Caroline Grifnee

Caroline Grifnée was a driver and team manager from Belgium.

She first made her mark on the scene when she drove for the Daikin team in Belcar in 2005 and 2006, with Alexandra van de Velde. In the first year, she was a third driver in a BMW Mini, but she replaced team leader Vanina Ickx in 2006. Their car was due to be a Ferrari 360, but a heavy practice crash and loss of a sponsor meant this was changed to a BMW 120d. 

The team also took part in some Dutch Supercar rounds and won their class at Spa. 

Belcar was not her first racing adventure. She had begun competing in a 2CV in 2000, which she raced until 2002. One year, she was part of the winning team for the Spa 2CV 24 Hours. She also took part in the 2003 Toyota Yaris Cup in Belgium.

After leaving the Daikin set-up at the end of 2006, she concentrated on her career at Renault Sport, moving from logistics to project management for the Renault Sport experience.

Back in a car on the international stage, she drove a Porsche 997 GT3 for Speed Lover at the 2009 Dubai 24 Hours. Her team-mates were Jose Close, Victor Rodrigues and Jim Michaelian. They did not finish. 

In 2009 and 2010, she competed in Renault one-make series, including the Renault Megane Eurocup in 2010. Unfortunately, her time in the Megane series was ended by a massive crash at Silverstone, which observers note she was lucky to survive. The car flipped five times and lost most of its bodywork, but Caroline walked away from the accident needing only precautionary treatment.

In 2011, she drove again in the Dubai 24 Hours, winning Class A2 in a Renault Clio as part of the iOpener team. She raced in the Endurance section of the Clio Cup the following year.

Apart from a course car run in the 2013 Criterium Jurassien in a Renault Twingo, alongside Margot Laffite, she did not actually compete much for a few years. Her work at Renault led to occasional guest appearances like the Jurassien rally.

After 2014, she took to historic racing. The first historic car she drove was a Porsche 911 in the Le Mans Classic, and she was 31st in Plateau 4. Her co-driver was Carolyn Twaites. 

In 2017, she raced a Chevron B16 at Spa, part of the FIA Masters Historic Sportscar Championship. She was 17th. In 2018 and 2019, she continued in historics, racing the Chevron at Le Mans and also a Ford Escort and Porsche 911 around Europe. The MkI Escort was a favoured car for a few seasons and a video of her racing at Paul Ricard in 2019 became a Youtube hit, earning her plaudits for her impressive car control. She finished sixth in class from 23rd on the grid, with a class win.

She raced the Chevron at Estoril in the 2020 Classic Endurance race, finishing second in class. 

As a team manager, some of her most noted successes were drivers she helped through the DAMS Formula Renault 3.5 team. Among them was 2014 winner Carlos Sainz Jr.

She followed DAMS into Formula E in 2015 and was part of its management team for two teams’ and one drivers’ championship, alongside Alain Prost. After the 2017 season, she left to found her own track day company, Historic Track Day by Caroline, specialising in events for historic cars.

Caroline died suddenly in February 2021. The remaining “By Caroline” track days planned will take place.

Female Rally Drivers Around the World: the Caribbean

 

Rallying is popular in the Caribbean nations, with an active local championship. Female drivers appear regularly. Below are short profiles of some of them.

Natasha Chang - Jamaican driver, active since 2007, when she took part in a TV-sponsored driver search. Her first rally was Rally Jamaica. Previously, she had done some drag races, speed events and autotests. She rallied a Mitsubishi Lancer in Jamaica in 2008 and 2009, as well as in Rally Trinidad. Her best finish seems to have been second overall in the Raynor King Memorial Stages Rally, in Jamaica. She was set to make a comeback in 2012, but appears to have switched to circuit racing, at least temporarily. In 2015, she represented Jamaica in the Caribbean circuit racing championship in Guyana, driving a Honda S2000. She suggested that she will be making a comeback in 2018 or after, but has not returned to rallying. She has done some speed record attempts since then.

