Ellexandra Best

 

Ellexandra Best is most known for racing in the Australian Production Car Championship, where she is an outright race winner. 

She shot to prominence in 2016, she drove a Toyota Echo in Class E of the APC and was second in the class standings. Her best overall finish was twelfth, at Sydney. She was the youngest driver ever to compete in the series, at seventeen. 

Previously, she raced a Hyundai Excel, first in the 2015 NSW Excel Racing Series, and then in the 2016 Victorian Excel Championship. 

Back in the APC in 2017, she raced a Toyota Corolla and had a best finish of seventh overall, at Winton. She was 24th in the championship as she only did three quarters of the rounds. This was her second year with Lauren Gray Motorsport, founded by racer Lauren Gray. Her team-mate was Michael Gray. 

In 2018, she split her time between the APC and the Toyota 86 Racing Series. Her car for the APC was a Kia Pro Ceed run by Conroy Motorsport. It was not the most successful year; she was unable to start the first two rounds and only managed a thirteenth place at Winton as the best of her three finishes. Her two Toyota 86 races were part of an Aussie Driver Search programme and she was competing against her brother Zak.

She also returned to Lauren Gray's team for the Bathurst 6 Hours, finishing third in the Production class. She and her two team-mates used a Toyota Corolla. 

Her first race win was in 2019. She had missed the first few rounds of the APC but her debut in a Mitsubishi Lancer gave her a win at Phillip Island. She returned for the races at The Bend later in the season but the best result from her four races was a fourteenth place. She was 15th overall. This time, she and Zak were team-mates.

After a break, she entered the 2021 V8 SuperUte Series for four rounds at Sydney Motorsports Park, finishing in the top ten each time. She was twelfth in the championship. She returned to Ute racing for 2022, having acquired and tested a Mitsubishi Triton pickup. She was twelfth in her first race at Symmons Plain on her first visit to the circuit. The top tens began at the next round at Barbagallo, where she was ninth and eighth. These were the first of nine top tens, leading to championship ninth.

She was 13th in SuperUtes in 2023, not having had as good a season as the year before. She was thirteenth in the championship, with two twelfth places at Barbagallo and Mount Panorama as her best finishes. Cars had also not been forgotten: she was part of a three-woman team in a BMW E82 for the Bathurst 6 Hours, with Courtney Prince and Karlie Buccini. They were third in their class and 21st overall.

(Image copyright Ellexandra Best)

Sara Price

 

Sara Price races for the Chip Ganassi team in Extreme E. She has won multiple titles in motocross.

Her motocross career began when she was eight, in about 2000. By 2010, she was competing professionally, winning medals at the X Games and a string of women’s titles.

She switched from two wheels to four in about 2012, winning a championship in Terracross in 2015, an extreme rallycross series for SxS (UTV) vehicles and quads. Her vehicle was a Polaris UTV which she worked on herself. She also travelled to Morocco for the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles, a female-only navigational rally raid. She was seventh in the UTV and Quad class and won the First Participation Challenge rookie award.

Her next challenge was Trophy Trucks. She began in the Stadium Supertruck series founded by Robby Gordon and was its first female participant when she took to the track in Ontario. Soon, that was upgraded to the first woman to lead laps. The series is active in the USA, Canada and Australia and Sara travelled to the other side of the world for the final round. She was second. Her best American result was a fourth place at Costa Mesa in California.

This was in addition to another Terracross win, the first of two in 2016 and 2017.

She continued to race Trophy Trucks in 2017, but this year, she branched out into longer Baja events. Her first event was the Laughlin Desert Classic and she was second overall. At the end of the season, she returned to the stadiums at Storm Stadium.

Her other big development in 2017 was winning the female section of the Hoonigans Wanted Driver Search, run by Ken Block’s Hoonigan organisation. She got to compete in both asphalt and off-road hillclimbs, including a run in a Fiat 124 in the Mount Washington Climb to the Clouds.

She took another step in her off-road journey by making her debut in the 2018 SCORE International championship, a series of Baja races held in the desert of Mexico. Her vehicle was her Trophy Truck, which she ran in the Spec TT class. She was eighth in the class championship, with a fifth place in that year’s Baja 500 and a second in the Desert Challenge, the third round of the championship. 

