ground, then an appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed’s rally stage. The second Irish rally that came after that, the Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally, also ended in the disappointment of a retirement, due to a loose bolt in the power steering system. However, Sara bounced back in September. Not content with one historic win, she won the Red Kite Stages, too, by 23 seconds, from Wug Utting who was in an identical Impreza. This was also special, as it was the first gravel rally she ever entered, back in 2009. Not even her subsequent retirements from the Sweet Lamb time trial and Wales Rally GB National could take her achievements away from her. 

In 2014, she carried on with the Impreza, although she had to miss the Red Kite Stages, due to the car not being ready. Her first rally was the Plains Forest Rally, in May, and Sara - with a different co-driver, Dale Furniss - could only manage 35th. The car's power steering failed on the fifth stage. She was ninth in class. Her next event, the Severn Valley Stages, ended in retirement, after the car got stuck in a ditch. A break from competition followed, and it was September before Sara appeared again. She was second in the Red Dragon Stages, after working on some electrical problems that had been affecting the car. She was also back with her usual navigator, Patrick Walsh. 

At the end of the season, Sara faced her biggest challenge yet: an entry into the WRC Wales Rally GB. This was her first World Championship rally. Despite mechanical troubles after the second day, and a couple of penalties, she finished the event in 43rd place. On stage twelve, Dyfnant, she was fourteenth. This performance earned her the Croeso Trophy, for the best Welsh crew, and the Richard Burns Trophy, for the best young British driver. 

In 2015, she contested the BTRDA Mixed Surface Challenge championship. After a slow start to the year, she picked up another win, in the Red Dragon Stages, in the Impreza. She was over a minute ahead of her nearest rival. Although she managed to finish all of her other rallies this year, she did not get into the top ten again until the Trackrod Rally, in September, where she was tenth. 

At the end of the year, Sara travelled to the Middle East to compete in the FIA Women In Motorsport Desert Challenge, in order to try and win a funded seat in the Sealine Desert Challenge rally raid in 2016. She was not one of the winners, although she did receive training from Jutta Kleinschmidt and Fabrizia Pons, and some additional exposure.

At the start of 2016, she was announced as the winner of the BWRDC's Gold Star Award. She was an impressive sixth in the Severn Valley Rally in June, driving the Impreza, but her season finished with an early retirement from the Wyedean Stages, and damage to the car. 

After a slightly underwhelming 2016, she embarked on her first season of rallying abroad in 2017. She entered the European Clio R3T series, and was ninth in the French section, as well as winning the Coupe des Dames. Her best rally finish was on the Coeur de France event, an asphalt rally near Paris. She was 24th overall and ninth in class. 

2018 started with another BWRDC Gold Star award, and also an appointment to the FIA's Women in Motorsport Commission, as a UK representative.

She continued to compete in France, mostly in the Clio R3T Trophy. Her best result in the R3T class was fifth, on the Rallye Coeur de France. Her best overall finish was 15th in the Vallespir National rally, which was not part of the R3T championship.

After a view asphalt events in the UK in 2021, Sara returned to France in 2022 with a Renault Clio. She finished one of her two rallies, finishing 37th in the Boucles Capelloises regional rally. Back in the Impreza, she tackled the Grooms Garage Sweet Lamb Rally Time Trial in 2023, finishing tenth.

(Picture from www.dmaeuropa.com)

Tatiana Calderón

Tatiana in British F3 in 2013

Tatiana is originally from Colombia. In common with several other Colombian racers of the time, including Manuela Vasquez, she moved out of her home country very early on, to pursue her motorsport career. Even as a teenage karter, she was travelling to the States in order to compete in US and international races. This was combined with the Colombian championship, and her school studies.

Tatiana debuted in full-sized cars in 2009, at 16. Unusually, she chose sportscars, rather than one of the junior single-seater series, for her first championship. She drove in the Radical European Masters Series with Natacha Gachnang. They were driving for the PoleVision team. Tatiana finished on the podium four times, and won the SR5 class outright. This was in addition to karting, in Europe and the States.

