Francesca Pardini

Francesca (right) instructing at Yas Marina

Francesca Pardini is most famous for her successes in sports prototype racing in Italy in the early 2000s.

She was the Italian Prototype title-winner in 2001 and has been described as the first woman to win an Italian sportscar championship outright. Her car was a Lucchini-Alfa Romeo, one of the oldest in the field. She won four races that year, starting with the season opener at Vallelunga. Her others were at Misano, Magione and Binetto.

This came after a runner-up spot in the same championship in 2000, following race wins at Mugello and Misano. She repeated this in 2003, having won one race and scored five podium finishes.

At the same time as her winning Protoytpe campaign, she raced in the Italian Ferrari Challenge, doing four events. Her best finish was ninth in a sprint race at Mugello. She also did some rounds of the Clio Cup in Italy.

Her sportscar career developed in tandem with single-seaters. In 2000, when she was 19, she did four rounds of the Light category of Open Telefonica Nissan, at Monza and Ricardo Tormo in Spain. She was driving for the Doors Engineering team. Her best finish was eleventh at Monza.

At the time, her ambitions were high. There was talk of her moving to America at the end of 2003 for either sportscars or the Indy development ladder, but this did not happen.

She came to England to race in Formula Palmer Audi in 2004. This was step down from Formula Nissan, but she had been out of a single-seater for a few seasons. She was a regular fixture in the top ten from the start, coming in seventh and sixth at Brands Hatch in the first round. These were her best finishes in the eight races she did before pulling out, although she was never out of the top ten when she finished. Her season seems to have been ended by an accident at the Nurburgring. 

At some point in 2004, she returned to Italy for some Prototype races. Her low final position suggests she only took part in a few races. She did at least the Vallelunga round and appears to have finished seventh.

Her activities since 2004 are less clear. During 2005, she took part in at least one VW Fun Cup event as part of a Uniroyal-sponsored ladies’ team, driving with Fun Cup regular Sabine Dubois and touring car racer Valentina Albanese. This appears to have been a limited programme. 

In 2015, she moved to Abu Dhabi to take on an instructing job. Remaining in the Gulf region, she became the only female race instructor to work in Saudi Arabia and the only one to take on female pupils. She also works as the Formula 2 paddock manager for the Gulf-based races and is a qualified steward.

She is the daughter of Guido Pardini, who also raced in Prototypes in the early 1990s. At first, she was not encouraged by her parents and her mother tried to interest her in ballet. She describes having begun racing at 16, in 1997, going straight into cars without any karting experience.

(Image copyright Donna Moderna magazine)

Yolanda Surer

Yolanda Surer (now Egger, previously Tavoli; given name also spelled Jolanda) is a Swiss driver who competed in Europe for almost 20 years, between 1987 and 2004. She was married to Swiss Formula One driver Marc Surer, from 1986 to 1993. At the time, she was a model and actress and it was through him that she got involved in motorsport. Initially not taken seriously, she quickly proved that she was capable of competing against some extremely talented opposition.

She was eleventh in the Swiss Formula Ford championship in 1989. The races were held in neighbouring countries. The following year, she moved up to Formula 3-level competition, beginning with the LISTA Formula 3 Trophy, a nominally-Swiss championship. Jo Zeller was that year's winner and Yolanda was eighth. She also made some appearances in the B class of German Formula 3, as part of Jacques Isler's team. She scored one point from two races, earning a tenth spot in her first race at Zolder. She was competing against eventual winner Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and Ellen Lohr, among others.

Part-seasons in both the German and Swiss F3 championships took up 1991. She was thirteenth in the Swiss series. In Germany, she drove for Opel Team Schuebler for the first and third rounds, before rejoining the Isler team for three further rounds later in the season. Her best finish was with Isler, coming in 15th at the Norisring. 

She moved to touring cars later, racing in German and Italian championships. Her first forays into tin-top competition were in the 1992 Nurburgring 24 Hours, where she shared a BMW 325i with Anette Meeuvissen and Gaby Sonnauer. They were 29th overall and second in class.