After learning the courses successfully in 2018, she won the 2019 TT class championship.

In 2020, the coronavirus crisis limited some motorsport activity, although Sara managed to do some Baja events in both a UTV and a Trophy Truck. She also competed in Australia again in her Stadium Trophy Truck.

When Extreme E made public its decision to have male-female teams in all cars in 2021, Sara was the first driver to be announced for the championship. Her partner at Chip Ganassi Racing was Kyle LeDuc. They were one of the most stable partnerships, with both drivers completing all five rounds. The Chip Ganassi car was a standard Odyssey electric SUV with custom Hummer bodywork.

The team did not take the easy way through from the start. Kyle LeDuc was docked a point from their first-round total for causing a collision with Claudia Hurtgen’s ABT Cupra car during the Desert X Prix, leaving them eighth and last. Their best event was the Island X Prix in Sardinia, where Sara and Kyle were fourth, having qualified fifth. Sara, the more reliable driver, was seventh in the championship.

The Price/LeDuc pairing was retained by Ganassi for the 2022 season, although LeDuc was replaced for the final round in Uruguay by RJ Anderson. Sara won her first X Prix in Italy, although it was her only podium. She helped her team to fourth in the 2022 championship. This was her final season in Extreme E, as both drivers were replaced. LeDuc died of cancer in 2023.

She returned to baja events in the USA for 2023, winning rallies in California and Mexico as well as the Mint 400. Later, she moved into rally raids in a Can-Am, in preparation for a run in the 2024 Dakar. She won her class in the Sonora Rally in Mexico and was second in the Rallye du Maroc. Her car for the Dakar will be a Can-Am run by South Racing.

(Image courtesy of Extreme E)

Miki Onaga

Miki Onaga races a VITA sportscar in Japan, in both the all-female Kyojo Cup and in the mixed Inter Proto series for which that car is eligible. 

Born in 1997, she comes from Okinawa province, the most southerly island of Japan.

She is one of the Kyojo Cup’s leading drivers, finishing second in the 2019 championship having joined for the second round. On the pace from the start, she won straight away. This was the start of a championship battle with Hinako Muramatsu, which lasted until the final round. Muramatsu won. 

The same year, she used her Vita prototype for the Suzuka Race of Asia, competing in the Vita one-make race. This is the mixed counterpart of the Kyojo Cup.

She entered the Kyojo Cup again in 2020 and was second overall, as well as competing in the Super Taikyu Championship in a Toyota GT86, driving for a Toyota-supported junior team. The Kobe Toyopet Motorsports car made its debut in October at the 3 Hours of Okuyama, where the three-driver team was fourth in class.

She returned to Super Taikyu in 2021, racing a Toyota Yaris, as well as finishing second in the Kyojo Cup again. The Yaris was a GR model run by the Kobe Toyopet team again. Early in the season, Miki and her two team-mates won their class at Motegi, the first of three class victories.

The Kyojo Cup title went back her way in 2022 with three out of four race wins. The fourth resulted in a penalty, otherwise she would have won that too.

In 2023 she was announced as a driver in the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR86/BRZ one-make cup, but no results seem to be forthcoming. Returning to the Kyojo Cup at the end of the summer season, she was second again, with one win.

Her senior career began in 2019, but she was both active and successful in karting for two years before that, competing in the All Japan Regional Championship and the Dunlop Next Cup. She was the first driver chosen for the Exgel Race Car First Challenge, a programme for karters transitioning to cars. It used the Vita prototype, giving her an advantage for her Suzuka debut.

(Image copyright Exgel Motorsport)

Clementine Lhoste

 

Clémentine Lhoste is a French driver who specialises in ice racing, having won against both women and men.

She first came to prominence in the Andros Trophy during the 2015-16 season, winning the “Ice Girls” ladies’ trophy. This was a one-make series for Sprint Car cross-buggies. After a slow start to the season, she became a dominant force, winning six Superfinals and finishing fifty points ahead of her nearest rival, Aurore Louison. This was her first full season of ice racing, although she had taken part in some Trophée Féminin races the previous year. At sixteen, she was the youngest driver to race in the Andros Trophy. 