Marcia Dawes - driver, co-driver and motorsport administrator from Jamaica. She began driving in sprints and gymkhana-type events in 2004. A year later, she did her first Rally Jamaica, finishing 17th overall in a Hyundai Coupe with a class win. She came into co-driving through administration, after designing rally stages and appreciating the skills needed to navigate. Her regular driver is Kyle Gregg and together they have won rallies in Jamaica and Trinidad.

Sarah-Jane Gopaul - rally driver from Trinidad. She began competing in night-time club events in 2008, after getting into motorsport through marshalling. It appears that she entered Rally Trinidad in 2011, and she may well have been thirteenth, according to some results lists. She entered Rally Trinidad again in 2014, in a Mazda 323, but did not finish. She usually drives Mazda cars, and carried on in the 323 for the 2015 and 2016 Rally Trinidad. In 2016, she finished the event in fifteenth place. Away from rallying, she is a teacher, which takes up a lot of her time.

Maeva Mornet - rallies a Renault Twingo in the French-governed Caribbean. She mainly competes in the Martinique championship, but in 2018, she also did the Bourbon National Rally on Reunion. For this event, she also used a different car: a Citroen C2. Maeva’s best result has been eleventh in the 2018 Martinique Rallye Tour, from 28 entries, until 2022. This year, she was eighth in the Rallye National des Champions and seventh in the Ronde Regionale de la Ville du Gros-Morne. Her best 2023 finish was sixth in the Madinina Regional Rally. She works as a nurse when not rallying.

Natya Soodeen - driver from Barbados who started competing seriously in 2020. Her car was a BMW 318 Compact E36 and she was entered into the Barbados championship’s BimmaCup. Co-driven by Justin Sisnett all season, her best finish was a 24th place in the BRC Winter Rally. She was third in the BimmaCup. In 2021, she concentrated on rallysprints in Barbados. In 2022, she rallied the BMW quite extensively in Barbados, with a best finish of 21st in the BRC Winter Rally.Another full season in 2023 lead to a top-ten finish in a single-venue stage rally. Before turning to motorsport, Natya represented Barbados in equestrian events until she was suspended by sporting authorities, for reasons that were never made clear.

Jodie Summerbell – Jamaican driver active in her home country. She drove a Mitsubishi Mirage in the 2005 Rally Jamaica, and was fourteenth overall. The year before, in 2004, she was seventh in the St Bess Tarmac Rally, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer. This was at least her second attempt at the St Bess event, in which she won her class in 2004, with an eighth overall, in the Mirage. She also raced a Mitsubishi Colt on circuits, and won at least one race outright. She is no longer competing.

(Image copyright Top Gear Singapore)

Hannah Chapman

 

Hannah Chapman is a Scottish driver who races a Mini Cooper, in Scotland and around the UK.

She began racing the Mini in 2013, with a part-season in the Celtic Speed Mini Cooper Cup. This followed a successful karting career from the age of 14. Her campaign was shortened by a crash which wrote her car off; another competitor went off-track in front of her and she was unable to swerve.

She was both Newcomers’ and Ladies’ champion in the 2014 Scottish Mini Cooper Cup. In the main championship, she was 18th, after a somewhat up and down season. 

Another three seasons racing in Scotland followed, during which time she got right on the pace. In 2015, she was fifth in the overall championship, with a best finish of sixth. She won the Ladies’ trophy from Taeler Shand, her biggest rival at the time. The following year, Taelor fought back for the Ladies’ title. She prevailed despite Hannah having the stronger finishing record, as she had completed more rounds. Hannah was tenth overall but had the consolation of earning her first outright win at Knockhill. 

She returned in 2017 and was fifth in the main championship again, with two wins. 

She was seventh overall in 2018 with two second places at Knockhill. 

Competition further afield beckoned. In 2019, she was ninth in the Cooper Pro class of the UK Mini Challenge, which supports the British Touring Car Championship. It was something of a learning curve but she really improved towards the end of the season, picking up a second place at Cadwell Park. 

She moved up to the JCW class in 2020 and had best finishes of 14th at Knockhill and Silverstone. Her switch-up came about quite quickly and she joined at the fourth round, held at Knockhill. She was 23rd in the final standings, ahead of her Lux Motorsport Team B team-mate. The JCW class uses 240hp+ turbo cars and is the most powerful and competitive in the championship.