Her first full series in was the Group N-based German Touring Car Trophy in 1993, driving a BMW M3 for the Menton Automobilcenter team. She was on the pace straight away, winning her class in the first race at AVUS. The rest of the season gave her three seconds and three thirds, enough for seventh in the championship.

It was now time for her to move up the touring car ladder. This meant the 1994 German Touring Car Cup, which ran to Super Touring regulations. Her car was a BMW 318i prepared by BMW Team Isert. The first race, at AVUS, ended in a tenth place, racing against the likes of Audi drivers Frank Biela and Emmanuele Pirro and former Formula 1 driver, Thierry Boutsen. The BMW could not match the pace of the dominant Audis at the start of the season. Although Yolanda maintained a good finishing record, she was not able to catch up when some of the other BMW drivers began winning. Tenth remained her best finish and she was 22nd overall.

It was down to Italy for the 1995 Italian Super Touring Championship. She had been signed by BMW Italia and had Emmanuele Naspetti and Gianni Morbidelli as team-mates. After a bumpy start to the season with a non-finish and subsequent non-start, she got into her groove and became a top-ten regular. Her highest finish was fourth, which she achieved at Misano. This was one of two top-five finishes, along with her fifth place at Varano. Both times, she was the highest-placed BMW Italy driver. She was ninth in the championship.

Her second Italian season was not a full one; she left the championship after the Imola round in July. Her car was an BMW 320i this time, still run by BMW Italia. After a disastrous first round at Mugello, where she failed to finish Race 1 then didn't start Race 2, she picked up her pace again and had a best finish of seventh, at both Monza and Misano. She was twelfth in the championship.

She was also fourth in the 1996 Spa 24 Hours, in a Bastos Fina BMW, for a womens' team. Her co-drivers were Kate Rafanelli and Florence Duez.

After taking time out of her career to have children (she became pregnant while racing in the Renault Spider Cup in 1997), she returned in 2004, as Yolanda Tavoli. She drove a Honda S2000 for an all-female team in the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Her co-drivers were Gaby Roosen, Anja Wassertheurer and Friederike Moritz. They retired after 30 laps.

Not long after that, she retired from racing. She now owns and edits a German-language magazine.

(Image source possibly Marc Surer's Facebook)

Kornelia Olkucka

Kornelia Olkucka is a Polish single-seater racer who has competed in F4 across Europe.

She raced in CEZ F4 in 2024. This was her debut in cars and she raced for the Swiss Maffi team. The first two rounds at Balaton Park and the Red Bull Ring were tough for her, but she became a reliable finisher, with a best finish of sixth at Brno. Her team withdrew her from the last round at Salzburg and she was 17th in the championship, second of the three female regulars behind Michalina Sabaj.

Staying with the Maffi set-up, she entered the Formula Winter Series at the start of 2025. Her aims were mostly learning still, and she did finish all twelve races. This was in spite of some of them being rather incident-filled, including one at Valencia where her two of her rivals were penalised for pushing her off the track. Her best finish was at Catalunya, where she was 20th in the final race of the year. This was her second top-twenty after another at Valencia. She was 37th in the championship.

This was preparation for a season in Italian F4 in 2025. The Maffi team entered four drivers, two more experienced and two rookies, Kornelia and David Walther. The first round at Misano was a tough one; she was 27th in the first race, despite suffering tyre damage following contact, then 26th in her second heat, but she did not qualify for the final. The Vallelunga rounds were also in a heats-and-final format, and the weather was bad to boot. Kornelia finished one of her races in 22nd place, having spun out of Race 1 due to contact with another car. Again, she did not qualify for the final. At Monza and Mugello, she finished all three races both times, scoring a best result of 26th, at Monza. Unfortunately, she then had two DNFs at Imola. It was a chaotic meeting and Race 2 had to be cancelled completely after a startline pile-up. Kornelia received a three-place grid penalty for crashing into her team-mate in an attempt to avoid stationary cars. 

She did not better her 22nd place in the two remaining rounds, with one 24th place at Misano the best of her late season. Her final championship position was 50th.

Prior to her switch to cars, she was a karter from the age of 14, and represented Poland at the 2022 Motorsport Games in the Karting Endurance category. She has expressed interest in sports psychology and suggested it as a future career move.

