Anna Inotsume

 

Anna Inotsume is a Japanese driver who races touring cars and GTs. She is the 2023 Japanese TCR champion.

She began her career in 2015 as part of a women’s motorsport initiative run by Mazda in Japan. She did some racing in an electric car that year. Her involvement continued through 2016 and incorporated her major on-track debut. She represented the women’s team in December’s Mazda Party Race, qualifying on pole and finishing fourth. 

She was selected to race in the 2018 Super Taikyu series in a Mazda Roadster as part of an all-female team picked from the scheme. “Love Drive Racing” was run by Keiko Ihara and Anna, along with Marie Iwaoka, ran the whole season, including a 24-hour race at Fuji. Their best result was sixth in class at Suzuka. Her first steps into Super Taikyu were the final rounds of the 2017 series, with the same team. She shared the car with Marie Iwaoka at Fuji and Okayama. They were eleventh and thirteenth in class. 

At the end of 2018, she made her debut in the Asian Le Mans Series, joining the all-female R24 team for the Fuji race alongside Marie Iwaoka and Stephane Kox. This team was also run by former Le Mans racer Keiko Ihara. They were seventh in the LMP3 class. 

Anna tried out for the 2020 W Series in September 2019 but was not selected, admitting later that she found the F3 car hard to drive due to her lack of single-seater experience. Her first single-seater races were later in the year in the club-level JAF F4 series. On her third race, she scored her first podium finish. Back in a tin-top, she was invited to take part in the Japanese round of the Asian Mini Challenge.

Mazdas had not been forgotten: having represented West Japan in the Mazda Party Race series in 2018, she joined the Mazda Fan Endurance Japan Tour and won. 

Her 2020 activities included a run in the three-round Kyojo Cup, a single-make sportscar series for women drivers. She was third overall, winning the last race of the season. She also participated in the mixed Vita series, which uses the same car. 

She also returned to Super Taikyu after a year away, competing in a Mazda Roadster run by students from Nihon Automobile College. Hiroko Komatsu joined her in the five-driver team for the Fuji 24 Hours. Later in the season, she joined the Natural Tuning/Cusco team in their Roadster for the third Super Taikyu race. She earned her first class podium, a second place at Autopolis, during the fifth round. 

Shortly before that, she tested an Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR car, with a view to participating in the series in future. 

In 2021 she did make her TCR debut, but in a Honda Civic run by Dome Racing. She scored one second place in the Saturday Series at Suzuka and finished eleventh in both the Saturday and Sunday championships.

She continued for Dome in the TCR championship in 2022 and scored her first win at Fuji, swiftly followed by a second win at Suzuka. This followed a run of seven podium finishes, plus two pole positions, netting her second in the championship. This improved to a championship win in 2023, with five wins and two additional podiums for the Dome team. Her car was a Honda Civic.

In September, she made a guest appearance in Formula Regional Japan, finishing fifth and fourth Fuji.

(Image copyright Anna Inotsume)

Monique Delannoy

 

Monique Delannoy became the first female driver to compete on the Dakar in the Car class, in 1980. She drove a Peugeot 504 with Catherine Bonnier, but they did not finish. 

Prominent among the car’s sponsors was the famous Moulin Rouge of Paris. 

This was the first of five runs in the desert classic. In 1981, she used a Mercedes 240 jeep and was 25th, with Bernadette Sacy. The following year, she drove a Volkswagen Iltis with Alain Bodard, but again did not finish. 

Another run in an Iltis in 1983, this time as a navigator to her husband, Jean, gave her a 38th place. Co-driving again, she assisted Nicole Maitrot, a former motorcycle competitor, to 16th place in the 1984 Dakar in a Mitsubishi Pajero run by two Ligier F1 team personnel. The two women formed the lightest team on the entry list at 90kg between them. They won the Ladies’ Cup and the diesel class. 

Jean Delannoy also competed that year in a separate Pajero.

The Delannoys may well have met through motorsport. They raced together in the first season of the Coupe de l’Avenir for Simca-derived small sportscars in 1976 and had been involved in sportscar racing since at least 1973.

Monique later raced in the Leyland Trophy in France, with Bernadette Sacy. This was a one-make series for British Leyland cars, in 1978.  

Monique made a brief return to the circuits in 1984, racing a Crossle in a non-championship French Formula Ford race. She was 19th in one race at Ledenon. 

(Image copyright motor-lifestyle.com)

Jem Hepworth

Jem Hepworth is the winner of the 2020 Britcar Endurance Championship, driving a Praga R1T for Team Motorsport Woman.

Success came young for Jem. As a karter, she represented the UK in the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission’s first “Girls on Track” finals at Le Mans. She competed at Le Mans but was not one of the girls selected for FIA WIM support.