Her final position improved to 19th in 2021 and she was the best female driver in the championship. Her best circuit was Knockhill, her home track, although she suffered contact in the first race and had to play catch-up.

Another JCW season beckoned in 2022. After a part-season of just under half of the rounds, she was 28th overall. Oulton Park was her best circuit this year; she earned a 15th and 16th place there.

She did not race in 2023 but is planning to return.

Hannah is famous for her pink car. She enjoys adding a little femininity to her racing.

(Image copyright Hannah Chapman)

Caty Caly

 

Caty Caly (sometimes Cathy Caly) is the winner of five French Ladies’ Rallycross titles. 

Her first car was a Simca Rallye 2 which she started racing as a teenager in 1983, having been a fan of rallycross for some time. 

Her first women’s title came at the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf in 1985. 

After her first success in rallycross, she tried her hand at stage rallying in 1986, driving a Citroen Visa Mille Pistes. These Group B cars were popular in French rallying at the time and there were several female exponents of the brands after the 1984 Citroen Visa Total Trophy. 

It proved a short diversion. Caty had an accident on the Mille Pistes Rally itself and injured her neck after just a few events, bringing an end to her rally career. Her best finish had been a 28th place in the Terre de Charente Rally. This had followed another scare at the beginning of the year, when Caty attempted her first Paris-Dakar. She was driving a six-wheel-drive Mercedes 190GE with Christian de Leotard when they crashed on a night section in Niger midway through the rally. Caty was rescued by French pop singer and Dakar enthusiast Daniel Balavoine in his own aircraft and taken to hospital. Two days later, he crashed the aeroplane and died.

Later, she drove for Audi, after their redundant Group B rally cars were put into rallycross service in 1987. Her trademark on-track was a bright pink colour scheme, with black trim, carried through into her racewear. She raced an A2 in Division 2 of the French championship, earning a best result of third at Pau.

This was her last full season in the Audi for a few years. She still raced it in French rallycross occasionally, as well as a Peugeot 205 T16 and another Citroen Visa. Towards the end of the 1980s she combined part-time competition and work, developing business interests in automotive paintwork and an agency supplying promotional staff.

She won another Ladies’ championship in an Audi Quattro in 1993, following her return to regular competition. With the same car, she retained her title in 1994 and finished 15th in the overall championship.  

In 1995 and 1996 she racked up her final two ladies’ championships in a Citroen ZX. She was driving for the Dupuis team, which was supported by Citroen itself. She was ninth in the 1995 championship and fourth in Division 1, with two outright podium positions, a second and a third.

Her second Coupe des Dames as an official Citroen driver included four third places from seven rounds.

She was fourth in the Tourism class, as the ZX had been reclassified during the 1995-96 off-season.

At this time, the ladies’ championship was relatively competitive. Carolyn Boniface was Caty’s principal rival. 

Citroen ended its rallycross programme in 1997. Rather than trying to compete with the factory rallycross teams, she moved into sportscar racing. She started with the Ferrari 355 Challenge in 1997 and raced in this one-make series across Europe in 1998. Having got to grips with the car, she was second at Oschersleben and third at Spa. She raced the 355 in the Magny-Cours round of the 1999 French GT championship, sharing the car with Florence Duez. They were 31st in both races, seventh in GT4.

Driving solo, Caty also raced in the Porsche Supercup and picked up a couple of podiums, including a second place at the Hungaroring. The car suited her and a 996 became her preferred car for French GTs. She used two different models in 2000, one her own and one run by Perspective Racing. 

She continued to race a Porsche in French GTs in 2001, but as part of Team Kalliste. She normally partnered Jean-Claude Andruet, although her best result was at Pau, where Franck Legorce deputised. They were ninth overall. She planned one more race with Kalliste in 2002, sharing the 996 with Philippe Brocard, but did not actually start.

Her final French GT season was in 2003, back in a Ferrari. She drove a 360 Modena for the Auto Palace team, sharing with Steeve Hiesse. They were normally midfield finishers, although they were fairly strong in the GT class and earned two podium places. One of these was a class second that came along with a ninth place overall.

