Fabienne Wohlwend

Fabienne Wohlwend is from Liechtenstein and is mostly known for racing in the Ferrari Challenge in Europe.

2016 was her first season of senior motorsport, after eight years of karting. She won two junior karting titles at home in Liechtenstein and also ran well in the Swiss championships.

She raced in Italian Formula 4 in 2016, as Liechtenstein has very few motorsport facilities of its own and no major championships. Switzerland hosts no petrol-powered motorsport at all. She did almost a complete season for Aragon Racing, as a single-car team. Her best finishes were two seventeenth places, at Adria and Vallelunga, and she was unplaced in the championship. At the end of the year, she chalked it all up as experience, describing Formula 4 as a “racing school”.

In 2017, she moved focus from single-seaters to tin-tops and sportscars. One reason for this was that she wished to continue her banking apprenticeship as well as her racing, and single-seaters required more intensive commitment. She was eleventh in the final season of the Audi Sport TT Cup, with four top-ten finishes. The best of these was an eighth place at Hockenheim. This was impressive considering that she had no budget to test the car, relying on track tests in a TCR-spec car and simulator work.

On the sportscar side, she raced in the Ferrari Challenge Europe in a 488, and won a race at Imola. Despite only doing six rounds of the fourteen-round championship, she was sixth overall, due to her four podium finishes. At the end of the year, she was third in the World Final, driving for the Octane 126 team.

Octane 126 retained her services for the 2018 season. She was racing their 488 in the Pirelli Trophy Amateur class of the Ferrari Challenge. The class was dominated by British driver Chris Froggatt, but Fabienne managed to win three times at Misano, from pole each time, and secure seven additional podiums. She was second in the class.  

At the end-of-season world finals, held at Monza, she won the Trofeo Pirelli for amateur drivers outright, leading comfortably from Martin Renaldi Hutasoit.

She was accepted as a driver for the all-female W Series in 2019 and often showed great pace in qualifying which did not always translate to on-track position. She was third at Misano after starting from pole and this was her best finish of the year. She was sixth in the championship.

As well as W Series, she continued in the Ferrari Challenge in 2019. Her best finish during her Trofeo Pirelli Europe part-season was a fifth place at Imola, and she was fourth in the World Finals at Mugello.

Branching out further, she also entered a round of the VLN at the Nurburgring in a BMW, although she did not finish.

In 2020, she wanted to continue her double-headed attack on W Series and the Ferrari Challenge, but the ongoing coronavirus crisis meant that W Series was cancellled. Some possible races in the Formula Renault Eurocup were also shelved.

The Ferrari Challenge went ahead and she was one of the leading Trofeo Pirelli drivers from the start, finishing third at Imola. Even after missing the last four races due to car damage, she was second in the Trofeo, with five seconds and three thirds.

Despite her previous success, she left the Ferrari behind in 2021, racing in W Series and in the NLS (previously VLN). Her W Series season was inconsistent but generally positive, with a third at the Red Bull Ring and a second at Silverstone as her highlights. She was sixth overall and retains her place in the 2022 championship, should she choose to take it.

Her first NLS experience was in April, when she joined the Adrenalin Motorsport/Alzer team in their BMW G20. She was fourth and third in class in the first two rounds of the series. In June, she returned to the Nurburgring for the 24 Hour race, driving a BMW F30 for Giti Tyre Motorsport and sharing it with Nicolaj Kandborg, Niklas Kry and Tobias Wolf. They were ninth in their class.

Another visit to the Nurburgring followed in 2022, driving for the Gti Tyre/WS Racing Girls Only Team in the 24 Hours. The car was a BMW M4, shared with Carrie Schreiner, Pippa Mann and Celia Martin. They were third in their class, 35th overall.

Fabienne drove a CortDAO-branded car in W Series and had an inconsistent year, with a fourth place at Silverstone as her highlight. She was tenth in the championship. The season was shortened due to financial troubles and it is unclear whether it would run again, or whether Fabienne will take part.

At the end of the year, she travelled to India for the Indian Racing League, driving for the Godspeed Kochi team. The series used street circuits and a motorcycle-engined single-seater. The first round was cancelled due to problems with the track itself and with the cars, and the rest of the championship suffered many other issues, but Fabienne was the best of the female drivers and helped Godspeed Kochi to the teams' championship. Her best overall finishes were two second places at Chennai. 

She spent most of 2023 in the ADAC GT4 series, racing an Aston Martin Vantage with Celia Martin for the PROSport team. It was a fairly challenging season for them and they were 34th in the championship. Sachsenring was their best race and they were twelfth overall.

The was no W Series in 2023 due to its financial collapse, but Fabienne was able to revisit some of her other regular outings. She rejoined the Girls Only team for the Nurburgring 24 Hours, finishing in 81st place in a BMW with Celia, Beitske Visser and Pippa Mann. She also entered a round of the NLS with them. During the winter season, she raced in India again, going back to the Godspeed Kochi team. She shared a car with Ruhaan Alva but did not finish any of her own races.

Fabienne still worked part-time in banking to help fund her sporting activities until 2019.

(Image from motorsport.com)