Mira Nikolic

Mira Nikolic was one of the most successful and lauded female rally drivers in the former Yugoslavia. 

The Croatian driver was active between 1969 and 1987. At the time, Yugoslavia ran championships for both male and female drivers; she was a multiple Croatian ladies’ champion, winning the mixed crews’ award three times and the ladies’ title twice. She won the all-female INA Rally six times between 1972 and 1985 and took part in eighteen editions of that event. Her first major result was a second place in the 1969 INA Rally. Her outright wins came in 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1985. Her usual co-driver was Branka Trzun Makek. Her car was usually an NSU TT, even when it became rather old.

She also excelled in other women’s rallies and countless other rallies in Croatia and greater Yugoslavia. 

From at least 1979, she was co-driven by Mato Sebalj when she was competing in mixed events. They won class for mixed crews in the International Czech Rally three times in 1984, 1985 and 1986. Earlier, in 1978, Mira had scored an outright win in the Rally Pirin, held in Bulgaria, with Mato at her side. Her car was the NSU.

Her career ended in 1986 with a win in the Croatian womens’ championship, driving a Fiat Uno. She was defending her 1985 title. She won the AMD INA Rally outright and was third in the Rijecki women’s event.

As well as a driver, she was a performance driving instructor for many years, and chaired at least one motor club. 

She died in 2013, at the age of 72, recognised as the Croatian driver with the most rally wins of all time. A memorial slalom event is held in her name every year in Croatia.

(Image from motorsport.hr)

Daria Bakai

Daria Bakai, also known as Dasha, is a Ukrainian driver who rallies Mitsubishi Lancers in her home championship, regularly finishing in the top ten.

Dasha was keen on rally cars from a very early age. Her first road car was a Mitsubishi Lancer which she had saved up for between the ages of 18 and 20, although in a Red Bull interview, she confessed to having several minor accidents in it. Despite the roadgoing Lancer not being best-suited to high-speed sprints, she began her competition career in drag racing. She decided on rallying as her preferred career after spectating at the Yalta Rally. 

She began rallying seriously in 2014 and competed extensively in both the Ukrainian championship and the regional Kherson Cup. Her car was a very old Group N Subaru Impreza, as it was the only decent rally car she could afford. Her best result was a sixth place in the Kozatske Rally, but her most prestigious result was probably her tenth place in the Galicia Rally. This was her second top-ten of the year, after another tenth in the Skhydnytsia Rally. She was fourth in class in the Ukrainian championship. 

In 2015, she was still rallying the Impreza. Her best result was a sixteenth place in the Yedyna Krayina One Country Rally. 

In 2016, she performed well in Ukrainian championship rallies. She was seventh in the Golden Fall Rally in the Impreza and eighth in the Khersonske Rally in a Peugeot 206. This was despite having to commute home from Belgium, where she was working. She also found time to compete in Belgium for the 6 Hours of Kortrijk, driving a Ford Fiesta. 

In the end, rallying won out over her work and she moved back to Ukraine. A short break followed while she sold the Impreza and searched for a quicker car. 

Half-way through the 2017 season she finally got to drive her favourite car in anger, rallying a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X in a limited programme. She was third in the XADO DRC rally and fourth in the Rally Kuyainik. 

She repeated her third place in the XADO event in 2018, alongside two other top-ten finishes in Ukrainian rallies. One of these was a ninth place in the Rallye Uman, a Ukrainian championship round where she ran as high as fifth.

Her 2019 season in the Lancer was affected by a couple of bad accidents but when she finished, she was strong. She was third in the Rally Severyn, having won the first stage, and fourth in the Rallye Shchuroftsi. 

Her final championship position was sixth in the regional Liman Cup and would probably have been much higher without the mishaps, which included a fire in the XADO event and radiator trouble in the preceding Rallye Kuyalnik. 

Daria was unable to start her season in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but she was more than ready when the Ukrainian championship did get under way. Driving the same Lancer, she was fourth in her national championship with four top-five positions. The best of these was a fourth place in the Rally Stolytsia. She was fifth in the Galicia and Trembita rallies.

She was fifth in both the Ukrainian and Liman championships in 2021, driving the Evo X. Her best result was another podium, a third in the Rally Kuyalnik, but she was not far off in the Rally Trembita, finishing fourth and less than 2s off third.

Delia Stegemann

Delia Stegemann was the first winner of the Ford Fiesta Lady Cup in Germany. She also raced single-seaters up to Formula 3.

The Lady Cup in 1982 was her first experience of motorsport. She was chosen from an initial shortlist of 1400 prospective women drivers put forward by Ford dealerships. During the next stage of a selection process judged by the likes of Manfred Winkelhock, she was put through to the final group of 20 drivers and made her first start that summer, aged 19.

Delia was one of the leading drivers in the Lady Cup from quite early on and was eventually named joint champion with Anette Meeuvissen. There was some debate over which driver should receive the honour, as both were tied on points although Anette had more wins. Both were named champion at different points before being jointly awarded the prize money.

