Female Rally Drivers Around the World: the Netherlands

 

Most of the entries in this post were previously part of other posts relating to European rally drivers.

Angelique Aufderhaar (pictured) - usually rallies a Ford Escort RS2000 in the Netherlands, with frequent outings in Germany. She has been active since at least 2008 and for the first couple of seasons, she used a MkI Escort. Her best results have been on different versions of the Hellendoorn Rally, with a twelfth place in the 2019 Hellendoorn Historic event her highest finish. In 2013, she was also thirteenth in the Hellendoorn Short Rally. Other cars she has rallied include a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV, which she used on and off between 2018 and 2021. In 2022, she concentrated on German events, in the RS2000. She did two Dutch rallies and one German event in 2023, finishing the Rallye Ostwestfalen in 38th place. In 2024, she finished one rally in the Escort, finishing 46th in the Legend Boucles a Bastogne event in Belgium.

Lieke Bouman (Dautzenberg) - driver and co-driver active since at least 2001, when she co-drove for her brother, Bob Dautzenberg. Since then, she has won rallies as a navigator with different drivers. As a driver, she favours small cars, most recently a Renault Clio but also a Renault 5 and a Nissan Sunny. She specialises in shorter sprint rallies, usually in the Netherlands or Belgium, but often in Germany as well. Her best result has been an eighth place in the 2017 Twente Short Rally, driving a Honda Civic. This helped her to the Dutch ladies’ title that year. More recently, she was ninth in the 2019 JUMBO Short Rally, driving a Clio. She returned to competition in 2022 after a break and was 26th in the GTC Rally, in the Clio. 

Louk Heidendahl – Dutch driver who was active in the 1960s. She was a regular on the Tulip Rally, and first entered in 1960, driving a DKW Junior with Ida de Fouw. The same pairing were 29th in 1961, this time driving a Saab 96. In 1962, she was fourth in the Ladies’ standings, and 59th overall, in the Saab, with erstwhile driver, Diana van Strien, on the maps. It was back to the DKW in 1963, but a change to an Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce in 1964 brought her a pleasing 25th place. In 1965, she moved over to the co-driver’s seat, with Joop Heidendahl, in a Mercedes. She seems to have stopped rallying after that.

Marieke van Kamperdijk (Rietveld) - rallied a Peugeot 206 in the Netherlands in 2017. She was runner-up in a Dutch ladies’ championship held that year and got her season off to a strong start with an eighth overall in the Zeebodem Short Rally. She was also thirteenth in the Centraal Nederlands Short Rally. Her only rally outside the Netherlands was the Gronegau event in Germany. Despite her relatively strong debut year, she does not appear to have competed again. 

The Countess von Limburg-Stirum (Marie) – competed in rallying before and after the Second World War. Her first attempt at the Monte Carlo Rally seems to have been in 1937, co-driving a Ford with Miss van Vredenburgh. They were fourth in the Coupe des Dames rankings. Driving herself, with von Vredenburgh on the maps, she was twelfth in the 1949 Monte, and won the Coupe des Dames, still in a Ford. The Ford was brought out again for the 1950 Monte. The Countess got to the finish in 131st place, assisted by Mrs. Stahl Wytema. In April of that year, she was part of a four-woman team in a Ford Vedette, in the Tulip Rally.

Diana van Strien – Dutch driver who competed in the Tulip Rally on at least three occasions, between 1960 and 1962. The first two rallies were as a driver, in a Renault Gordini, and she was co-driven by Truus van der Voorst Vader. In 1962, she was the co-driver to Louk Heidendahl, another Dutchwoman, in a Saab 96. Diana was from a motorsport family, and the 1960 Tulip Rally was not her first involvement with the sport. She is recorded in 1957 as taking part in the Vaals hillclimb, a round of the Dutch Touring Car Championship, in a Ford Taunus. She was second in class, and defeated her mother, whose name is not given. Diana may well have co-driven for her mother in rallies at about this time.

Titia Westerhof - Dutch driver active in the 1970s and early 1980s. She almost always drove an Opel Kadett, although she did try out an Opel Ascona and a  Renault 5 towards the end of her career in 1980. She entered the Tulip Rally three times, beginning as a works Opel entry in 1977. Her best year was 1978, when she won the Netherlands National class and finished 23rd overall. Her best outright finish came during the same year: she was eleventh in the AMAC International Rally. Mainly, she competed in the Netherlands, although she also entered some Belgian rallies, including the 1979 Condroz event, and one Swedish rally. The Sjuharadsnatta Opel Rally Jamboree was held on snow, as opposed to her favoured asphalt.