Throughout her career, Caty was a regular in ice races, like many rallycross drivers. She competed in the Andros Trophy every year between 1992 and 1999, in several different cars, including a Mini, Citroen, Lancia and Mercedes. She also raced on the ice at Chamonix at least once. 

Her last full season of competition was in 2004, when she raced in the French Supertouring Championship in an Opel Astra. She was 18th in the final standings. After that, she made occasional appearances for the next two years alongside TV work for the championship.

She made a comeback in 2013, driving in two rounds of the Euro NASCAR stock car championship in France. Her car was a Chevrolet Camaro and her best finish was tenth at Nogaro.

A recent article in La Nouvelle Republic described her as a “former racing driver”.

(Image copyright Sun Star)

Cristina Gutierrez Herrero

 

Cristina Gutiérrez Herrero is a Spanish off-road specialist who has won stage rallies and recorded stage wins on the Dakar. 

She mostly competes in rally raids, but has proved competitive in rallysprints, driving 4WD vehicles. She won one such event, the Tierra Alfoz de Quintanadueñas Rallysprint in 2012, driving a Toyota Landcruiser against both off-road and stage rally cars. 

She has been rallying since 2010 and previously competed in karting and motocross. Her first off-road rally was the 2010 Historicos Baja Tierras del Cid, with her brother as her co-driver. She was fourth, driving a Toyota Landcruiser. Her first major event was the 2011 Baja Espana, the first of eighth consecutive entries.

At the end of 2016, she embarked on her first Dakar Rally. She finished the event in 44th place and became the first Spanish woman to make it to the end. Her car was a Mitsubishi Montero.

Her second Dakar was a particularly tough one, as her production Mitsubishi was not quite as competitive as she wanted and she got very little sleep. Still, she improved on her finishing position from 2017 with a 38th place. This was in spite of a multiple roll down a sand dune on the opening stage.

She upgraded to a faster Mitsubishi prototype, an Eclipse Cross, in 2019. This proved a sensible move and she recorded her third consecutive finish, in 26th place. She was the first Spanish driver and the first Mitsubishi crew to finish.

Driving a new car for the Red Bull Junior team, she competed in the 2021 Dakar with navigator Francois Cazalet and became the first female driver to win a stage since Jutta Kleinschmidt in 2005. She won three stages overall, driving a Red Bull-sponsored Light Prototype vehicle. Sadly, the car’s gearbox gave up after the seventh stage. 

She has won the Spanish All-Terrain Rally championship: she was T1 champion and overall runner-up in 2015 after a series of second places in Spanish raids, including the Baja Aragon, which is part of the FIA Cross-Country Cup. Previously in 2014, she was seventh in the championship, and fourth in class. She was driving a Mitsubishi. To match her six Dakar outings, she has earned six Spanish women’s off-road titles.

In 2015, she was third in the FIA Women’s Cross Country Selection event in Qatar and won a funded drive in the 2016 Sealine CrossCountry Rally. She was the first female driver home.

She still occasionally competed in stage rallying during this time. In 2017, she drove a different Mitsubishi, a Lancer Evo VIII, in the Isla de los Volcanes Rally. She did not finish. Her only gravel outing in 2018, the Terra de Auga Rally, gave her a thirteenth place in an Evo X. 

After a break, she drove a Ford Fiesta in the 2020 Terra da Auga Rally and finished 18th overall, from 56 finishers. 

At the end of 2020, she was announced as a driver for the X44 Extreme E team, led by Lewis Hamilton. Her team-mate was Sebastien Loeb. They won the final round of the championship, held in Dorset, UK, having consistently qualified well but had problems in finals. Their final position was second.

This was doubly remarkable considering that Cristina suffered two broken vertebrae during the Kazakhstan Rally and had to take two months' rest. It was triply remarkable in that she had just won the Kazakhstan event for the Red Bull Off-Road Junior team, in severe pain after crashing on the final leg.

She was on form for the 2022 Dakar, driving a T3 Lightweight prototype for the Red Bull Junior team. A potential disqualification due to the team using a banned Bluetooth intercom was suspended, meaning she and Francois Cazalet kept their third place in class.