(Image copyright Maffi Racing/Kornelia Olkucka)

Liliana de Menna

Liliana de Menna was a stalwart of the Italian touring car scene who was active between 1963 and 1994. 

Her first efforts were in races for small-engined saloons, when she competed under the name of "Liliana" in the hope that she wouldn't worry her family. She had got into motorsport after visiting the Vallelunga circuit with friends who raced; throughout her career, Vallelunga would remain her favourite circuit. She had seen world karting champion Susy Raganelli testing with her father and decided to try it for herself.

She won a saloon championship in her first year of racing, winning nine races outright. Her car was a 600cc Fiat 500 Montecarlo. 

The following year she won Class 2 of the Coppa Carotti hillclimb. She did several hillclimbs during her career; the Italian touring car championship was a combination of hillclimbs and circuit races at the time. In 1968, she finished the Cesano-Sestriere climb, in the middle of a group of Giannini Fiat 500s, as well as winning her class in the Bolzano-Mendola event.

She was the Italian ladies' champion in 1968. Her marriage to Italo Cantera did not slow her down and the pair even raced together in the Vallelunga 2 Hours one year. 

Some time at the end of the '60s, she had a daughter and took a lengthy hiatus from motorsport. She stopped attending race meetings because she didn't enjoy them without being able to compete herself. It wasn't until the late '70s that she came back. According to her, Giancarlo Naddeo asked her to join the Renault 5 one-make series, and she agreed. She also raced in single-make series for the Fiat 127 and MG Metro. This was the car she shared with her husband.

One-make racing led back to the Italian Touring Car Championship in the 1980s. In 1989, she raced at Pergusa in a Renault 5, coming 11th. She was then tenth at Vallelunga. For the second Vallelunga round, she shared an Audi Europa-run VW Golf with Michele Rayneri, but did not finish. 

She even raced for Lella Lombardi's team in the Italian Supertouring series in 1991, using a Ford Escort for the Pergusa 2 Hour race. Her team-mate was Walter Santus and they finished 18th. Earlier in the season, she had raced a Toyota Corolla in the Trofeo Mario Angiolini at Monza. 

Later in her career, she raced sportscars, including a Nissan 300ZX in 1992, which she used for that year's Vallelunga 6 Hours. She and Francesco Ramacciotti were 2st overall. In 1994, she entered the Italian Supercar GT championship in a Mazda RX-7, driving solo.  She was disqualified from the first meeting at Monza, but won her class twice at the next round, held at Magione. Her overall results were a fifth and fourth place. The next race she appeared in was round 5, at Varano, but she could only manage one twelfth place.

She raced in America for the first time in 1999, more than 30 years after she made her debut, when she did some rounds of the all-female Women's Global GT series, driving a Panoz Esperante. Her programme consisted of two guest appearances. 

She died in 2021.

(Image from Il Messaggero)

Arianna Casoli

Arianna Casoli races in the Whelen Euro NASCAR series. The Italian is the most prolific female driver in the championship and is one of its longest-standing competitors.

It was in 2016 that she first strapped herself into a stock car, aged 42. She raced in the Elite 2 development class and her car was a Ford, one of the championship's stock bodies. Her best finish was 15th, at Adria, and she was 19th in the championship, although she was that year’s top lady driver. Prior to her first races, she had only done a little testing in a car that was the most powerful and heaviest thing she had ever driven.

She fared better at the wheel of a CAAL Racing Chevrolet in 2017, almost getting into the top ten at Venray. She was 15th overall that year.

Another season in Elite 2 in 2018 gave her a championship 17th. She improved this to 15th in 2019, with a best finish of twelfth at Zolder.

An accident in 2020 threatened to end her Euro NASCAR adventure, but she completed the four-round championship, finishing tenth with a best finish of fifth at Zolder.

A full championship ran in 2021, with Arianna in the EuroNASCAR2 class. She was 18th in the championship, with one top-ten finish, a tenth place at Most.

She did a part-season in the same class in 2022, with a best finish of 17th at Brands Hatch. This was repeated in 2023.

