Thursday, 17 May 2018

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)

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