Another Extreme E season with Sebastien Loeb ended in a championship victory. They only won one event outright in Chile, but three further podiums kept them ahead.

She paired up with Jamaican Fraser McConnell for X44 in the 2023 Extreme E championship. They won races in Scotland and Sardinia and were fourth overall in the championship, often performing well in heats. In preparation for another Dakar in January 2024, she entered several cross-country events, finishing fourth in class in the Sonora Rally, third in Morocco and second in the Desafio Ruta 40. Her car is a T3 Taurus light prototype.

She also signed for the Dacia team but only did preparation and development for them, in readiness for the 2025 Dakar. Her team-mate will be Sebastien Loeb once more.

Away from rallying, Cristina is a dentist.

(Image copyright Red Bull)

Geunda Eadie

 

Geunda Eadie raced in the BTCC in 1980 and was the winner of the Fabergé Ladies' Fiesta Challenge in 1979.

The Fabergé Challenge was a female-only talent search sponsored by Faberge’s Kiku cosmetics brand and the Radio Times. It featured both racing and rallying and was open to complete novices and experienced drivers alike. Geunda fell into the latter camp.

Since 1972, English-based Scot Geunda had co-driven for Sandy Lawson, who worked in the BMC competitions department. Their first major outing together was the 1972 Scottish Rally, in a Mini. Later in the year, Sandy acquired a DAF 55 and Geunda co-drove for her in it on that year’s RAC Rally. It was the first of three RAC events they did together.

She also took part in circuit racing at club level. This included the ladies’ races organised by John Webb, under the Shellsport banner. She took part in a couple of rounds of the Shellsport Ladies’ Escort Challenge in 1975, driving a Ford Escort Mexico and achieving midfield finishes. 

Later, she entered a Shellsport women’s race at Oulton Park in 1979. The cars were racing school Talbot Sunbeam Tis and Geunda defeated future Formula hopeful Desire Wilson and six other women.

The previous year, she had entered the Fabergé Challenge and beaten almost 2000 other hopefuls in regional trials. These involved straightforward driving tasks as well as more off-the-wall challenges like driving around a quarry blindfolded. The championship itself ran through 1979. Near-standard yellow Ford Fiestas were provided by local dealerships and each driver was paired with a co-driver for the six rally rounds, either chosen herself or assigned. Geunda’s navigator was the experienced Dilys Rogers.

Geunda won through her consistency, rather than spectacular wins. She appears to have done better in the rallies than the races, although the results lists are incomplete. The rallies were BTRDA rounds, with the Challenge running as its own class. Reactions to the women were mixed, although they became known as the “Yellow Perils” due to their yellow cars and Penelope Pitstop’s “Perils of” cartoon.

She won the first rally, the Dukeries Rally in March and was second in the Lakeland Stages a fortnight later. Her second event win was in Wales in the summer, when she topped the Fiesta standings in the Rali Bro Myrddin. She was second or third in each of the other three rallies.

The first part of her prize drive was a run in the RAC Rally in a works-supported Fiesta. She was co-driven by fellow “Yellow Peril” Flip Kerr, as Dilys Rogers was competing alongside Judy Simpson. Geunda sadly did not finish as she went over the time limit.  

Her season in the BTCC was something of a trial. Although she fared well in her class at times, the car was unreliable. She endured several DNFs and withdrew from some of the rounds. Her best class finish was third, which she earned at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix support race. Her best overall finish was ninth at the start of the reason, at Mallory Park.

At the end of the year, she retired from motorsport to start a family. Although her competition career was over, she stayed involved professionally, working for the Jim Russel Racing School at Snetterton. She was the chief instructor on its skid pan from at least 1978, when she put Daily Mirror journalist Paul Hughes through his paces for an article. Among her other students is said to have been a young Ayrton Senna, to whom she taught skid control.

As Geunda Palmer, she appears to have been involved in some way in the 1985 Esso Ladies’ Formula Ford race held at Snetterton, run by the Jim Russell school.

Geunda came out of retirement in 2010 to co-drive for Conor Kelly on the TNR Tour of the Sperrins. The car was a Ford Escort and she helped Conor to 81st place.

(Image copyright projectbobcat.com)