(Image copyright Lars Smook/tubantia.nl)

Maud Manville

 

Maud Manville raced Daimlers in the UK and Europe in 1905 and 1906. 

She was a contemporary and rival to Dorothy Levitt, her equivalent at Napier, although her public profile was not as high.

Her interest in practical motoring dated back to at least 1904, when she drove her Daimler from London to Germany in order to watch the Gordon Bennett races. The same year, she impressed reporters at a meeting of the Ladies’ Automobile Club with her “splendid Daimler carriage” decorated with flowers. In August, she entered the Bexhill Speed Trials and won her heat in an 18hp Daimler. The car was in the well-supported class for cars costing between £2750 and £3750.

She competed in the inaugural Brighton Speed Trials in a 35hp model. She lost out to Claudia Lasell in the main draw, but won a race for 35hp Daimlers against male drivers. A Ladies’ Handicap was also held and she reached the final, losing to Mrs Herbert Lloyd in her own Daimler.

In the same car, she drove in the Herkomer Trial in Germany in 1905 and 1906. She did not finish the 1905 Trial, but won her class the speed trial section, going faster than several larger cars including Willy Poge’s 60bhp Mercedes, which won a later timed section. 

The following year, she finished the event in eleventh place. 

Born Maud Wallis, her husband was Edward Manville, who was the chairman of Daimler, and they competed against each other. In 1906, they were both participants in the Herkomer Trophy. When Maud heard that Edward’s car had suffered a puncture, she reportedly asked the German official observer in her car whether she would be allowed to stop for “a cry”.

Maud was an early member of the Ladies’ Automobile Club, joining in 1903, who encouraged its members to try competitive driving. She drove in at least two of the club’s gymkhanas, winning a “Bomb Race” in 1905.  In 1906, not long after her return from the Herkomer Trial, she was yet again one of the winning drivers in the club’s annual gymkhana, held at the Ranelagh Club. She won the Bending Race and was second in a “Tilting at the Ring” competition. This was a game adapted from an equestrian event where a contestant in a moving car had to catch a hanging ring with a lance or similar. 

The same year, she gave a talk to the club about her experiences in the Herkomer Trophy.

Her motoring career seems to end after 1906. She died in 1909, aged 37. 

(Portrait by Amata Bouwens, 1901)

Janine Shoffner (Hill)

Janine Hill, now known as Janine Shoffner, is a British-born American driver racing mostly in Europe. She won the FIA Am GT3 class of the 2021 VLN championship, driving a Mercedes.

She first got into motorsport quite late in life, in her 40s, although adventure sports had always been part of her life. In 2000, she was a professional skydiving photographer who completed several jumps a day. She also rode motorbikes on the road and still rides horses.

After gaining her racing license in 2011, she competed in club races. She formed Team J-2 with her partner John in 2012, initially racing a Porsche and a Ford GT. A trip to the Nurburgring in 2013 led to Janine meeting the late Sabine Schmitz, who gave her some tuition in a road car around the legendary track. This in turn brought Janine and John into Sabine’s Frikadelli racing team.

In 2014, Janine was part of Frikadelli Racing’s second team in a Porsche Cayman, with Antony Ashley. They raced in the VLN, and put in some good performances, although a crash in round 12, when Ashley was driving, was a low point. 

Janine and Antony also raced a BMW E46 in the Zolder 24 Hours for Team J2, with John Shoffner and Domenico Solombrino. They did not finish. 

In 2015, Janine raced a Mazda Miata in the USA, as well as one of the satellite Frikadelli cars in the VLN. She drove a Renault Clio in the Nürburgring 24 Hours and was 93rd overall, as part of a four-driver team. She also drove the Frikadelli Porsche Cayman. 

In 2016, she continued as a Frikadelli driver, sharing a Porsche 997 in the Cup 2 class with John. The highlight of their season was probably a class second in the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

She raced in the 24 Hours with Shoffner again in 2017, along with Arno Klaasen and Duncan Huisman. They were 32nd overall in a Porsche 991. In the VLN, she earned seven podium finishes in the same car. 

