Alessandra Brena

 

Alessandra Brena is a versatile Italian driver whose career has taken in single-seaters, touring cars and even rallying, in both petrol and electric vehicles. 

She began competing as a senior in Italy in 2011, at the age of fifteen. This followed seven years in a kart.

She drove in Formula Abarth, mainly concentrating on the Italian championship for the junior single-seater. Her best finish seems to have been eleventh, at Misano. Unfortunately, she was unable to complete the season, due to an injury sustained during a race. She also drove in two European championship events, also at Misano. 

In 2012, she drove in the Green Scout Cup for alternative-fuel vehicles, in a Kia. She won at least one race. This was the first of two seasons with alternative fuels; the second one led to a race win and a championship win in the Kia.

As well as hybrids, she raced more traditional internal-combustion cars, including a Ginetta G50 and a Lamborghini Gallardo, which she used in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo. She was thirteenth in the championship. She ended the year named as Italy’s best woman driver, still in her teens.

She raced the Ginetta again in a couple of rounds of the 2014 European GT4 Challenge for the Scuderia Giudici team, having impressed team owner Gianni Giudici. She was thirteenth and fifteenth at Misano, having performed well in qualifying alongside co-driver Walter Conforti. She was the youngest driver in the championship.

It was time to diversify in 2015. She did some rounds of the Germanol Adria Race Cup in a Renault Twingo, as well as entering some Italian rallies in a Peugeot 208. Her best result in the Renault seems to have been a fifth place. She won the Coupe des Dames in the Rally Due Valli, and was 28th overall. 

In 2016, she rallied the Peugeot in the Franciacorta Rally Show, and was 32nd overall. A guest appearance in the Italian Clio Cup at the end of the season led to a fourth-place finish.

Buoyed by her small success, a full-time return to the circuits in 2017 took the form of the Italian TCS Touring Car Championship. She was third overall, winning twice. 

Her career hit a fallow patch after that. She attempted to qualify for the W Series in 2019 but was eliminated from the first selection event. Later in the year, she went back to alternative power for the Mille Miglia Green, driving a Mercedes EQC. Since then, she has done some drifting but no actual racing.

(Image from formulapassion.it)

Bridget Burgess

 

Bridget Burgess is an Australian stock car driver who lives and competes in the USA. 

The Burgess family moved to the States in 2008, when Bridget was seven. Both of her parents were involved in off-road racing and drifting and she grew up working on cars.

She raced in the Lucas Oil Off-Road series from the age of 16, alongside her mother Sarah, before switching to stock cars in 2019. Sarah Burgess remains integral to her daughter’s racing efforts, acting as car entrant and crew chief. The team, BMI Racing, is family-based, with Bridget’s father Adam spotting for her. Sarah is often Bridget’s chief (or only) mechanic during races too.

In her first year, she did two rounds of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series at Meridian and Roseville. Both times, she made her way up from the back of the grid. She was eleventh at Roseville and twelfth at Meridian. This was in spite of her car being an unreliable rented machine.

In 2020, she attempted to run in the ARCA Menards West series, although her season was curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic. She did not finish the first round at Las Vegas due to a broken rear gear. In the end, she managed nine races, with a best finish of seventh at Las Vegas.  

She did all rounds of the West series in 2021, driving a Chevrolet entered by her mother. The nine races yielded another two top-tens: eighth at Sonoma and ninth at Colorado.

The BMI team registered for a full season in the West series in 2022 and Bridget had a reliable but slightly inconsistent year. Things started to get going in the fourth round at Portland, where she was seventh, the first of four top-ten finishes. She was seventh in the championship. A single main ARCA series outing at Phoenix led to a 23rd place.

(Image copyright Meg Oliphant/ARCA)

Kirsti Airikkala

 

Kirsti Airikkala rallied in Finland from 1968 and throughout most of the 1970s. She was twice runner-up in the Finnish ladies’ championship.

One of her first cars was an Isuzu Bellett, which she used in her first attempt at the 1000 Lakes Rally in 1968.  Her navigator for her early rallies was multiple Finnish ladies’ champion Eeva Heinonen. They were 24th in the 1000 Lakes, having already scored a 21st place in the Itaralli that year. Both Kirsti and her more famous husband, Pentti Airikkala, drove Isuzu cars at the time.

Her second 1000 Lakes Rally was in 1969, driving a Renault Gordini with Ulla Mäkelä. She drove in the event four more times, in 1971, 1972, 1975 and 1976. In 1970 she took time out from rallying to have her son, Niko Airikkala.

Her best result was a 24th place in 1972 and she also won her class in 1975, both times driving Opel cars with Tarja Takanen. Her 1972 car was a Kadett, which was updated to an Ascona in 1975.

She also scored a class win in the Arctic Rally in 1972, and was a career-best 18th overall in a European championship event, driving an Opel Kadett. In Finnish rallies, she bettered this, also in 1972, finishing fourteenth overall in the Tott-Porrassalmi Rally.

Her most frequent navigator was Tarja Tarkanen, but she also had Ritva Rossi sitting beside her at different times. For the 1976 Mantta 200-ajo Rally, she was co-driven by Marianne Avomeri, another Finnish woman better known as a driver with a famous partner, like Kirsti herself. She would later marry Markku Alen.

In 1974, she also tried her hand at co-driving, partnering Jill Robinson in the 1000 Lakes Rally, in an Alfa Romeo. 

Kirsti never competed outside Finland, but she did settle in England with Pentti after her retirement. She stayed in the UK after her divorce from Pentti.

From a rallying family, Kirsti’s younger brother is Timo Jouhki.

(Image copyright LAT Images)