Laura Kraihamer

Laura Kraihamer is an Austrian driver who races a KTM X-Bow around Europe.

Her first season was 2012, and she was twelfth in the Rookie standings of the KTM X-Bow Battle series, with best finishes of sixth place. This is a one-make championship for KTM’s lightweight sportscar.

Despite running a full season in 2013, and maintaining her best finish, she was only 23rd in the X-Bow Battle.

In 2014, she was a much improved driver. She was second in the Sprint standings of the championship, with one win and four second places. Driving with Uwe Schmidt, she won the Endurance class of the X-Bow championship.

This year, she started to explore her options and tested cars for the FIA GT3 series and the VLN. She drove a BMW Z4 at the Nordschleife but it would not be for a couple of years that she actually competed there.

In 2015, she was part of a televised challenge, the "Race to 24", for drivers competing for a race seat in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2016. Twenty-four aspiring racers took part. This was in addition to another season in the X-Bow; she was seventh in the Battle series and second in the Endurance championship, with Uwe Schmidt. They were racing as “Team Eat The Ball”.

2016 was another year with KTM, but in the European GT4 Championship. She was eighteenth in the Pro class, after a string of lower top-ten finishes. Her team-mate was Jamie Vandenbalck. She was racing for the Reiter Engineering team and they also entered her in three rounds of the X-Bow Battle series. She was second once and third once and was the best of six Reiter drivers.

She had another season in the European GT4 championship in 2017, driving the X-Bow for the Reiter team. Her car was the best-performing Reiter entry, with third places at the Red Bull Ring and the Nürburgring. She was thirteenth in the championship.

She was also thirteenth in the X-Bow Battle series. She helped her team to seventh in the Team standings.

In 2018, she contested another European GT4 Championship with Team True, another KTM/Reiter-affiliated team. She shared her car with Reinhard Kofler. Overall, she secured one eighth place, at Zolder. She was 30th and 26th at Brands Hatch and did not finish the first Zolder race. Her best results came at the Red Bull Ring in the Central European GR4 Cup: a second and third in the Pro-Am class.

Team True also entered a car in the 2018 Nürburgring 24 Hours. Laura was part of an all-female team in an X-Bow, with Naomi Schiff, Rahel Frey and Lena Strycek. They finished in 39th place, second in the Cup X class.

True entered the ADAC GT4 championship in 2020, with Laura and Reinhard Kofler as its driver pair. It was a season of highs and lows, with an outright win at Oschersleben the biggest highlight. Unreliability issues meant that Laura was unable to maintain her momentum, although she did manage a third at Zandvoort. She was tenth in the championship.

A different True team was ninth in the 24 Hours of Catalunya, but the X-Bow did not get to the end of the Nurburgring 24 Hours. Laura joined Carrie Schreiner in the Girls Only Volkswagen Golf for a round of the VLN mid-season and finished second in class.

2020 was a difficult season with very few championships running full programmes, but Laura managed to compete in most of the VLN. She did three rounds with the Girls Only team, finishing second in class at the first round. She also formed part of the female-only team for the Nurburgring 24 Hours. The car spent a lot of time in the pits and the race was stopped temporarily during the night because of heavy rain, but she helped the three-woman team to a class third.

When she wasn't with Girls Only, she represented KTM at the Nurburgring for the fourth round of the VLN. She and her team-mate Reinhard Kofler were second in the KTM X-Bow Cup.

Laura's X-Bow made a couple of appearances in the DTM Trophy at Lausitz, finishing 16th and 18th, before she moved on to the 24H Series double six-hour race at Monza. This time she was driving a KTM GTX concept car with Eike Angermayr and Stefan Rosina. They won the first race outright and had hopes of an overall win, but a series of problems dropped them to 16th in the second part, third in class.

Branching out, Laura accepted a couple of guest drives for the Engstler Hyundai team in the German TCR championship. She was sixth and eighth at Lausitz.

True Racing entered Laura into the whole DTM Trophy in 2021, driving the new X-Bow. It was not one of her strongest years, although better than her DTM debut. She had a best finish of ninth at the Red Bull Ring and a good finishing record, but ended the season in 20th.