The team reconvened in 2018, although their season in the Porsche was disrupted by an accident involving John. As a consolation they were fourth in their class at the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

She raced in both the VLN and most of the International GT Open championship in 2019, for GetSpeed Performance. Her car was a Mercedes AMG GT3. She and her team-mates won their class in one VLN race and finished the 24 Hours. In GT Open, she and John were fifth in the GTAM class with two second and two third places.  

The GetSpeed Mercedes was highly successful in its class in 2020; Janine and her team-mates won their class in one VLN race and were third in another, as well as earning a class third in the Nürburgring 24 Hours. 

The GetSpeed team, featuring Janine, won the Am FIA GT3 class of the 2021 NLS, driving the Mercedes to six wins from seven races. A fourth place in class for the 24 Hour race was also impressive, as the SP9 Pro-Am category was popular that year.

The GetSpeed Mercedes was in action in the 2022 GT Open, with Janine and Moritz Kranz sharing driving duties. The team was sixth in the Pro-Am class, with one second place at the Red Bull Ring.

(Image copyright Mercedes-Benz Group Media)

Rhea Sautter

 

Rhea Sautter races historic saloons and sportscars, mainly in Europe.

She has been competing in historics since 2010, having grown up in a historic racing family with several cars at their disposal. Her father Stefan Sautter also races, and they sometimes compete together.

Her main car is a turquoise 1961 Jaguar E-Type, which has been run by Gotcha Racing and also her family team. She raced often in the Historic Touring & GT category, and was seen in action at the Nürburgring’s Oldtimer Grand Prix. 

After a solid start in the car, she paired up with British racer Andy Newall in 2015 and formed a strong team capable of top-three finishes. One of their highlights was a pole position in the 2017 Jaguar Challenge at the Spa 6 Hours, which led to a second place in a field of 33 cars. They repeated this finish in 2018 and perhaps could have won, had Rhea herself not helped to change a condenser on winner Marcus de Oeynhausen’s car. She has said in interviews that the Spa 6 Hours is her favourite event.

Since 2015, the Sautter E-Type has been a regular entrant in the Masters Gentlemen Drivers Pre-’66 GT series, racing at Zandvoort, Brands Hatch, Estoril and Imola.

In 2015, she raced in Australia for the first time, taking part in the Phillip Island Historic Touring Car Championship. Her car was a Ford Mustang and she was eleventh overall. On her next visit to Australia, she took her E-Type to the Phillip Island Classic and finished 25th overall, driving solo. She has continued to make trips Down Under in both the Jaguar and an Austin A30, which she raced in 2017. As well as Phillip Island, she has raced at Winton for the Goldfields Cup, driving the Jaguar in 2019.

She raced the A30 in the UK in 2018, including runs in the Jack Sears Memorial Trophy at Goodwood and the HRDC race at Silverstone. 

Rhea was still racing the E-Type with Andy Newall in 2021. The pair were tenth in the Jaguar Classic Challenge at Thruxton in June. They won their class in the 2022 Le Mans Classic and raced at Goodwood and the Algarve Classic Festival in 2023.

Image copyright Balz Schreier

Celia Martin

Celia Martin is a French driver who raced in the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy, competing alongside Formula E.

Prior to her first race in the electric Jaguar at ad-Diriyah in Saudi, her motorsport experience was confined to the Nurburgring, and mostly in a testing role. 

Celia moved to Germany from her home in France in 2017 in order to pursue a career in motor racing, despite not being from a traditional motorsport background. Unusually, she moved from team management to racing herself, having run a Peugeot team in the Creventic 24 Hour Series before her relocation to Adenau. 

The Ring had been her goal since first driving round it in 2014. She did try out a few races in France, but set her mind to racing in Germany and learnt German in preparation for this, as well as studying law and business.

She picked up a role as a test driver and high-speed “Ring Taxi” chauffeur with Jaguar Land-Rover. As well as giving demo rides to visiting VIPs, she worked on the Jaguar XE SUV project in a testing capacity.

Her first race in Germany was not in a Jaguar but it was at the Nurburgring. In 2017, she did one round of the RCN, which is run as a time trial rather than a wheel-to-wheel race. Results for this are elusive but she may have been driving a Peugeot for the RACECOP team.

Her first wheel-to-wheel experience on the Ring was when she entered one round of the 2018 VLN series with the Mathol team, driving a BMW M235i. 