Overlapping with this, she began her senior career in 2019. Her first race was the Citroen C1 24 Hours at Silverstone, as part of Team Motorsport Woman with Katie Milner, Alice Hughes and Sami Bowler. The team was fifth overall, having run as high as second. Despite being the least experienced member, she set the fastest laps of the four. 

Jem later drove a Motorsport Woman-backed Fiesta in the Ford Fiesta championship at Silverstone. She was ninth in her first race but could not finish the second due to a faulty wheel bearing. 

Her performances in the Citroen C1 helped to get her into the Motorsport Woman Praga for Britcar. She was paired with the slightly more experienced Danny Harrison and the two formed a strong partnership. When Jem was unable to start the first round due to a knee injury, Danny presented her with his trophy following his win. When she returned for the next round, she was down on testing time and not quite as fast as Danny, but she still managed to steer the car to a pair of wins at Brands Hatch, despite technical problems and the car almost running out of fuel. A DNF at Silverstone allowed their Praga rivals Jack Fabby and Garry Townshend to close the gap. Silverstone International led to a win and a frustrating DNF three laps from home, then Fabby and Townshend took one of the wins at Snetterton, with Jem and Danny second. They won the first race. Another win at the second Snetterton meeting put them in a strong position and they only needed second place to secure the championship, which they did in spite of a crash. 

Continuing to work with Motorsport Woman, Jem raced in the Praga category again in 2021. It was a more challenging year for her, partly due to reliability issues. She had been paired with Youtuber Jimmy Broadbent, who was a novice driver and not quite enjoy the same partnership with her as Danny Harrison had. He switched cars to share with Jack Fabby late in the season and she ran some races as a solo driver. She was fifth in the Praga standings.

It was a quieter year on the racing side for her in 2022 as she looked for new opportunities to further her career. She travelled to the USA for the W Series Formula 4 tests and performed well. Initially, she was passed over for a Formula 3 test, but she received a late call-up to Barcelona to try out for a W race seat. She was ultimately not successful, struggling with the grip strength needed for the car's steering.

For some of the season, she joined up with the Gridfinders EnduroKa team. Her best finishes with the multi-driver squad were two fifth places at Oulton Park and Cadwell. She also made some guest appearances in the Praga Cup, now running as a separate grid from Britcar. She earned two more fifth places at Silverstone and Snetterton.

Later in the year, she spent time in the States and Europe, setting up deals for 2022. This ended with her picking up a drive with Rafa Racing in the Mclaren Trophy. This one-make series is based in Europe and Jem got to race at Spa, Monza and the Nurburgring, supporting the Fanatec GT World Challenge. She and team owner Rafael Martinez shared a 570S run by Greystone GT. From the beginning with the season, they were front-runners, almost winning the championship outright until a car problem on the final lap dropped them out of the last race. They were second by just three points.

Having raced karts at Le Mans, Jem’s long-term aim is a run in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

(Image copyright Alan Quick)

Abbi Pulling

 

Abbi Pulling is a British single-seater driver who raced in F4 and the Formula 3-based Euroformula Open championship in 2020.

Prior to her step up to cars, she was one of Britain’s most successful karters of 2017. She won the Super 1 Junior TKM championship and the British ‘O’ Plate championship outright. She had been runner up in Super 1 Junior TKM in 2016. 

She made her car racing debut at the start of 2018 in Ginetta Juniors in the UK. Her first race was shortly after her fifteenth birthday and she proved herself capable of top-ten finishes, including a ninth place at Brands Hatch, but she only did a part-season. For the other half of the season she got back into a kart and trained further. 

She became supported by Motorsport UK in both competition and studies, and made her step up to senior competition in 2019. The season in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge got going a little slowly, but she became more and more confident and scored her best finish right at the end of the season: sixth at Donington.

In 2020 she switched to single-seaters, which had always been her aim. She raced in British F4 with the JHR Developments team. She had a cautious start to the season at Donington with a fifteenth and then a sixth place, then a disappointing non-finish, but she made up for it with her first podium at Brands Hatch. She posted three more podium finishes: thirds at Croft and Brands and a season’s-best second at Thruxton. The second place was particularly welcome after a nightmare meeting at Knockhill with two non-finishes, one from pole.

The Brands third place was one of the most impressive of the year. Abbi led after a lengthy caution period, having steered her way through a multi-car off. She was reeled in by Zak O’Sullivan and Christian Mansell, but it was a strong performance nevertheless.

She also had her first international race in 2020, when she was invited to take up a guest spot in the Formula Renault Eurocup F3 championship with Fernando Alonso’s FA Racing team. She joined the grid at Imola and finished both races in fifteenth and 16th place. 

She was announced as a reserve driver in W Series for 2021, having been passed over a year earlier due to her age. This was meant to be combined with another British F4 season, but funding ran out at the end of August. It had been a decent year for her, with three third places at Brands and Thruxton.