In 2010, she returned to America to contest Formula Star Mazda, driving for the Juncos team. After a shaky start to the season, beginning with a DNF at Sebring and a 19th at St. Petersburg, she was soon closer to the pace, with ninth at Laguna Seca. After four more top-tens, including a best finish of seventh, at Autobahn, she was tenth overall in her first season of single-seaers.

A second season in Formula Star Mazda with Juncos beckoned for 2011. Again, her season started badly, with a DNF at St. Petersburg, but she immediately got back on the pace, with a third at Barber. At Mosport, she achieved a second third place. This was a first for a female driver in this particular series. For the rest of the season, apart from one non-finish, she was never out of the top ten, and was sixth overall.

As well as American single-seaters, she also returned to Europe for the latter part of the Euro F3 Open series. Her first round, Monza, gave her a tenth and eleventh place. She was not quite as fast at Jerez, but she was ninth in her second race at Catalunya, enough to give her 21st overall.

In 2012, she raced in Euro F3, and scored one third place at Paul Ricard, in the Winter Series. She did not fare quite as well in the summer series, at least to begin with, although she picked up some speed towards the end of the season. At the Paul Ricard round, she was fifth and seventh, and at the next meeting, in Hungary, she was fourth and seventh. The fourth was her best finish. At the end of the season, she was ninth. In addition to this, she also entered some Alpine Formula Renault events, at Mugello and Catalunya. She was not among the front-runners. On a visit back home, she entered the 6 Hours of Bogota, sharing a Radical with Juan Camilo Acosta, Juan Esteban García and Luis Carlos Martínez. They were third, and second in class. Tatiana’s sister, Paula, was also racing in the event, for a different team.

2013 was also focused on F3, mainly the FIA European Championship, but before the northern hemisphere season began, she travelled to New Zealand, for the Toyota Racing Series. After a consistent run of finishes, she was twelfth overall. Mid-season, she had a good meeting at Taupo, and scored her best finishes, a fifth and an eighth place.

Back in Euro F3, she struggled somewhat. Although she consistently made it to the end of her races, with the exception of the sixth round, at the Norisring, her best finish was only fifteenth, at Silverstone. Her team had trouble finding a suitable car set-up, which meant that qualifying was an issue. Subsequently, Tatiana’s confidence took some knocks, but she carried on.

Britain was a better hunting ground for her.  She scored one podium place in the British International series, at the Nürburgring, as well as fourths at Silverstone and Spa. She was seventh overall, the second of the Double R drivers in the standings..

The two races she did in the Euro F3 Open series were also better - she was sixth and seventh. She was driving for Emilio de Villota’s team, as she had for the 2012 Winter Series.

Late in 2013, she tested for the Auto GP series, at Jerez. 

During the winter season, Tatiana went back to America, and raced in the Florida Winter Series, a Formula Renault championship run by the Ferrari Driver Academy. She began very well, with a win at Sebring, but her performance tailed off towards the end, averaging sixth place. Not long after, she decamped to Europe again, and took part in one race of the Euroformula Open Winter Series, finishing fourth for the Emilio de Villota team.

The main part of the season was spent in the European Formula 3 Championship, with Jo Zeller Racing. It was an abrupt decision to sign with the team, just days before the start of the season. This left no time for testing. She did not get the best of starts in the first meeting, at Silverstone, finishing a lowly 23rd in her first race. Towards the middle of the season, her results began to improve, and she was fifth at Spa in June. She managed seven more top-ten finishes, and was 15th in the championship. 

At the end of the season, she got herself an entry in to the Macau Grand Prix. There have been virtually no female drivers in the single-seater event there, prior to Tatiana. She was thirteenth, from 16th on the grid, in a challenging race with a lot of high-profile retirements. 