Her Jaguar connections helped to get her a race seat in the I-Pace eTrophy at the end of 2018. She raced for the Viessmann Jaguar Germany team in the Pro-Am class. The first few rounds were something of a trial for her and the team did not attend the Sanya race in China, but she came back an improved driver. She had her best overall result in Paris, sixth, and this was followed by eighth places in Monaco and Berlin. She was fourth in the Pro-Am class.

Celia did not return to the electric series the following season and went back to her first racing love, the Nurburgring, in late 2019. She joined Luxembourgish drivers Max Lamesch and Sebastien Carcone in their Renault Megane for the fifth round, then was drafted into the “Giti Angels” all-female team led by Carrie Schreiner. The “Girls Only” car was a VW Golf and Celia shared it with Carrie and Laura Kraihamer. Celia was eighth in the SP3T class at the end of the season, despite only having raced twice but scoring one class win and one second place.

The 2020 VLN (now renamed NLS) had a delayed start due to the coronavirus epidemic. Celia and Carrie did some of its esports equivalent together before teaming up again in June and finishing second in class. They then secured two further fourth places and one sixth in SP3T, along with Laura Kraihamer.

The team encountered a long series of car troubles during the Nurburgring 24 Hours, which was red-flagged during the night due to extremely heavy rain. Despite several lengthy pitstops, Celia and her team-mates managed to finish the race in 72nd place.

Away from the Girls Only team, Celia also made a guest appearance in one VLN round for the Hanger Zero team, double-driving with Girls Only. She and her team-mates Phil Hill and Kaj Schubert were third in class.

As part of another Girls Only team, this time in an Audi R8, she won her class in the Nurburgring 24 Hours, assisted by Pippa Mann, Carrie Schreiner and Christina Nielsen. They were 45th, despite problems during the race itself. Celia also joined the team for the first round of the NLS, helping Carrie Schreiner to a class win. In a different car, a BMW M4, she helped Christina Nielsen and Phil Hill to two class second places.

She had another run with Girls Only in the Nurburgring 24 Hours, this time driving an M4. The team - Celia, Pippa Mann. Carrie Schreiner and Fabienne Wohlwend - were third in class. This was her only Nurburgring race of the year.

Late in the season, she joined the Speed Demons Delhi team for the Indian Racing League, in which four-driver teams raced motorbike-engined single-seaters on Indian street circuits. The first round was cancelled due to a string of reliability issues and crashes in practice, then Celia herself crashed hard in the second round at Madras. The season didn't really get any better for her and she did not finish any more races.

Most of 2023 was spent in the ADAC GT4 series, driving an Aston Martin Vantage with Fabienne Wohlwend. They were not hugely competitive and finished 34th in the championship. Driving the same car, they had more luck in the NLS, scoring one third place in the SP10 class. This year's Girls Only team - Celia, Fabienne, Pippa Mann and Beitske Visser - finished the Nurburgring 24 Hours, second in their class and 81st overall.

She was part of the Iron Dames second squad for 2024, racing a Lamborghini Huracan in the Michelin Le Mans Cup with Karen Gaillard. Her best race was at Paul Ricard; she and Karen qualified on pole and finished second. They were also fifth at Mugello, and sixth overall in the championship.

With ProSport this time, Celia also shared an Aston Martin Vantage with three other drivers for one round of the VLN.

(Image from auto360.de)

Asja Zupanc

Asja Zupanc is a Slovenian driver with many top-ten finishes in European rallies. She won the Mitropa championship in 2011. 

She began as a navigator in 2002, sitting beside Tine Milic in a Peugeot 106 on the Rally Saturnus. Between 2005 and 2008 she was the regular navigator ro Boris Pozeg, mainly in Slovenia. This followed four years of teenage karting. At this time, Asja was undecided between rallying and circuit racing. She was a leading driver in the Slovenian Fiat Seicento one-make series in 2003 and 2004, winning several races and the 2003 Fiat championship.

Her first events in the rally driving seat were in 2005, when she drove an EZ Racing Nissan Micra in Slovenian rallies. Until 2008, she only competed sporadically as a driver, using cars including a Zastava Yugo and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI. The best of her early results was probably a 22nd place in the Rally Maribor, driving the Micra. She was still dividing her time between rallying and other motorsport at this point, competing in hillclimbs. 

She began rallying seriously as a driver in 2009, using a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. In events across Europe she managed to get into the top twenty, with a best finish of eleventh in the Slovenian Rally Primorje Ajdovscina. 