Teichmann Racing ran her in the X-Bow in one NLS race and the Nurburgring 24 Hours. She did not finish the former, but was seventh in the Cup X class in the latter, 75th overall.

At the end of the season she tried something completely new, assisted by a new sponsor. She raced a Mercedes 300SL Gull Wing at the Goodwood Members' Meeting, finishing 23rd in the Moss Trophy.

A shorter season followed for Laura in 2022. She began the year with True Racing in the Fanatec GT2 European Series, in the X-Bow GT2 concept car. She and Kris Rosenberger were seventh and sixth at Imola, but a pair of DNFs in the next round at the Red Bull Ring signalled the end of their involvement.

Driving a different X-Bow, she entered the Nurburgring 24 Hours with the Teichmann team. Despite troubles during the night, they won the CupX class and were 58th overall.

Laura is from a motorsport family; her brother Dominik also races sportscars.

She has an official FIA ranking of Silver.

(Image copyright european.gt4series.com)

Carrie Schreiner

Carrie Schreiner started racing GT cars in 2017, after some years of single-seater racing. She won the Pro-Am class of the Middle East Lamborghini Super Trofeo in early 2018.

Carrie is a former karter with two German championships under her belt. She took her first steps in senior motorsport when she tested a Formula 4 car in the UK at the end of 2014, with a view to competing in the Winter Series. She did not take up the drive.

In 2015, she raced in the German ADAC Formula 4 championship. Her best results were two 15th places, at Hockenheim and Oschersleben. She was 44th in the championship, and was the best of the three female drivers taking part this year.

She managed to race in both British and German F4 in 2016, performing much better in the UK. She managed one fourth place, at Thruxton, and two other top-tens, leaving her 17th in the championship. Her team in the UK was Double R Racing.

She struggled in the German series. She only managed to get in the top twenty at Hockenheim, in the last meeting of the season, and was unplaced in the championship.

In 2017, she switched from small single-seaters to big sportscars, spending much of the year racing a Lamborghini Huracan in the European and Asian Super Trofeo. She was second in the Pro division of the Middle East championship, driving for the FFF Lamborghini Squadra Corse with Richard Goddard. Their best overall finishes were two fifth places at Chang.

In the European Trofeo, she drove for Konrad Motorsport, competing in both the Pro and Am classes at different times. Her Pro drives were at Silverstone and yielded a sixth and seventh place. Later, she drove as an amateur in the Nürburgring and Spa rounds, scoring a fifth place in each.

She drove for FFF in the World Finals, and finished ninth and eighth in the Am class, with one fastest lap.

Back home, she also tried out an Audi R8 LMS in the DMV Gran Turismo Touring Car Cup. She was third in her second race at Hockenheim.

For 2018, she switched to the Konrad team for the Middle East Lamborghini Trofeo, driving with Axcil Jeffries who had been her rival in 2017. It was a good partnership; Carrie ended the winter season as the Pro-Am champion, with three wins and two second places. Her best overall results were two second places, at Dubai and Yas Marina. Pro-Am is the biggest class in the championship.

She also returned the Audi R8 and the DMV Cup, racing in Class 1. The first two rounds at Hockenheim gave her a third and her first win in the series. The second races of the season were held at Dijon and she scored another win and a second place with co-driver Kevin Arnold. Her wins came from pole positions and she set fastest laps in the process.

In 2018, she was also announced as an official member of the Lamborghini junior racing squad. She contested the 2018 European Super Trofeo with Konrad, picking up a best finish of fourth at Vallelunga. Earlier in the year, she had entered the Middle East Trofeo, winning the Pro-Am class three times on the way to a class championship.

Despite her Lamborghini involvement, much of 2018 was spent in the DMV Gran Turismo Touring Car Cup, based in Germany. Carrie drove an Audi R8 with Fabian Plentz and won Class 1 outright, scoring victories in four races and only finishing off the podium once.