In 2015, she returned to the European Formula 3 championship, with the Jagonya Ayam Carlin team. For the first part of the season, it was an uphill struggle, and driving standards by all participants were called into question. Tatiana picked up some speed at the Norisring, getting up to twelfth place, and she repeated this at Zandvoort. She was unplaced in the championship.

During the 2015-2016 Winter season, she had a try at the MRF Challenge in the Gulf states. She was second in her second race, at Yas Marina, and won one race, at Dubai. She was second in the championship. 

She drove in GP3 for Arden International in 2016, and scored her first GP3 top ten, a ninth and tenth at Hockenheim. However, several DNFs at the end of the season broke up her rhythm, which she found very disappointing. She was 21st in the championship. 

Driving for another team, Teo Martin Motorsport, she also tackled the 2016 Euroformula Open. She was almost always in the top ten, and got onto the podium at the Red Bull Ring, in third place. She was ninth in the championship. 

In March 2017, Tatiana was announced as a development driver for the Sauber Formula One team. She undertook testing duties and simulator work. Her Sauber role ran in tandem with another GP3 season, with the DAMS team. It took a while for the team to get their cars running well, but Tatiana was the second-best of the team, with a seventh and a ninth, at Monza and Jerez. She was 18th in the championship.

At the end of the season, she made a guest appearance at the last-ever World Series Formula V8 meeting, held at Bahrain. She was fifth and third, despite never having driven the car before.

2018 was a mixed year. She continued to be affiliated with Sauber and made two appearances in a Formula 1 car, both demonstration runs, one in Mexico and one at Sauber's Fiorano track. Her GP3 season with Jenzer Motorsport was somewhat lacklustre; she became a consistent top-ten finisher towards the end of the season but never challenged for podiums, despite setting some good times in practice and qualifying. She was 16th in the championship.

Towards the end of the year she became involved with 2017-18 Formula E champions Techeetah. Initially, she was brought in for the women drivers' test day organised by the Saudi motorsport authorities, but she was invited back for official testing after the Marrakech race and set the second-fastest time of all the rookie drivers.

She raced in Formula 2 in 2019 with the Arden team, supported by BWT. She was the first female driver to take part in the revived championship and she started well enough with a thirteenth place in Bahrain. At Paul Ricard, she almost got into the top ten, but she was off the pace of her team-mate Anthoine Hubert. She was also affected when Hubert was killed in an accident at Spa. 

She was 22nd in the championship and it was unclear whether she would get another season. She was quietly dropped by the team.

At the end of 2019, she signed up for the Asian Formula 3 championship, driving for Seven GP. She was unable to finish the first race but was fourth in the second.

In 2020, she was meant to be one of an all-female driving squad for IMSA, driving a Grasser Racing Lamborghini with Katherine Legge and Christina Nielsen. The team lost its funding and only appeared at Daytona, where the car did not finish. 

After the Grasser attempt concluded, she was not finished with sportscar racing. Watchmaker Richard Mille was putting together an all-female LMP2 squad, backed by the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission, and Tatiana was quickly signed. The original line-up was Tatiana, Katherine and Sophia Floersch, but Katherine was injured and Sophia was unable to make all the rounds due to other commitments. Andre Negrao filled in at the start, but Beitske Visser was drafted in after the first round. Only Tatiana did all the races. Her best result was a class fifth at Paul Ricard, but her biggest achievement was probably Le Mans itself, where she helped steer the car to 13th place and ninth in the LMP2 class.

Back in single-seaters, she joined the Drago Corse team for the Japanese Super Formula championship, the first female driver to do so for many years. It was a difficult season and she had to miss two of the seven races. Her best results were two twelfth places at Motegi and Suzuka.

A second season in Super Formula was cut to four rounds. Her best race was the first round at Fuji, in which she was thirteenth. She finished two of her other three races but was not hugely competitive, partly due to a lack of seat time and testing.

