Elisabeth de Fresquet

Elisabeth de Fresquet enjoyed a long rallying career in France in the 1980s and 1990s and won six Coupes des Dames in the Monte Carlo Rally.

She rallied in a series of small cars, including a Trabant. The Trabant drive, on the 1992 Monte Carlo Rally, was in support of Romanian orphans. 

Elisabeth’s rally career did not start until she was almost 30. Her first car was a suitably underpowered Autobianchi A112. The Autobianchi Cup for novice drivers in France was in its second year, and this is how she got her start. The car was almost standard apart from some safety equipment and modifications.

She used it for the Monte in 1979 and 1980 and failed to finish either time. The 1980 event ended in a crash on a road section. She continued to rally the Autobianchi on and off until 1985.

Her best international result was 28th, on the 1987 Tour De Corse. She won class A5 in an Opel Corsa. She was 21st in the 1989 Calais National Rally and won class A3, making it her best domestic finish. In 1990, she also won class A6 on the Tour de Corse. For most of this period she was driving a Peugeot 205, apart from her run in the Corsa which was a one-off.

She took part in sixteen World Championship rallies: nine Montes and seven runs in the Tour de Corse. She was the leading female driver in Monaco in 1982, 1985 and 1986, driving a VW Golf, the Autobianchi and an Opel Corsa respectively. In 1980, 1983 and 1984 she won the Promotion class Coupe des Dames, for French championship drivers. 

As she retired from the stages in 1994 she won her first championship, claiming the A6 class of the French asphalt championship. 

On her later attempts, her co-driver was her daughter, Virginie. They competed together between 1991 and 1994. Her son Vincent inherited his mother’s fondness for Autobianchi A112s and is now the president of the Autobianchi Club of France.

Elisabeth is probably better known as a politician affiliated to the UDF party. She was elected to commissions for Paris and Ile-de-France and was part of Francois Bayrou’s 2002 presidential campaign.