Carrie decided against qualifying for the 2019 W Series to concentrate on racing in the VLN with an all-female team, Girls Only. This endeavour included female mechanics, managers and media reps. The WS Racing Girls Only Volkswagen Golf did two rounds of the VLN, driven by Carrie, with either Jasmin Preisig and Ronja Assmann or Laura Kraihamer and Petra Baecker. They earned two second places in the SP3T class but did not finish the Nurburgring 24 Hours due to mechanical problems.

The rest of Carrie's year was spent racing an Audi R8 again. She did most of the ADAC GT Masters with Dennis Marschall, picking up a third place at Hockenheim during a somewhat difficult season. They were 24th overall. Driving solo in the same HCB Rutronik-run car, Carrie fared better in the DMV Dunlop 60 championship, finishing fifth from pole in her first race at Hockenheim, her first of four top-five finishes. Later in the season she switched to the GT Touring Car Cup which is part of the same championship with Marco Seefried. They were second at Hockenheim and fourth twice at Zolder.

Girls Only raced again in 2020 once the season finally got under way. The three-woman team entered four VLN races and had a best finish of second in class in the first round. They also teamed up for the Nurburgring 24 Hours. Carrie, Laura Kraihamer and Celia Martin faced many problems during the race, including a break for extremely heavy rain, but managed to finish third in class. 

Carrie's VLN season was a double-duty one; she also raced in Girls Only's parent team's Audi R8 with Henrik Bollerslev and Niklas Kry. The team won its class in all four races it entered.

She used an R8 for the ADAC GT Masters but had a frustrating time of it. Partnering Dennis Marschall again, the year started with a pair of non-finishes at Lausitz and the pair could not build up any momentum. Their best results were two eighth places at the Nurburgring and Sachsenring, which were their only top-ten finishes.

Moving into a different car completely, Carrie finished her year on a higher note in the Mugello 24H Series race. This was a double six-hour race and she was driving a Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for PROsport Racing. She and her two team-mates were second in class in both parts, finishing thirteenth overall both times.

The Girls Only R8 ran better in the 2021 Nurburgring 24 Hours, winning the SP8 class with Carrie as team leader. The other drivers were Pippa Mann, Celia Martin and Christina Nielsen. They were 45th overall. Carrie and Celia also won their class driving together in one round of the NLS. In a completely different team, Carrie drove a Ferrari 488 GT3 in another two NLS races. This was in the FIA Pro-Am class and she managed one third and one fourth place.

Italy featured heavily in the rest of her season; she was racing the Ferrari for AF Corse in the Italian GT championship. Her best finish in the Endurance series was a second place at Vallelunga and she was a consistent top-ten finisher. The Sprint series gave her three podiums: a third at Monza and a second and third at Imola. She was fifth in both championships. 

Carrie continued to run the Girls Only team but did not race in the GT Masters in 2022. That said, she was extremely successful. She spent most of the year in the Porsche Cup Germany, driving a 992 with Lars Joosten. They won their class and finished third overall in the championship. She also raced in the GTC Race series for GT cars, in the GT60 one-hour enduros. For some of the season, she was partnered by David Schumacher. Although she crashed during the last race, she still won the GT3 title.

The Girls Only team came out for the Nurburgring 24 Hours again, with Carrie leading a four-woman squad. They were 35th overall and won their class in their BMW. The race was a one-off; Carrie drove with Peter Terting in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 for the main NLS season. They had a best finish of fourth overall, third in the GT3 class. She joined the NLS again in a BMW for two of the 2024 races, sharing with Walkenhorst's Christian Bollrath and Charles Weerts.

In a surprise move, Carrie switched back to single-seaters for 2023. She was signed by ART Grand Prix for the all-female F1 Academy series, which uses F4 cars. Despite an indifferent start to the season, she won the second Zandvoort race at the year's midpoint, from frontrunners Marta Garcia and Lena Buhler. Although she did not get onto the podium again, she was stronger in the second half of the season and finished eleventh overall. She re-signed for 2024, this time for the Campos team, running as the Sauber F1 squad's supported driver. This will be her last year in F1 Academy as she is already 25, the maximum age allowed.