Another EuroNASCAR season in 2024 ended with a trip to Brazil for the final rounds of the NASCAR Brazil series.

Her 2025 season with Speedhouse was cut short after the Spanish and Italian rounds. She was caught up in a multi-car incident at Vallelunga that seriously damaged her car and left her with a badly broken wrist, meaning that she had to sit out the rest of the season.

Prior to 2016, she raced in a number of one-make series in Italy, including the Saxo and MGF Cups, beginning in 1996, when she was 22. Her first car was a Renault Clio. This stopped in 2002 so she could finish her education and have children. She began racing seriously again in 2015 in the SEAT Ibiza Cup in Italy, having made a guest appearance in 2013 with her friend Valentina Albanese.

(Image copyright @suomi1985)

Tina Hausmann

 

Tina Hausmann is a Swiss driver racing single-seaters in Europe.

Her first experience of car racing, after some success in karts in Switzerland, was in the 2023 Formula Winter Series, a Formula 4 championship based in Spain. She surprised many with a fourth and third place in her first-ever events at Jerez, but the next round at Ricardo Torme was a disappointment for her, with a pair of DNFs. She only did half of the eight-race championship.

During the 2023 summer season, she contested both Italian F4 and its associated Euro4 championship but did not score any points. Her best finish was 16th at Paul Ricard. A Race 1 accident on the second lap at Misano led to her wthdrawal from the rest of the round, although she did return for the next races at Spa.

For 2024, she signed up for both the UAE F4 series and the all-female F1 Academy. Aston Martin selected her as its supported driver for F1A and she was part of the Prema team. Her team-mates Doriane Pin and Maya Weug had considerably more experience, with Doriane having raced at Le Mans and both having competed in FRECA. She started well with a sixth place at Jeddah, but was unable to match it until the end of the year, when she was fourth at Abu Dhabi. Usually, she was a top-ten finisher, but she has not yet got near the podium. Technical problems have played their part in this.

Her UAE campaign ended up being one round at Yas Marina, driving for Xcel Motorsport. She finished two of her three races, in 27th and 21st place.

Still with Prema, she concentrated exclusively on F1 Academy in 2025. In her second and last season in the series, she improved on her 2024 results, finishing more consistently in the top ten. Her best finish was fourth again, in Canada. She did have some regrettable accidents, including taking out Maya Weug on the formation lap at Las Vegas, but she also set a fastest lap in Canada.

Tina was previously active in karting and esports.

(Image copyright F1 Academy)

Victoria Blokhina

 

Victoria Blokhina races junior single-seaters in Europe. She currently competes under an Kyrgyz license although she is Russian.

She made her single-seater debut in 2022 aged 16. She entered the UAE F4 championship with R-ace GP and did 16 of the 20 championship rounds, sitting out the last meeting at Yas Marina in favour of Maksim Arkhangelsky. She usually finished, but struggled for pace and had a best finish of 19th at Yas Marina, early in the season. Her final championship position was 32nd. This was followed by a season in Italian F4 with PHM Motorsport, which yielded a 34th place, driving for PHM Racing. Her best finish by far was a twelfth place at the Red Bull Ring.

She also did three Spanish F4 races at Catalunya, finishing 28th twice. 

The UAE championship runs over the winter season and Victoria returned at the end of 2022, driving for the R2Race Cavicel team this time. A single outing in the non-championship Trophy race gave her a sixth and eleventh spot, her best of the year, driving for the Xcel team. Her season with R2Race was more of a challenge, and two 22nd places in the final meeting at Yas Marina were her high points. She was 44th in the championship.

Although she was eligible, she decided against entering the all-female F1 Academy and signed again for Italian F4. She rejoined the PHM team as part of a four-car squad. The early part of the season was more promising for her and she finished 15th at both Imola and Misano, one of three top-twenty finishes. Her year took an unwelcome turn at Spa, where she had a frightening crash in Race 1 which destroyed her car. Neither she nor Guido Luchetti, who sent her car flipping over into a barrier, were injured. She returned for the Monza round. At the end of the season, she was 35th in the championship and second in the three-driver women’s championship.