In 2010, driving the same car, she improved dramatically, with five top-ten finishes in Germany, Slovenia, and Austria. Her best finish was third in the Rallye Baden-Württemberg in Germany. She was also fourth in the ADAC Drei-Städte-Rallye. Her results left her second in the Mitropa Rally Championship. For her last event of the year, the Rally Porec in Slovenia, she joined up with navigator Blanka Kacin, who would sit beside her for most the rest of her career.

In her next season, 2011, she won the Mitropa championship after being the fastest Mitropa driver in the Baden-Württemburg Rally, the Citta di Bassano Rally in Italy and the Drei-Städte-Rallye. This was also the scene of her best overall result of the year: seventh. 

In 2012, she had a full schedule spread over a smaller area, mainly based in Germany. Her best result was a second third place in Baden-Württemburg, albeit in a different Lancer Evo IX. She picked up another third place in the Stemweder Berg Rally and a fourth in the Voralpen Rally. Mid-season, she entered the Freilassinger Schotter Sprint, a rare rallysprint outing, and was rewarded with second place.

Her only international outing was the Sibiului Rally in Romania, a round of the International Rally Challenge, and she finished tenth.

Her 2013 programme took in a wider selection of rallies, including the Croatia Rally which was then a European championship event. She was eleventh and picked up her first ERC Ladies’ points. Her best results of the year were four fifth places, two in Germany and two in Slovenia. They came from the Saturnus, Idrija, Pegasus Rally Sulinger and Litermont events. She also competed in Austria and Italy. Her cars were both Lancer Evo IXs, although two different chassis.

In 2014, she rallied the Lancer in Central European Zone events, in the European Championship. She scored three top-ten finishes, including a fifth place in the Fuchs Rallye Velenje in Slovenia and sixth in the Rebenland Rally in Austria. She was eleventh in the Mitropa championship.

She retired from competition after this but still works as a precision driver for film and TV, a role she first took up in 2007. She made a one-off guest appearance at the 2022 Rally Show Santa Domenica in Croatia, driving the Lancer with Blanka Kacin. They were twelfth overall.

(Image copyright Martin Trdla)

Delia Stegemann

Delia Stegemann was the first winner of the Ford Fiesta Lady Cup in Germany. She also raced single-seaters up to Formula 3.

The Lady Cup in 1982 was her first experience of motorsport. She was chosen from an initial shortlist of 1400 prospective women drivers put forward by Ford dealerships. During the next stage of a selection process judged by the likes of Manfred Winkelhock, she was put through to the final group of 20 drivers and made her first start that summer, aged 19.

Delia was one of the leading drivers in the Lady Cup from quite early on and was eventually named joint champion with Anette Meeuvissen. There was some debate over which driver should receive the honour, as both were tied on points although Anette had more wins. Both were named champion at different points before being jointly awarded the prize money.

Her debut may have been in a saloon car, but she was soon gravitating towards single-seaters. In keeping with the usual route into formula racing, she began in Formula Ford in 1983. Her best Formula Ford finish was third at the Nürburgring in a Royale. 

Delia entered at least one more Lady Cup in 1984 and had probably been part of the 1983 grid too. She was fourth in 1984, ahead of 1983 champion Claudia Ostlender.

She took part in German Formula 3 between 1985 and 1987. Initially she drove for the Team Lechner Racing School, although her debut was limited to a one-off end-of-season race at the Nürburgring. She was tenth, from fifteen finishers. This was combined with some races in the German Formula Ford 2000 championship, where she finished eleventh.

She did most of the German F3 season in 1986, missing only two of the eleven races. Her car was a Ralt RT30 run by Werner Schroder Racing. The season was not a great success, with four fifteenth places as her best finishes. Apparently she also raced a Martini during the season, but it is not always clear which car she was in for which race. 

In 1987 she had an updated car in the form of a Ralt RT31, but it was only another one-off Nürburgring appearance for Monninghoff Racing, leading to a 17th place. 

She was last active in 1991 when she was 66th in the Nürburgring 24 Hours in a Fiesta XR2. She used the same car in the Fiesta Mixed Cup, sharing it with Josef Venc. They scored one second place.

The VW Polo Ladies' Cup Turkey

Ann Tahincioglu, Nuray Esener and Melis Ceker

The Volkswagen Polo Ladies’ Cup was an all-female one-make series which ran in Turkey between 2005 and 2006. It was announced as part of a package of new club championships for Turkey in the wake of the opening of the Istanbul grand prix circuit.