She also entered the UAE F4 championship at the beginning of 2024, driving for AGI Sport,

(Image copyright Carrie Schreiner)

Female Drivers in Touring Cars: Canada

Stephanie Ruys de Perez

Female drivers have been a regular fixture in the Canadian Touring Car Championship during the past few years. Canada has produced a number of other women racers such as Monique Proulx, but it is the CTCC that seems to be their favoured destination at the moment.

Demi Chalkias - Canadian driver who competes in the Pirelli GT Sprint championship. She won the GT4 class of the series in 2018, driving a BMW E36. She has also competed in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in the same car, winning races at Mosport, Shannonville and Calabogie. In 2020, she won a CASC-run GT3 series in the BMW, as well as racing in the Nissan Micra Cup. The year after, she won some races in the Canadian Touring Car Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Mercedes-AMG chose her as part of a three-woman team for an endurance race at Buttonwillow in the USA, alongside Cherie Storms and Nicole Havrda. In 2023, she raced a Mercedes with some success in the SCCC GT4 championship. She is from a motorsport background but did not initially try to race herself. She dropped out of a medical degree to work in the automotive world, having been a triathlete earlier in her career.

Crystel Charest - raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2016 and 2017. Her car was a Mini Cooper run by Octane Racing both times. Her best result came in 2016: a fourth place at Trois-Rivieres. Previously, and alongside her CTCC events, she raced the Mini in the Super Production Challenge in Canada. She was a career-best sixth in the 2017 championship, after an eleventh place in 2016 and twelfth in 2015. She only managed one appearance in the series in 2018, at Trois-Rivieres. She did not finish the first race and could not start the second. In 2022, she reappeared in the Mini for the Canadian Super Production Challenge Series. Crystel has been working as a dentist in Quebec since 1992.

Marie-France Gagné – raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2014. She drove a Mini Cooper in the Touring class. It was her first season in the series, and she acquitted herself well, with a best finish of sixth, and tenth in the 22-driver Touring class. She was competing with her husband, Éric Lacouture, as a team-mate. They are both dentists.

Nathalie Hénault – raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2014, after several years of regional and club competition. She was racing in the Super class, and her car was a Subaru WRX. Right from the first round, she was on the pace, finishing eighth. Her best finishes were a pair of third places, both at Calabogie. She was fifth in the championship, and probably would have been higher without a string of DNFs near the end of the season. A second season of the CTCC ended quite similarly in 2015; Nathalie was more consistent, and had a better finishing record, and was fifth again, with a best finish of fifth at Shannonville. Her car was the Impreza. She raced in the Subaru in at least some rounds of the GT Challenge in 2016. In 2017, she was third in the Super Touring class of the CTCC, driving the Impreza. She scored two seconds and two third places.

Marie-Soleil Labelle - races in the Nissan Micra Cup in Canada. 2020 was her first season of competition and she is the championship’s youngest ever entrant, aged 16. Her best result so far has been fifteenth at Calabogie at the end of August. She was 21st in the championship. In 2021, she was 23rd overall in the Nissan championship, eleventh in the Micra class. This improved to third overall in 2022, with three third places. She moved up to the Sentra one-make championship in 2023. Before switching to cars, she raced karts in Canada up to international level. She intended to race single-seaters and was on a development deal to race a Formula Renault in Europe in 2021, taking part in the Ultimate Cup.

Nicole Martin-Favreau - Quebecois driver who raced in Canada in the 1960s and possibly into the early 1970s. She mostly raced in the sedan categories, often against Francois Favreau, whom she married in 1966. Her cars included a Lotus Cortina and a Shelby Mustang which she used in Production Sports races in 1965. The Cortina was probably her most successful car and she raced it from 1966 onwards. Among her results were a fourth and fifth place at Mont-Tremblant in the 1967 Quebec Group B Sedan series. She started an all-female racing team in 1968, in the Quebec Formula B single-seater championship, although details of this are hard to find.