Tatiana was also retained by the Richard Mille team and did five of the six races in the WEC LMP2 Endurance Trophy. The team did not finish Le Mans after crashing, but they made the finish at the other four in which Tatiana participated. Her best finish was sixth at Portimao.

At the end of 2021, she was announced as the AJ Foyt Enterprises' newest team member for the 2022 Indycar season. Sheplanned race on the road and street courses.

Her Indycar season began with a 24th place at St Petersburg, then a better 16th place at Long Beach. Ironically Indianapolis was her best result of the year: 15th. Sadly, her funding ran out at the end of July and she had to leave the championship. 

More fortunately, a Formula 2 seat became vacant at Charouz Racing System when the injured Cem Bolukbasi had to pull out. Tatiana did the last eight races of the season, although she only finished half of them. Her best finishes were two 18th places at Spa and Yas Marina.

In 2023, she returned to sportscars, joining Team Virage for the European Le Mans Series. Their car was an Oreca LMP2 and Tatiana's usual team-mates were Alexander Mattschull and Ian Rodriguez. Their best finish was fifth in class at Spa and Tatiana was 16th in the LMP2 championship. At the start of 2024, she joined the Gradient team for IMSA, alongside Katherine Legge and Sheena Monk. 

(Image from www.thegrid.co.uk) 

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Michela Cerruti

Michela on the podium, at Monza, in 2013

Michela is a multi-talented Italian driver, who competes in several different disciplines, sometimes almost simultaneously.

As with many female drivers, she got her start in motorsport rather late, at 19, when she began taking performance driving instruction in 2006. As a child and teenager, her main sporting interest was skiing, rather than motorsport, although her father, Aldo, was a racing driver in the 1970s. However, she was soon bitten by the bug, and wanted to compete herself.

She began her career in earnest in touring cars in 2008, in an Alfa Romeo 147. She drove in some rounds of the Campionato Italiano Touring Endurance, with Mario Ferraris, who had been her driving instructor previously. Her best overall result seems to have been a 19th place, at Adria.

In 2009, she returned to the series, or part of it, at least, in a more powerful Fiat 500 Abarth, which she had helped to develop with the Ferraris team. She and Mario were tenth in Division Two, having scored four class wins. They were 29th in the overall CITE championship. Michela’s best overall finish was tenth, at Misano.

In 2010, she made the jump up to the mainly Italian-based International Superstars touring car series, driving a Mercedes supported by the Ferraris team. This was a big step up into international competition, against very experienced opponents, such as Fabrizio Giovanardi and and Johnny Herbert. She struggled somewhat at first, finishing near the back or not finishing at all. However, her form improved, and her best finish was seventh, at Varano, near the end of the season. She also scored two tenth places, at Kyalami and Mugello, in the second half of the year. She was 30th in the final standings.

In addition to this, she tried GT racing in the Italian GT Cup, still with Ferraris. Her car was a Ferrari 430. The learning curve was shorter here, and she was fifth and seventh in her first two races, at Varano. At Vallelunga, the next meeting, she scored her first podium finish, a third. Later in the season, she was fifth and third again, at Mugello. She was fourteenth in the championship, ahead of her team-mate, Francesca Linossi.

In 2011, she concentrated on the Italian and International Superstars series in an AMG Mercedes. At the first meeting, at Monza, she grabbed attention by finishing second in her first race, then winning the second. She was in the top ten again at Valencia and Algarve, but was unable to match her home race form. However, her improved performances gave her ninth in the International series, and eighth in the Italian standings. As well as this, she found time for a couple of CITE races, in another Mercedes.

In 2012, she was an extremely busy driver, moving into single-seaters as well as GT cars. During the early part of the season, she decamped to New Zealand for the Toyota Racing Series, a single-seater championship. Although she had almost no single-seater experience, she did not disgrace herself, managing three top-ten finishes: tenth places at Teretonga and Hampton Downs. At the end of February, she was 16th, and it was now time to move back to Europe.