Her debut may have been in a saloon car, but she was soon gravitating towards single-seaters. In keeping with the usual route into formula racing, she began in Formula Ford in 1983. Her best Formula Ford finish was third at the Nürburgring in a Royale. 

Delia entered at least one more Lady Cup in 1984 and had probably been part of the 1983 grid too. She was fourth in 1984, ahead of 1983 champion Claudia Ostlender.

She took part in German Formula 3 between 1985 and 1987. Initially she drove for the Team Lechner Racing School, although her debut was limited to a one-off end-of-season race at the Nürburgring. She was tenth, from fifteen finishers. This was combined with some races in the German Formula Ford 2000 championship, where she finished eleventh.

She did most of the German F3 season in 1986, missing only two of the eleven races. Her car was a Ralt RT30 run by Werner Schroder Racing. The season was not a great success, with four fifteenth places as her best finishes. Apparently she also raced a Martini during the season, but it is not always clear which car she was in for which race. 

In 1987 she had an updated car in the form of a Ralt RT31, but it was only another one-off Nürburgring appearance for Monninghoff Racing, leading to a 17th place. 

She was last active in 1991 when she was 66th in the Nürburgring 24 Hours in a Fiesta XR2. She used the same car in the Fiesta Mixed Cup, sharing it with Josef Venc. They scored one second place.

Lulla Gancia

Lulla Gancia (sometimes spelled Lula) was a popular driver who raced in Brazil in the 1960s. 

She drove in the 1966 Brasilia 1000km race, sharing a little Fiat-Abarth with Felice Albertini. They were fifth overall. The same year, the same pair entered the Rodovia do Café road race, but rolled their Alfa Romeo GTA. 

Although a Brazilian national, Lulla was born in Turin in 1924 and only moved to Brazil in 1953 with her husband Piero Gancia, another Brazilian of Italian origin. They left Italy in 1947 and lived for some time in Uruguay. Her maternal grandfather was a nobleman from the Austrian Tyrol. Her official given name was Amalia, but she never used this as an adult, preferring Lulla. 

Her first race was in 1963. It was an all-female contest at Interlagos. The drivers were all wives or sisters of male racers. Lulla was third, behind Marize Clemente and Leonie Caires, sisters who were married to drivers. Her car was an Alfa Romeo Giulietta. This race was the second edition of an annual event popularly known as the “Lipstick Derby”, although it was the first to be held at Interlagos. 

Pictures show Lulla and Leonie Caires preparing for the 1964 “Lipstick Derby”, although the results have been lost. Graziela Fernandes took part in the 1965 race alongside Lulla, the former in a Renault and the latter in a Fiat-Abarth.

Piero also raced extensively and had his own team. Jolly-Gancia. He and Lulla may have raced together at some point, judging by photos, and Graziela Fernandes was another sometime Jolly-Gancia driver.

The Gancia family had made its fortune in wine and vermouth and Piero later joined forces with Martini to import Italian performance cars such as Alfa Romeos and Lancias into Brazil. The Gancias hosted visiting Italian luminaries such as Gianni Agnelli, straddling the motor racing, business and even showbiz worlds; Elizabeth Taylor was said to stay with the Gancias when she was in town.

Later, she was involved in motorsport administration, with her husband, Piero, another racer. She worked for improvements to the Interlagos circuit in the late 1960s, having been commissioned to undertake an official review by the local mayor. Her revisions to the track brought it up to Grand Prix standard and helped bring Formula 1 to Interlagos. She also oversaw the updating of the Sao Paulo kart track, which became a favourite of Ayrton Senna.

She remained a popular and ubiquitous figure on the Brazilian motorsport scene, even after she stopped competing herself. She attended every Grand Prix and was photographed with all of the major drivers of the day. In 1974, she was one of the first people to drive on the Brasilia Autodrome track, alongside Wilson Fittipaldi.

Kerryn Brewer

Kerryn Brewer took part in Australian Touring Car races in the 1990s, including the Bathurst 24 Hours. 

Her earliest motorsport success was a championship win in the Australian Superkart championship, when she was 20. She won the 100cc non-gearbox class of the full-circuit karting series before moving on to cars. 

In 1996, she was fourth in the all-female Mazda 121 Challenge. Her first race in the one-make series was eventful; she finished fourth despite spinning twice and tangling with other drivers at Eastern Creek. The third round at Symmons Plain gave her another fourth. She was quick and aggressive but unable to match the pace of leaders Paula Elstrek and Tania Gulson. Unfortunately, the rest of the race results are not forthcoming. 

After her 1996 performances she was picked up by the Castrol Cougars team, run by Larry Perkins. Supported by Castrol in order to promote its products to female drivers, it was originally meant to be a two-car effort, with a four-woman line-up of Kerryn, Melinda Price, international netballer Michelle Fielke and TV presenter Kim Watkins. Despite her two wins in the celebrity race that supported the Australian Grand Prix, Michelle was prevented from racing by her other sporting commitments and Kim also dropped out. 