The entry list contained a mixture of experienced circuit racers, drivers from other disciplines (including rally co-drivers), women who had achieved fame in other sports and a few celebrities. 2005 champion Ann Tahincioglu had been involved in Turkish motorsport for years and was the oldest driver at 49. Nuray Esener and Sanem Celik also had circuit experience. Didem Coksayar and Melis Ceker had co-driven in rallies; 2006 entrant Burcu Cetinkaya had been a Turkish ladies’ rally champion. Yasemin Dalkilic had set records in freediving and Zeynep Ozenc had represented Turkey in volleyball. The celebrity drivers included fashion designer Secilay Du Pre. 2006 champion Gunes Ippekan started the 2005 Cup as a complete novice and was also the youngest driver, at 25.

Seventeen cars lined up for the first race at Izmit Bay. The championship’s other three rounds were held at Istanbul. An additional race was held at Lausitz in Germany as a guest support for the DTM.

A 1900cc turbodiesel version of the Polo was used. Cars were run by various teams with different sponsorship deals.

In 2006, two drivers in the championship received a guest entry into a round of the DTM-supporting German Polo Cup. Champion Gunes Ippekan and fifth-placed Melis Ceker made the trip to the Netherlands for their two races.

Championship results

2005

1. Ann Tahincioglu
2.  Nuray Esener
3.  Melis Ceker

2006

1. Gunes Ippekan
2. Ann Tahincioglu
3. Nuray Esener
4. Ebru Sile
5. Melis Ceker
6. Ayse Sule Bilgic
7. Demet Kapani
8. Yasemin Dalkilic
9. Didem Coksayar
10. Aysa Alparslan

(Image copyright nurayurkmez.com)

Janina Depping

Janina (left) with Ina Schaarschmidt

Janina Depping was one of Germany’s foremost female rally drivers of the early 2000s. She is most associated with the Mitusbishi Lancer.

She took part in seven World Championship rallies during her seventeen-year career: three of them were the 2004, 2007 and 2011 editions of the Rallye Deutschland. The best of these for her was the 2011 Rallye, when she finished 38th overall but ninth in class, driving a Lancer Evo IX. Her earliest WRC experience was in 1997, when she was just nineteen. She competed in the Rallye Sanremo and the Tour de Corse in a Ford Escort and Skoda Felicia respectively. She would revisit these two rallies once more, finishing the 1998 Sanremo event in a Mitsubishi Carisma.

Earlier, she had been eighth in a pre-WRC Rallye Deutschland, in 1999. Her car was a Ford Escort RS Cosworth; she would have one of the best seasons of her career in it. That year, she was also fifth in the International ADMV-Pneumant-Rallye and seventh in the Van Staveren-Zuiderzeerally, as well as recording top-ten finishes in five other rallies. She was eighth in that year’s German championship.

The early success she experienced in her career came from having started young. Janina grew up around rallies: her father Bernd Depping competed in the 1980s when she was a child and her uncle Dieter Depping was a multiple German champion in the 1990s, sometimes with Janina’s aunt, also called Janina, as co-driver. She began rallying herself in 1996, at 18. Her first event was the Baumholder Hunsruck National Rally, held on the same military range as Rallye Deutschland. She drove the Escort, although she quickly switched to a Suzuki Swift for the rest of the year and some of 1997. 

Her only outright win came in 1999. She was the victor in the Hunsruck Junior Rallye, driving a Proton Wira.  

In 2008, she was runner-up in the Group N class of the European Rally Challenge, after a string of strong finishes. She competed in the Netherlands and Belgium that year as well as Germany, driving a Lancer Evo VII, a car she used for five seasons, including a second one in the ERC in 2009. Her best finish that year was a tenth place in the Lausitz Rallye. Sadly, her events in the Netherlands and Italy led to retirement. 

After a year off in 2010, she returned to the stages in 2011, and was 38th in the Rallye Deutschland in a new Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. Later in the year, she was seventh in the ADAC Rallyesprint.eu, against 59 other drivers.

In 2012, she used the same car in a mixture of German championship rallies. She was second and fourth in the two ADMV Wedemerk Rallye events, ninth in the Sachsen Rallye and eighth in the Rallye Erzgebirge. This represented a return to form after a couple of years spent more on the sidelines.