Lindsay Rice - raced in the CTCC in 2017. She scored two fifth places in the GT Sport class at Mosport, but the rest of her part-season was affected by a string of DNFs and a non-start. She had attempted to make her CTCC debut at Trois-Rivieres in 2016, but was unable to start. Her usual car is a Porsche 911, which she also used in club racing in 2016. She was more successful there. As well as racing the Porsche, she did some Nissan Micra Cup races in 2016, at Mosport. In 2018, she drove a different car, an Audi RS3 LMS, but only entered one race at Mosport, finishing sixth. She completed most of the 2019 championship in the Audi, finishing fifth in the TCR class with five top-tens, the best of these being a fifth at Calabogie. Lindsay does not have a motorsport background and did not start competing until she was in her mid-twenties.

Stephanie Ruys de Perez – raced saloons in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1972, she was fourteenth in the Sanair Trans-Am race, in a Mini Cooper. She is best known for racing for the Comstock team, one of the first commercially sponsored racing teams. She also raced a Sunbeam Imp in 1966. Among her other cars was a Chevrolet Camaro. More detailed information about her career is not forthcoming, although she was quite famous at the time, appearing on TV adverts.

Ashley Sahakian - raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2017. This was her rookie year in the series. She drove a Ford Mustang and was fourth in the GT Sport class, two places below her team-mate and brother, Chris Sahakian. Ashley’s best finish was third, at Mirabel. She made some more appearances in the Mustang in 2018, earning a best finish of seventh at Mirabel. Prior to the CTCC, she did part-seasons in the Nissan Micra Cup in 2015 and 2016. She was not among the front-runners but did improve in her second year. As well as motor racing, she plays football and is a former model.

(Image copyright Getty Images)

Andrea Robertson

Andrea (left) with her Robertson Racing team-mates at Le Mans in 2011

Andrea Robertson is an American driver who raced at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2011, driving a Ford GT-R MkVIII. Between 2007 and 2011, she also raced in the American Le Mans Series.

She had been a motorsport fan from a young age and was a regular at her local drag strip, where Shirley Muldowney was among the drivers she watched.

Her career path was based around aviation. She worked as an air traffic controller and met David Robertson, a pilot. They were a couple for many years before they married in 2004.

In 2007, Andrea entered three rounds of the American Le Mans Series in a Robertson Racing Panoz Esperante. Her only finish was a 23rd place at Laguna Seca. Her usual team-mates were her husband David and David Murry. The couple teamed up with Arie Luyendyk Jr for the Sebring 12 Hours but the car’s engine failed after 64 laps.

This was both Robertsons’ first foray into international-level sportscar racing. Andrea had won two local SCCA championships for Ford cars (Spec Racer) between 1999 and 2003, but had never done anything above SCCA level. They ran a team with no official manufacturer assistance. Dick Barbour did provide some help in the early stages.

In 2008, the team went back to Ford power and were now equipped with a GT-R. The car had been developed by Kevin Doran and worked on by the Robertson team themselves. They took on eight rounds. Their best finish was 19th at Detroit, although their finishing record was much improved with only three non-finishes. They were rather down on pace, but improving slowly.

In 2009 and 2010, the same team continued to drive in the ALMS, still in the Ford. 2009 started with their best Sebring run ever. The Robertsons and Murry were fourteenth overall and seventh in class. They were then eleventh at St Petersburg. The Road America race was also a good showing for them; they were 15th and within five laps of the winners. At the end of the season, Andrea did her first overseas race, entering the Okayama round of the Asian Le Mans Series in Japan.

2010 was a slightly shorter season but the team continued to put in solid results. The best of these was a 22nd place in the Sebring 12 Hours.

In 2011, Andrea drove at Le Mans, and was third in the GTE Am class. Andrea and David’s finish was a first for a husband and wife team and proved popular. They were 26th overall.

The team also entered the American Le Mans Series, and was 20th in the GT class after six races.

The Ford GT was retired after the 2011 season. Andrea also retired from driving duties. Between then and 2016, the team ran cars for other drivers in the ALMS and in local championships.

(Image from crash.net)