She continued to shine in the GT3 division of the Italian GT Championship, with one win and three podiums in a BMW Z4. By now, she was driving as an official BMW Italy driver. Her win came at Mugello, and she scored additional podiums at Misano and Mugello. She was tenth in the championship. She drove the same car in the Spa round of the Blancpain Endurance Championship, and was 19th overall.

Later, she competed in Formula Three in Europe, combining drives in the German (ATS Cup) series and the Euro F3 Open. Lacking in top-level experience in this sort of car, she was somewhat less competitive in a big single-seater. She did the second half of the German championship, with best finishes of ninth, at the Nürburgring, Lausitz and Hockenheim, and was consistently around tenth place. For the first half of the season, she raced in the Cup class of the Euro F3 Open, which was considerably more difficult. She was usually near the back of the main field, but got up to tenth in class at Algarve.

If this was not enough, she also made guest appearances in the Mini Rushour one-make cup, as an official Mini guest driver.

She maintained this busy schedule in 2013. The Italian GT series was a success, with a win and a second at Imola, and a third at Mugello, in the Z4. This was the first win for a female driver in the championship, which is remarkable, considering the female sportscar racing greats who have raced in Italy. She was eighth overall. In the same car, she also did the Blancpain Endurance championship, with a best finish of second, in the last race, at the Nürburgring. She was ninth in the GT3 Pro-Am Cup. She was also sixth at Paul Ricard.

On the single-seater side, she contested the FIA European F3 Championship, but was far less competitive, with a best finish of only 18th place, at the Norisring. She did not run in all of the races, suffered a DNF at Monza and was unplaced in the championship.

She also found time to travel to Bahrain for two rounds of Formula Middle East, giving her two thirds. Later, she went to Moscow, for a guest appearance in a Megane Eurocup race. She also went to Brno and the Nürburgring, for guest spots in Auto GP. The German round was better, giving her a ninth and eighth place.

In 2014, she put together a deal to race in Auto GP with the Supernova team. This proved to be a good move. She was on the pace straight away, with a fourth and fifth in Marrakech. At Monza, she scored her first podium, a third place, and at Imola, her first win. She was sixth in the championship, after another third at the Red Bull Ring.

Part-way through the season, she was announced as a driver in the FIA Formula E championship, for electric-powered single-seaters. She was driving for the Trulli team, alongside Jarno Trulli. Unfortunately, she was less competitive in Formula E than in Auto GP, with a best finish of twelfth, at Punto del Este. She was replaced in the team after the fourth round.

The rest of her 2015 season was spent hopping between the VLN, and guest spots in several different one-make series. Driving a works-supported Z4 in the VLN, she won her class twice, but did not feature highly in the championship's complex final leaderboard. She finished the Nürburgring 24 Hours, driving the Z4 with John Edwards, Daniel Keilwitz and Felipe Fernandez Laser. They were sixth overall. 

The Z4 also came out for a guest spot in the Italian GT championship, at Monza, where Michela was ninth and eleventh. The following month, she travelled to the UK for the Brands Hatch round of the NASCAR Whelen Euroseries, but she could only manage one 20th place. Back at the Nürburgring, she took guest spots in the Renault Sport Trophy, finishing eighth and fourth, and a trip to the Red Bull Ring gave her eighth and tenth place in the SEAT Leon Supercopa. 

She competed in the TCR International touring car series in 2016, driving an Alfa Romeo Giulietta for Mulsanne Racing. She missed some races mid-season, and lost some momentum, and it was not one of her most illustrious seasons. Her best finish was ninth, at Oschersleben, and she was 29th in the championship. 

In 2017, she drove the Mulsanne Giulietta in TCR in the Middle East. She took part in the Dubai rounds of the Middle East championship, securing one second place. A few months later, she raced in the International TCR series at Bahrain, and was fourteenth and twelfth. 

She is also involved in the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission. In recent years, she has become a mother and now works in team management.

(Picture from www.michelacerruti.com)