Katarina Kyvalova

Katarina Kyvalova is a German-based Slovakian driver most famous for her exploits in historic racing, at the Goodwood Revival and as part of the Bentley Belles team. She took her first steps in modern motorsport in 2018, in the GT4 European Series.

Katarina has been active in historic motorsport since 2000, starting off in rallies in Germany before switching her focus to circuit racing. She still drives in classic navigational rallies on occasion, usually in a Jaguar E-Type.

On track, her first car was an Austin-Healey 3000 which she raced in the UK and Europe. She has competed at Goodwood, the Silverstone Classic and several VSCC meetings.  

In 2015, she raced the Healey in the Le Mans Legend, and was 37th out of 43 finishers.

She is also part of the “Bentley Belles”, a quartet of female historic racers who drive Bentleys. They teamed up for the first time at the 2014 Benjafields 24 Hour race in Portugal, having only met each other in person the day before. The quartet were twelfth overall, in a Bentley 4 ½, having run as high as fifth. The team is involved in various Bentley-related rallies and races, and were third overall in the 2015 Spa 6 Hours historic race. In their individual cars, they raced in the VSCC Pomeroy Trophy in 2015.

Driving with Nigel Batchelor and others, she entered the 2016 Le Mans Classic in two different cars, the Bentley and a Jaguar XK120. She doubled up in these two cars again in the 2018 Classic, driving solo this time.

In 2017, she raced a Jaguar E-Type, and a Cooper T43 in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy at Goodwood. Goodwood has been one of her happiest hunting grounds; she was ninth in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy at the 2018 Revival in the Cooper. Earlier in the year, she raced this car in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix and was 14th from 26 finishers.

Her modern racing debut was at the wheel of a Mercedes AMG GT4. She raced in the GT4 European Series at Spa with Egidio Perfetti and secured a class third in her first event. She followed this up with a run in the 2019 Dubai 24 Hours, finishing ninth in the GT4 class with Jon Minshaw, Ryan Ratcliffe and Gabriele Piana. Their car was a Mercedes-AMG and they were 33rd overall.

During the 2019 summer season, Katarina got back in her Bentley for the Goodwood Revival, which held a celebratory race for pre-war Bentleys. This was her second Goodwood outing of the year in the car, which she also drove in the Members' Meeting in the spring.

That summer, she spent quite a lot of time racing the E-Type. She was fourth in class in the Spa Six Hours Classic and entered rounds of the Sixties Endurance series at Spa and Dijon. The Cooper came out again for the Greatest and Peter Collins Trophies and she even managed to fit in a couple of events in a Porsche 911.

Her second attempt at the Dubai 24 Hours was cut short by a flooded track, but she had joined up with Ciceley Motorsport in a Mercedes, with Jon Minshaw, Adam Morgan, Jake Giddings and Jack Butel. They were sixth in class when the race was officially stopped at the seven-hour mark.

The 2020 coronavirus crisis limited everyone's opportunity for competition. Katarina's main event was the 10,000 Laps event at Paul Ricard in the Sixties Endurance race. She shared an E-Type with Jon Minshaw and was running seventh overall when the car had to retire with a broken gearbox.

The E-Type came out again for the Spa Six Hours, and she was second in class with Ben Clucas. She was also active in the Cooper T33 at both Goodwood and the Monaco Historic, finishing fifth in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy at Goodwood and fifth in the 1952-1957 sportscar race at Monte Carlo.

It was a similar schedule for 2022, with the Cooper coming out for Monaco and the Goodwood Members' Meeting. She entered the E-Type into the Le Mans Classic but was unable to start.

She raced the Bentley once more at Goodwood in 2023, as well as finishing fifth in class in the E-Type in the Spa Six Hours.

(Image copyright Katarina Kyvalova)