She was supported in her early racing attempts by Dominique Dubourg, himself an Andros regular. 

Her second full Andros Trophy was contested in the Electric car class, with the Loxam team. The entire championship is now electrically-powered, but it was then a separate one-make class and relatively new. She was seventh, with a best finish of fifth at Alpe d'Huez. 

Another season in the Electric class followed at the end of 2017, as Loxam’s only electric entry. She was sixth overall after a consistent set of races. The following year, she earned her first podium, a third place in the qualifying race at Isola 2000.

Moving on after the entire championship went electric, she was seventh in the Elite class during the 2019-2020 season, with a best finish of second at Val Thorens. Although Ice Girls no longer ran as a separate category, Clementine regained her Andros Coupe des Dames this year. This was her first year as a member of Sylvain Pussier’s team, driving alongside Pussier himself.

The following year, she was fourth in Elite, driving for Sylvain Pussier Competition. She won three rounds outright at Lans en Vercours and Val Thorens, finishing ahead of multiple women’s champion, Margot Laffite and just three points behind third-placed Natan Bihel. Pussier himself won the class championship, despite having the same number of wins as Clementine.

The Pussier team used the Loxam electric Peugeot 208 for the 2021-22 season. Clementine had her share of troubles, not always qualifying well, but she won the Superfinal of the Isola 2000 round outright on her way to a fourth place in the championship. She was second in the Lans en Vercours round, but then had an indifferent Super-Besse weekend, meaning that she could not catch Bihel for third.

She remained part of the Pussier set-up for the 2022-23 season as one of their Elite drivers, sharing the car with Jimmy Clairet. It was a frustrating year for her as she often struggled for pace in the Peugeot and she lost her Ladies' crown to Margot Laffite. 

She did train with the French RX Academy for young rallycross hopefuls in 2019, but prefers to compete on the ice in winter rather than the mud in summer.

(Image copyright Le Progres/DR)

Extreme E

Extreme E is an off-road, rallycross-style championship for Odyssey electric SUVs. Teams of one male and one female driver share a car and complete one lap of the course each during a race.

The series tries to highlight environmental issues by visiting remote locations affected by climate change and pollution. In the first season, this included the Greenland ice sheet, Lac Rose in Senegal and the AlUla desert region of Saudi Arabia. It was developed by Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E. The inspiration for mixed teams came from Agag’s love of tennis, where mixed doubles is still played.

The inaugural season ran for five rounds, although the locations changed from those originally planned, due to difficulties caused by the coronavirus crisis. It began in Saudi and passed through Senegal, Greenland, Sardinia and Dorset, UK. All of the Odyssey cars, team equipment, charging bases and some of the personnel moved between sites on the RMS St Helena, a refitted mail ship. Spectators and extraneous media personnel were not allowed, to reduce the footprint of each XPrix.

As team size was kept minimal, the series provided two “championship drivers”, Timo Scheider and Jutta Kleinschmidt, who were able to substitute for anyone unable to compete at short notice. Jutta Kleinschmidt was called into action after Claudia Hurtgen’s roll in Saudi and took the female Cupra seat for the rest of the season. Tamara Molinaro was drafted in as championship driver. Some teams, such as Veloce, had their own reserve drivers for planned absences. Jenson Button, owner of JBXE, pulled out after the first round to concentrate on management and was replaced by Kevin Hansen, competing alongside his brother Kevin.

Molly Taylor and Johan Kristofferson were the first winners, driving for Nico Rosberg’s Rosberg X Racing, ahead of Cristina Gutierrez Herrero and Sebastien Loeb in X44’s Odyssey. The X44 team is owned by Lewis Hamilton.