In 2013, she continued to compete in German events, recording an eighth place in the Sachsen Rallye and a class win on the Grabfeld Rallye, twelfth overall.

Sadly, she died following an accident on the Wartburg Rallye, in which her co-driver Ina Schaarschmidt also perished. Janina’s Lancer Evo IX had hit a tree at high speed and caught fire. Ina died at the scene and Janina succumbed to her injuries four days later. The pair had been working together since 2011.

(Image copyright Sascha Dorrenbacher)

Michelle Halder

Michelle Halder races in the German TCR series and became the first female driver to win a race outright in 2019. 

She was driving a Honda Civic Type-R and her historic win came at Zandvoort. The car is run by Profi-Car Team Halder, her family team. Michelle races against her brother Mike, who drives for the Profi-Car ADAC Honda team. Their respective team-mates, Marcel and Dominik Fugel, are also siblings.

Michelle started competing in the TCR championship full-time in 2018 in a SEAT Cupra, following some time in single-seaters. She earned her first podium positions this year: two overall second places at Most and Sachsenring. She was ninth in the championship. 

As well as TCR, she tried some more powerful machinery in the Audi Sport Seyffarth R8 LMS Cup, picking up a fifth place at Hockenheim as the best of her three finishes.

She has not always raced with a roof over her head; following a karting career that included a championship win in 2013, she initially gravitated towards the single-seater ladder. At the age of 16, she began her senior career in the ADAC Formula 4 championship.

It was a very steep learning curve and her best result in 2015 was a 20th place, in the last round of the season at Hockenheim. Her final championship position was 47th, and 19th in the Rookie standings. She was driving for the Engstler team. 

Another Formula 4 season beckoned for 2016, for Engstler. It turned out to be a part-season, and her best finish was 24th, at Hockenheim and Oschersleben. She missed the mid-part of the racing calendar and struggled for finances.

In 2017, she took her first steps in touring cars, racing a SEAT Leon in the STT (Spezial Tourenwagen Trophae) series with her brother, Mike. They earned a second and two third places at the Nurburgring and were tenth overall. This was Michelle’s first top-ten finish in cars and her first podium. 

She did consider a return to single-seaters in 2019 and was one of the initial 55 drivers under consideration for the all-female W Series. However, she chose to stick with TCR and ruled herself out of the W running before its first selection event, as the timetables of the two championships clashed. Her TCR victory was ironically overshadowed by the W Series finale.

2020 began in the German TCR series but the Halder team jumped ship to the European championship after deciding that they would get better value for money there. Michelle had already earned another podium at the Nurburgring in her Honda Civic. The first European round at Paul Ricard was a settling-in period and Michelle finished twelfth and thirteenth. In a very inconsistent and frustrating season, she won again at Zolder and had further top-ten finishes at Zolder, Monza and Catalunya. She was 15th in the championship.

Halder Racing entered a Cupra in to a couple of VLN races in the summer for Michelle and Mike, but they did not finish.

Michelle and Mike did much better in their 2021 VLN (now NLS) season. They were fourth in the SP3T class with one second and five third places.

Driving solo, Michelle competed in the Spanish TCR series, driving a Honda Civic. She was on the pace very quickly, sharing wins with her brother at Navarra in May, but two DNFs at Jarama followed and her chances of a title took a hit. She was third in the championship after another win at Valencia and three podiums at Barcelona.

Returning to European TCR, she ran for the full year. This was not a vintage season for Michele or the Halder Honda Civic; her best finish was thirteenth at the Norisring and she was 21st overall. A few guest appearances in the Danish TCR series at Jyllandsringen gave her an eleventh place.

A second season in TCR Denmark, driving the same car, gave her an eleventh place in the championship. Although she managed two fifth places early on at Jyllandsring and Djursland early on, her season was affected by several DNFs near the middle and missing the Bellahoj rounds completely.

In 2024, she switched her attention to sportscars, racing a Porsche 911 GT3. With her family team, she did two rounds of the Porsche Endurance Trophy at the Nurburgring. She shared the car with Mike. With a different four-driver team, including the rapper Smudo, she entered the Nurburgring 24 Hours. This Porsche was a concept car running on recycled biofuel. They were 53rd overall and won their class by default. The same team did two rounds of the VLN in the same car, winning their class in one race.

Her chief aim is to compete in the WTCR championship and she had put together a deal for 2021, although funding issues meant she had to scale back her plans.

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