The team made its debut in the latter part of the V8 Supercar season, with Kerryn and Melinda alternating in the team’s Holden Commodore. Kerryn was the first Cougar to take the wheel at Lakeside. She was fourteenth and last in the first race, which was a dramatic one with a first-lap crash. The other three races resulted in safe but unspectacular fourteenth places, although she did finish ahead of Mike Conway in the last race. When it was her turn in the car again at Mallala, things panned out in a similar manner, with a 15th and 17th place, but she was unable to start the third.

The Cougars entered the 1997 Bathurst 1000 and it turned out to be their best run of the year. They were twelfth overall, the highest finish for an all-female team. Forty-one cars started and 21 finished. 

They also entered in 1998, and came eleventh, beating their own female team record. This time, 45 cars made the start and 20 finished. It was a hard race with several crashes and spins by experienced drivers. 

Her Supercars season was quite similar to 1997. Melinda was the main driver for the Cougars car and entered nine races to Kerryn’s six. Kerryn raced at Launceston and Lakeside, picking up a best result of 16th at Launceston. This was probably her best meeting in the Commodore; she did not run as well at Lakeside after a spin in the first race. Her best finish was 21st.

The Cougars project was retired for the 1999 season. Kerryn attempted to return to Supercars with Owen Parkinson’s team but this only amounted to a single appearance. She did not finish in another Commodore.

Kerryn tended to leave most of the promotional chat to Melinda, so we hear less about her than her team-mate. 

She made some appearances in the Shell Australian Touring Car Championship in 1999. She appeared in a “Beauties and their Beasts” calendar of glamorous female racing drivers in 2000, but does not appear to have competed. 

After this, Kerryn faded from the scene. In 2011, she tweeted that she missed racing cars.

Hamda al-Qubaisi

Hamda al-Qubaisi is Abu Dhabi-born driver who won three rounds of the 2020 UAE F4 championship.

After a short period of international karting in Rotax Max, she began her senior racing career in 2019, in Formula 4. She competed against her older sister Amna al-Qubaisi in the last rounds of the Italian F4 championship at Red Bull Ring and Monza. Her best finish was 21st at Monza. Both sisters were driving for the Abu Dhabi Racing team. 

She did better in the UAE F4 race that supported the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, qualifying third and finishing fifth in her first race, which Amna won. Hamda ran into problems in the second and was eleventh. 

The GP support was a non-championship prelude to the UAE F4 series, which Hamda entered with the Abu Dhabi team. She was on the pace straight away, picking up pole position for the first race at Dubai Autodrome. She could not hold on to the lead on a wet track and finished sixth, although she fought back in Race 2 to second. The terrible weather was partly to blame for her DNF in Race 3 and the fourth race was cancelled due to track flooding.

She earned another two podiums at Yas Marina, both second places, although she was still not quite able to capitalise on her qualifying pace and suffered a couple of offs. She also admitted later that her race starts were not the best. The second Abu Dhabi round began with another pole position, but this weekend she managed to turn it into a win in the third race, after two more seconds She crossed the line for her victory ten seconds ahead of her nearest rival, set a fastest lap and an F4 track record. 

A straight run of podiums at Dubai followed, then a four-race weekend bookended by two wins for the season finale, also at Dubai.

She was fourth in the championship.

Hamda intended to race in Europe for the rest of the 2020 season but the global coronavirus pandemic put a stop to motorsport for the first half of the year. She made it into the Italian F4 championship in August and had a rocky start, recording a DNF in her first race and then an 18th and 14th place at Misano. By the time the series reached the Red Bull Ring her confidence had increased and she picked up her first top ten, a tenth place, Her second top-ten was a ninth place at Monza, which must have been satisfying after a pair of non-finishes. She was 25th in the championship.

In September, she made a guest appearance in the German F4 championship at Hockenheim, earning herself another tenth place.

Making up for a slow 2020, she entered 47 races in 2021. Her schedule took in the complete UAE and Italian championships, plus some appearances in German F4. The UAE series began the year and she was fourth overall, with two wins at Dubai and Yas Marina. Only some inconsistency dropped her out of title contention.

Her season in Italy was also very inconsistent, but she did show flashes of really good speed, finishing third at Misano and then seventh at Vallelunga mid-season. She was 17th overall. Her German season was something of a write-off, with only two finishes from six races.

She decided to move up to F3 in 2022, entering the Formula Regional Asian Series with her sister Amna and their father, Emirati sportscar racer, Khaled al-Qubaisi. It was a tricky championship for her and she was 27th overall. Her best finish was a twelfth place at Yas Marina in the first race of the season.

The main season began in April and Prema ran Hamda in the Formula Regional European Championship, alongside Amna. The jump up in the level of competition showed and she could only muster a 24th place at the Red Bull Ring in the final race of the season. Another go at the UAE F4 championship also did not really go her way; she was 20th overall and only managed a pair of top-ten finishes. These were seventh places in Kuwait and Bahrain.

For 2024, she was announced as one of the first drivers in the all-female F1 Academy series, racing an F4 car for MP Motorsport. Amna was one of her rivals and also her team-mate. She was third overall, winning four times at Valencia, Zandvoort and Circuit of the Americas.

(Image from khaleejtimes.com)