Season 1 Championship Table

1. Molly Taylor/Johan Kristofferson (Rosberg X Racing)

2. Cristina Gutierrez/Sebastien Loeb (X44)

3. Catie Munnings/Timmy Hansen (Andretti United Extreme E)

4. Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky (JBXE)

=Kevin Hansen (JBXE)

5. Laia Sanz/Carlos Sainz (Acciona Sainz XE Team)

6. Mattias Ekstrom (Abt Cupra)

=Jutta Kleinschmidt (Abt Cupra)

        7. Sara Price (Segi TV Chip Ganassi)

        =Stephane Sarrazin (Veloce)

        8. Kyle LeDuc (Segi TV Chip Ganassi)

        9. Christine Giampaoli Zonca/Oliver Bennett (Xite Energy Hispano Suiza)

        10. Jamie Chadwick (Veloce)

        11. Emma Gilmour (Veloce)

        12. Jenson Button (JBXE)

        =Lance Woolridge (Veloce)

        13. Claudia Hurtgen (Abt Cupra)

A new team, McLaren, joined for the 2022 championship. Its drivers are Emma Gilmour, who sat in for Jamie Chadwick at Veloce when she was on W Series duty, and Tanner Foust. Other changes in personnel happened for Season 2 and the championship drivers were called into action several times. There were five rounds in 2022, held in Saudi, Sardinia (two races), Chile and Uruguay. Defending champion Molly Taylor only did two rounds as a championship driver this year.

Season 2 Championship Table

1. Cristina Gutierrez/Sebastien Loeb (X44 Vida Carbon Racing)

2. Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky/Johan Kristofferson (Rosberg X Racing)

3. Laia Sanz/Carlos Sainz (Acciona Sainz XE Team)

4. Sara Price (GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing)

5. Kyle LeDuc (GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing)

6. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Abt Cupra XE)

7. Emma Gilmour/Tanner Foust (Mclaren XE)

8. Klara Andersson (Abt Cupra XE)

9. Catie Munnings/Timmy Hansen (Genesys Andretti United Extreme E)

10. Kevin Hansen (JBXE)

11. Tamara Molinaro (Xite Energy Racing)

12. Hedda Hosas (Veloce Racing/JBXE)

13. Timo Scheider (Xite Energy Racing)

14. Molly Taylor (Veloce Racing/JBXE)

15. Oliver Bennett (Xite Energy Racing)

16. RJ Anderson (GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing)

17. Lance Woolridge (Veloce Racing)

18. Christine Giampaoli Zonca (Veloce Racing)

19. Jutta Kleinschmidt (Abt Cupra XE)

20. Ezequiel Perez Companc (Xite Energy Racing)

21. Fraser McConnell (JBXE)

For 2023, the Xite team was taken over by DJ and motorsport mogul Carl Cox. There were ten races spread across four locations: Saudi, Scotland, Sardinia and Chile. The two female championship drivers were Tamara Molinaro and Christine GZ, who stepped back from a full-time drive. Both got to make starts. McLaren driver Emma Gilmour was unfortunately injured in a crash in Scotland and had to pull out. She will not return in 2024.

Season 3 Championship Table

1. Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky/Johan Kristofferson (Rosberg X Racing)

2. Laia Sanz/Mattias Ekstrom (Acciona Sainz XE Team)

3. Molly Taylor/Kevin Hansen (Veloce Racing)

4. Cristina Gutierrez/Fraser McConnell (X44 Vida Carbon Racing)

5. Amanda Sorensen/RJ Anderson (GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing)

6. Klara Anderson (Abt Cupra XE)

7. Catie Munnings/Timmy Hansen (Andretti Attawkilat Extreme E)

8. Tanner Foust (Mclaren XE)

9. Hedda Hosas (JBXE/McLaren)

10. Sebastien Loeb (Abt Cupra XE)

11. Timo Scheider (Carl Cox Motorsport)

12. Andreas Bakkerud (JBXE)

13. Emma Gilmour (Mclaren XE)

14. Lia Block (Carl Cox Motorsport)

15. Christine GZ (Carl Cox Motorsport)

16. Nasser al-Attiyah (Abt Cupra XE)

17. Tamara Molinaro (JBXE)

18. Adrien Tambay (Abt Cupra XE)

19. Heikki Kovalainen (JBXE)

(Image copyright Zak Mauger/Extreme E)