Sarah Rumeau

 

Sarah Rumeau is a French rally driver who had her first season of competition in 2021, finishing thirteenth in the French junior championship and winning a French women’s title. 

Her entry into rallying came after a single year spent racing a Caterham in France. This brought her to the attention of the FFSA’s Rallye Jeunes programme, which produced Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier. She made the final of its selection event and was the best female driver. Initially, she wrote off rallying as unaffordable for her, but she managed to put a schedule together for 2021.

She started off in a Ford Fiesta but switched to a Peugeot 208 in September. Her first rally in it was the Mont Blanc-Morzine Rally, and she was 67th from 163 finishers. It was in this car that she had her best finish of the year, a 22nd place in the Antibes-Cote d’Azur Rally with a Junior class win. The Fiesta was not as quick as the Peugeot. She managed one of her four women’s class wins on the Rallye Aveyron-Rouergue Occitanie, but her results were notably not as strong.

Her new car for 2022 was an Opel Corsa Rally4. She began her year with a Coupe des Dames in the Rallye Le Touquet - Pas-de-Calais, finishing 40th out of 124 crews with Julie Amblard, her regular navigator. Another ladies’ win was supplemented with a second place in Rally4 in the Rhone Charbonnieres event, 25th overall. This was one of four Rally4 runner-up spots she earned in 2022, helping her to second in the 2WD Tarmac championship and also in the Amateur Trophy. Her best overall finish was a 22nd place in the Rallye d’Antibes - Cote d’Azur, although she was a consistent top-25 finisher this year, sometimes in events with a longer list of finishers.

Her plans for 2023 included moving on to a Rally3-spec car, but she remained with a Rally4 Peugeot, as well as an Opel Corsa-e Rally, an electric car in a one-make series. She travelled throughout Europe with the Corsa-e and was competitive, finishing fourth in the championship. Her best finish was third, in the Rallye Mont-Blanc-Morzine. In the Peugeot, a 208, her best finish was 23rd in the Terre de Vaucluse Rally.

At the start of 2024, Sarah and Julie were picked up by the Iron Dames team as their first rally drivers. They entered the French Tarmac and Gravel championships in a Ford Fiesta Rally2. Sarah's pace instantly improved and she was sixth in her first event in the car, the Rallye Nationale de la Cote Fleurie. She was a consistent top-ten finisher on both surfaces, with a best finish of fifth, achieved twice in the Aveyron Rouergue-Occitanie and Terre de Lozere rallies, one asphalt and one gravel. Her final championship position in both championship was sixth and she picked up another ladies' trophy.

In 2025, she will be competing again for the Iron Dames in a Citroen C3 Rally2, taking on the World Championship this time.

Prior to her motorsport career, she played handball competitively.

(Image copyright Sarah Rumeau)