She moved up to Eurocup-3 in 2024, competing for the Drivex School team. Despite finishing eleventh in the season-opening, non-championship Aragon round, she struggled somewhat for pace. A twelfth place at Catalunya at the end of the season, from 20 finishers was a highlight.

She has been retained by Drivex for the 2025 Eurocup, and warmed up for the year with the Jerez races of the Winter series. She was 20th, 21st and 21st in her three races, then pulled out. She did not appear for the championship proper. despite being registered.

Prior to her F4 debut, she competed in karting internationally in 2019 and 2020. She was a finalist in the FIA Girls on Track competition in 2021.

(Image copyright PHM Racing)

Maurizia Baresi

 

Maurizia Baresi (left, with car 75) is an Italian rally driver from Cremona who won at least one national ladies’ championship in the 1970s.

She was a member of the famous all-female Team Aseptogyl in some of its later line-ups, in 1978 and 1979. By that time, the team was using Fiat 127s and mainly Italian drivers. The car proved unreliable in 1978, but she was reasonably successful in Italian rallies in 1979. Her best event was that year’s San Marino Rally, in which she was 24th. Her 35th place, with a class win, in the Rally Team 971 was also impressive as there 119 finishers and 186 entries. That year, her Aseptogyl team-mates included Caterina Baldoni, Isabella Bignardi and Betty Tognana. 

Isabella Bignardi would later join her in one of Aseptogyl’s last ventures, a multi-car, multinational women’s team for the 1983 Monte Carlo Rally. Maurizia was one of the few to qualify for the rally itself in her Alfasud Ti. Only the top 100 advanced to the points-scoring “Parcours Final”. She was classified 120th, fifth of the Aseptogyl crews.

The Monte was not an event in which she ever had much luck. She first tried in 1973, driving an Innocenti Mini Cooper, but the route taken by Stage 4 was blocked, meaning that a large number of cars, including Maurizia’s, went over the time limit and had to retire. She was already on the back foot, as she had prepared for the event in a Citroen and only fell back on the Mini very late.

The 1974 Monte was cancelled due to the fuel crisis so she entered again in 1975, in a Fiat 124 Abarth, but does not appear to have finished.

The Mini was her first rally car and she initially used it in hillclimbs. She would later describe it as her favourite car.

A big portion of her career was spent in the Trofeo A112 Abarth, a one-make series for the Lancia-associated compact car. She did two seasons in the championship in 1977 and 1978, first navigated by Anna Meli and then, usually, by Iva Boggio. Her best result was probably a ninth place in the 1978 Targa Florio Rally. Her next rally, the Costa Smeralda event, gave her an eleventh place.

After 1979 she only competed occasionally. In 1982, she entered a Porsche 930 Turbo into the Rally Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio, although she does not appear to have finished.  A few years later, in 1985, she drove a Ford Fiesta XR2 in the Rally Citta di Modena, finishing 43rd. She was part of another all-female team sponsored by Alitalia; her team-mate Daniela Angei was a few places above her and three other crews did not finish.

Throughout her career, Maurizia did not often compete outside of Italy, but in 1979, she travelled all the way to Brazil for the first Rally of Brazil, then a prospective WRC event. She and local navigator Ana Mulhen did not finish in their ethanol-powered Fiat 147.

Away from the special stages, she worked as a journalist and a photographer. She covered the Dakar Rally and other rally raids for Autosprint magazine, following the cars and bikes in both her own vehicle and a helicopter. Her interest in raids was sparked by her taking part in the 1979 Dakar as part of a truck crew.

She also taught law at a university.

(Image from http://www.nobresdogrid.com.br/)

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)

The Paris-Rome Rally

 

The Duchess d'Uzes waves off the starters

The Paris-Rome Rallye Feminin was held in 1932. It was organised by the French Automobile Club Feminin and was one of the last events in which the club’s founder, the Duchesse d’Uzes, was involved. The 83-year-old duchess signalled the start of the rally alongside Viscount Rohan-Chabot, the editor of the club’s magazine.

