Women Drivers in National Sportscar Racing: the Nordic countries

Heidi Frydenhaug

This post consists mainly of entries split off from the Women Drivers in National Sportscar Racing post. The Nordic countries have produced several women drivers for their domestic sportscar series in recent years, both in one-make championships like the Ginetta Cup, and in the popular Thundersports category.

Jenna Brorsson - Swedish sportscar driver. The Porsche Carrera Cup of Scandinavia was her home in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. She came seventh in 2004, despite only entering four rounds, and sixth in 2005. After a break in 2006, she switched to the Swedish Ginetta Cup in a G20, winning a race in 2007 and coming third in the championship. Although she could not repeat her race win in 2008, she was never out of the top ten, apart from one retirement. Her best finish was third, at Falkenberg, and she was sixth in the championship standings. She also takes part in historic events: her earliest motorsport experiences were in her father's Lotus Cortina, and she competed internationally in a Porsche 962 in 2005. 

Heidi Frydenhaug – Norwegian driver who races in the Danish Thundersports Championship (DTC), in a Ford Mustang. 2016 was her second season in Thundersports; she was 22^nd in the 2015 championship, with a best finish of ninth, at Rudskogen. In 2016, she almost got into the top ten at Rudskogen and Aarhus, but her season was badly affected by a string of DNFs in the middle. She was 23rd overall. She combined Thundersports with the Citroen DS3 Cup in 2017, and was reasonably competitive in the DS3. She finished in the top ten in seven of her ten races, and was eleventh overall. Previously, she raced in the Seven championship in Norway, and was the winner of the Junior Rookie Cup in 2010, at the age of 21. She began her senior racing career in 2009, in the Seven, after ten years of karting. In between racing the Seven and the Mustang, she drove a Renault Clio in the Norwegian GT4 championship.

Linda Johansson - Swedish driver who began her senior racing career in 2005, in the Swedish Renault Junior Cup. She was eleventh overall in a Renault 5. After a break where she returned to karting for a while, she reappeared in 2010, in the Ginetta G20 Cup. She was immediately in the top ten, and had a best finish of sixth, at Kinnekulle. She was eighth overall. Her second G20 season did not go quite so well, with several DNFs and only eleventh in the championship, although she managed to better her top finish to fifth, again at Kinnekulle. Her 2012 season was curtailed due to pregnancy, although she rejoined the G20 championship and posted seven top-ten finishes, including a fourth, at her favoured Kinnekulle track. She was seventh overall, despite missing almost half of the season. In 2013, she raced in the Swedish Clio Cup. Her best finishes were two fifth places, at Karlskoga and Ostersund, and she was normally in the top ten. She was ninth overall. In 2014, she had a very good year in the Clio Cup, with a win at Göteborg, and four other podiums. She was fourth in the championship. She does not appear to have raced in 2015, but she returned in 2016, to contest the Swedish Clio Cup. She was sixteenth in the championship, with a best finish of eighth, at Skovde. Since then, she has raced a CrossCar in the Nordic rallycross championship. 

Kirsi Kangas - has raced Porsches in her native Finland since at least 2011, when she took part in some national-level GT racing in a 997, in the mixed Avon GT and Porsche GT championship. In 2012, she raced in both her club’s Porsche GT Racing Cup, and the Finnish GT3 Cup, in a 997 GT3. She was eleventh in the club cup and sixth in the GT3 Cup, with several seventh places as her best finishes. In 2013, she raced in the GT3 Cup again, which was part of the Finrace championships. She did not do as well as in 2012, partly because the field was much larger this year, and finished fourteenth overall. Her best result was eleventh, at Ahvenisto. She was active in Porsche club motorsport in Finland in 2014, and was quite successful, earning a number of runner-up spots. 

Molly Pettit - Norwegian driver who races a Ford Mustang in Scandinavia. She began in the Norwegian GT championship in 2009, in a Nissan 200SX, which she used for several seasons. After changing it for a Toyota Altezza in 2012, she was second in the GT4 class. In 2013, she switched to stock cars in the Mustang, competing in Thundersports. In her first season, she was eleventh in the Danish championship, with a best finish of seventh, at Padborg, and second in the Norwegian series. In 2014, she continued this arrangement. She was fifteenth in the Danish championship, and made one appearance in the Northern European championship. In 2015, she raced in Danish Thundersports again. However, her season was cut short by a massive accident in the second race. For 2016, she moved into the Danish Supertourisme championship. Her best finish was seventh, at Padborg, and she was fourteenth overall. 2017 panned out in a similar way, with a championship 17th and a best finish of sixth, at Rudskogen. As well as her own racing, she got a job as a TV reporter for the FIA World Rallycross Championship.

(Image copyright HF Racing)