Rachele Somaschini

Rachele at the 2018 Monza Rally Show

Rachele Somaschini is a race and rally driver from Italy, who drives a Mini. She is the first driver with cystic fibrosis to take part in a World Championship rally.

She started competing in 2012, when she was 18, using a historic Alfa Romeo that belonged to her father. Her first events were hillclimbs.

In 2015, she began racing a BMW Mini, competing in the Italian Hillclimb championship.

In 2016 she took on the Mini Cooper Challenge on the track, and various Italian rallies. She won her class in the Mini Challenge and in the Italian hillclimb series. In rallies, she scored five class wins in Rally Show-type events, with a best overall finish of 22nd (out of 46), at the Motors Rally Show Pavia.

She teamed up with experienced co-driver Alessandra Benedetti in 2017, for more rally shows. Together they tried out a Peugeot 207 S2000 car as well as the Mini.

In 2018, she tackled the Sanremo Rally in a Peugeot 208 R2, finishing 30th. She also drove the Mini and a Citroen DS3 during the year, winning her class at the Adriatico and Due Valli events in the Citroen. It was in this car that she she scored a ninth place in the Tandalo-Vetture Rally, a single-stage hill-based event on gravel. Her first run in an R5 car was at the Monza Rally Show in December, where she was 70th overall in a Peugeot 208 T16..

Her first WRC rally was the 2019 Monte. She was classified 63rd overall in a Citroen DS3 R3T after a solid run, although only the top 56 finishers were permitted to take on the final stages.

She was invited to take part in the W Series all-female Formula 3 championship in 2019, but declined due to worries over her health and a desire to carry on with rallies, which she did throughout the year. She mostly used the DS3 and it was in this car that she had her best result: fifteenth in the Targa Florio Rally. She ended the year the ACI Italian ladies' champion and fourth in the Italian 2WD championship.

Late in the season, she tried R5 power for the first time, driving a Skoda Fabia at the Monza Rallyshow. She was 47th, against some highly experienced WRC drivers.

The 2020 season was shortened due to coronavirus, but Rachele remained busy despite her vulnerability. She entered the Monte again in her DS3 and was 61st overall. At the end of the season she took part in a second WRC rally, the Rally Monza, finishing in 42nd place out of 71 finishers. Her car this time was a Citroen C3 R5.

Most of her rallying was in Italy, but she also travelled to Latvia for the Rally Liepaja, an ERC round. She was meant to compete in the Rally of Hungary in a Renault Clio, but had to pull out due to an arm injury. Her other ERC outing was the Rally di Roma Capitale, in which she was 58th, driving a Rally4-spec Peugeot 208, the same car she used in Latvia. 

A packed schedule in 2021 led to an Italian Ladies' championship in the Citroen, with many credible performances along the way. She began the year with a 14th in the Rallye Terra Valle del Tevere, the first of seven top-twenty finishes in stage rallies for her. Her best finish of these was ninth in the Rally of Sardinia and she followed it with eleventh in the San Marino Rally. She did two ERC events, the Rally di Roma Capitale and her first run in the Azores Rally, in which she was 22nd after having to rejoin under SuperRally rules. Her second WRC Rally Monza ended with a 32nd place finish (out of 67).

Her best result of the year was in the Tandalo Vetturi single-stage rally, in which she had previously run well. She was second overall.

2022 was another busy year, with ERC, Italian and TER Italian championship rallies in the Citroen. After a bad ERC start, losing a wheel in the Serras de Fafe Rally in Portugal, but she was then 22nd in the Azores (from 42 finishers) and 16th in the Canary Islands, from 79. This was followed by some domestic success: tenth in the Rally Valle d'Aosta and twelfth in the San Marino Rally. Her best rally result was a fifth place in the Rally Terra Sarda, although she was also fourth in the Memorial Nicolo Imperio-Vetture event, a rallysprint.

Health problems prevented Rachele from entering all the rallies she wanted to in 2023, but it was still a busy season for her. She was the leading female driver in the TER championship, with a best finish of eleventh overall, driving the DS3 in the Rally Terra Valle de Tevere. She also secured an Italian ladies' title and was ninth in the Promotional class of the Italian rally championship with four top-twenty finishes, including 15th place in the Sanremo Rally. Another ERC season led to finishes in the Rally di Roma Capitale, Rally of Scandinavia, Poland, Canary Islands and Portuguese rallies. The best of these were Roma and Scandinavia (held in Sweden), where she was 24th overall both times. 

Rachele uses her rallying as a way of raising awareness for cystic fibrosis, fronting a campaign called “Correre Per Un Respiro” (Racing For A Breath). She maintains her health and fitness through regular sessions with a specialist personal trainer, as well as the home- and hospital-based therapies used by many people with CF. In 2021, she began treatment with a new drug regime which may allow her to live more normally.

(Image from https://motorsport.motorionline.com)