Her first W Series appearance was in July, at Silverstone, where she was eighth. She rejoined for Round 6 at Zandvoort and was seventh, but she really impressed in the two Circuit of the Americas races with a fourth place from pole and a second. After four races, she was seventh in the championship.

W Series gave her a full-time seat for 2022, although the season was shortened due to financial constraints. She picked up another second place fairly quickly at Catalunya, followed by a third in her home race at Silverstone. She was fourth in the championship.

Away from W Series, she accepted a guest drive in the UK Radical championship, sharing a car with her erstwhile driver coach Alice Powell.

W Series imploded at the beginning of 2023, but Abbi had already jumped ship to F1 Academy, another all-female series using F4 cars. She was one of the first drivers announced and drove for the Rodin Carlin team. Although she was expecting to dominate the championship, she struggled with car issues and a technical disqualification at Paul Ricard. Her best finish was third, which she managed three times, and she was fifth overall.

In 2024, she will continue in F1 Academy, as the Alpine team's supported driver. She is also set to contest the British F4 championship again.

(Image copyright Abbi Pulling)

Jasmin Preisig

 

Jasmin Preisig is a Swiss saloon racer whose speciality is endurance events.

She began her senior career in 2012 with a guest spot in the Chevrolet Cruze Cup, before taking on the 2013 Opel Astra OPC Cup season in Germany. Her most noteworthy result was a sixth place in the 6-Hour race that was part of that series. She also competed in hillclimbs in a KTM X-Bow. 

At the beginning of 2014, she was one of a small number of drivers selected for a scholarship drive in the Volkswagen Scirocco-R Cup. It was a difficult learning year for her, but her results did improve, and her best was an eleventh place at the Nürburgring. Towards the end of the season, she was getting closer to the top ten and was 18th overall. 

In 2015, she took part again in the OPC Astra Cup, a one-make championship within the VLN. She was third overall with one second place. 

She continued to race the Astra in 2016 in some rounds of the ADAC TCR touring car series. Her best finish was a twelfth place at Hockenheim, from four races. 

She did a full TCR season in 2017, driving the Astra, and earned her first TCR top-ten: a tenth place at the Nürburgring. She was 31st in the championship. At the end of the season she had a dramatic accident at Hockenheim and had to be cut from her car, but she escaped serious injury.

She drove a similar car for Steibel Motorsport in 2018 and the Nürburgring was her best track once again and the scene of her best finish, an eleventh place. She bounced back from her 2017 accident to finish 22nd in the championship. 

Her links with the Lubner team, with whom she had competed since 2016, continued in the 2018 VLN. She drove their Astra for one round in the TCR class. 

In 2019, she was part of Carrie Schreiner's all-female "Girls Only" team for the VLN, driving a VW Golf. She did two rounds of the championship, finishing second and fifth in the SP3T class with Carrie Schreiner and Ronja Assmann. The same team entered the Nurburgring 24 Hours but did not finish. 

Jasmin then left Girls Only and joined up with Max Kruse Racing for the rest of the season. She and her team-mates finished four of their six races in their Golf, with every finish being on the podium in their class: three seconds and one third. Jasmin was eighth in the TCR drivers’ standings.

She rejoined the team for two rounds of the 2020 championship. The Golf was now running in the SP3T class for VLN specials up to 2000cc. Jasmin and her team-mates, Benjamin Leuchter and Andreas Gulden won their class twice. They were fifth overall.

For the rest of the year, she moved to the Creventic 24H Series Continents with the Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power team. Their car was a TCR-spec Golf. Jasmin did not finish the Portimao 12 Hours, but she was second in the first part of the Hockenheim race and won the second leg. She also recorded two third places in the two Mugello races. The Number 1 car which she raced in was third in the TCE teams’ standings and Jasmin was crowned 24H Series ladies’ champion. 

Another season in the Golf in the 24H Series gave her a third place in the TCR class, which probably would have been a class title had she contested the whole season with Autorama Motorsport. She and her team-mates won at Hockenheim and the Hungaroring and were second in their other four races.

A similar Golf, run by the Max Kruse team this time, was second in class in the Nurburgring 24 Hours, with Jasmin and three team-mates at the wheel. They were 39th overall from 99 finishers. Jasmin joined them again for three rounds of the NLS (VLN), winning twice and finishing second once.

She only did one race at the Nurburgring in the Golf in 2022, finishing second in class. More of her season was spent in another Golf run by Autorama and Wolf-Power Racing, competing in the 24H TCE Series. She and her team-mates were fourth in class in the season-opening Dubai 24 Hours, then third at Mugello and fourth at Spa, with a fastest class lap.

She entered the 24H of Dubai in 2023, driving an Audi RS3 for Wolf-Power as part of a four-driver team. They were 37th overall and third in the TCR class. She also did the Abu Dhabi, Spa and Barcelona 24H races. She was second in class at Spa and 29th overall, then won the TCR class at Barcelona, finishing 22nd.

(Image copyright Jasmin Preisig)