The drivers came from both France and Italy, with separate prizes for each nationality. Compared to some of the other events of the time, entrants had a distinctly upper-class slant, as opposed to the actresses and other performers who were often asked to take part. Among the Paris-Rome contestants was Laura Rospigliosi, an American socialite who had married into the Italian aristocracy, and Constance de Lubersac, a French-American heiress.

Frenchwoman Jeanne Terouanne was the winner, driving a Bugatti. She was a noted equestrian of her time. She and some of the other competitors also took part in the “rallye-ballon” events of the time, where cars followed a hot air balloon.

Despite the heavy presence of socialites on the entry list, the rally itself was quite a demanding journey, with a 1700km route. There were four stages: Paris to Lyon, Lyon to Nice, Nice to Pisa and Pisa to Rome. A half-kilometre speed trial and tests for steering and car control were held, with awards for each.

Results

1. Madame Jeanne Terouanne (Bugatti)

2. Baronessa Fiorenza Aliotti (Alfa Romeo)

3. Principessa Laura Rospigliosi (Lancia)

4. Madame Felix Goudard (Mathis)

5. Madame Calbet (Citroen)

6. Madame Mennesson (Talbot)

7. Comtesse Constance de Lubersac (Citroen)

8. Baronessa Marincola (Alfa Romeo)

9. Madame Frascani (Lancia)

10. Madame Carraro (Citroen)

11. Madame Spina (Citroen)

12. Madame Blandin (Renault)

Entered, did not finish:

Mademoiselle Gouvion (Citroen)

Madame Henriet (Citroen)

Madame Sainte-Marie (Talbot)

500m speed test: Principessa Laura Rospigliosi, 26.2s

Steering lock test: Baronessa Fiorenza Aliotti 

Braking and reversing test: Comtesse Constance de Lubersac

Acceleration and deceleration test: Madame Mennesson

When the rally arrived in Rome, club members were granted audiences with the Pope, the Italian royal family and other dignitaries. The party then carried on to Florence, where some of the drivers joined a mixed speed trial held by the Auto Club of Rome. This ran over two laps of a street circuit, totalling 8km. Jeanne Terouanne was fifth quickest, but the two fastest women were Suzanne Deutsch de la Meurthe, better known as a pilot, and rally driver Magdeleine de Ganay, who both drove Hispano Suizas. They were second and fourth respectively. Although not part of the rally itself, they had driven the route from Paris together in 33 hours.

Auto Club of Rome Speed Trial

1. Baron Edgardo Lazzaroni (Hispano Suiza)

2. Suzanne Deutsch de la Meurthe (Hispano Suiza)

3. Caragnani (Bugatti)

4. Magdeleine de Ganay (Hispano Suiza)

5. Jeanne Terouanne (Bugatti)

6. Prince de Schoenburg (Bugatti)

7. Marquis Lelio Pellegrini (Lancia)

8. Mademoiselle Steinbrugge (Bugatti)

9. M Frascani (Lancia)

10. Commendantore Lezzi (OM)

11. Madame Frascani (Lancia)

This was held over two laps of a circuit at Littorio, totalling 8km.

Image copyright Excelsior newspaper

Ivana Giustri

 

Ivana Giustri was an Italian driver who competed in both circuit racing and rallying, winning women’s titles in both.

The car she was most associated with is the Alpine-Renault A110. She entered the Giro d’Italia three times, between 1973 and 1975, in an Alpine each time. Her best finish seems to have been 44th, in 1974, driving with Bruno Bocconi for a second time. In 1975, she was part of an all-female team with Cica Lurani. Their result is not forthcoming.

Still with Renault power, she was invited to take part in a Monte Carlo Grand Prix support race in 1975. Twelve female drivers from around the world raced Renault 5s on the GP track, with Ivana finishing third. Promotional materials of the time describe her as having won eleven races  in a 1971 Group 4 championship and five in 1972, driving an Alpine-Renault.

Earlier in her rally career, she drove a Lancia Fulvia, between 1970 and 1972. Her first major rally seems to have been the Isola d’Elba event in 1972, a European Championship round. She did not finish. At the same time, she was campaigning the car in European hillclimbs. She won the Italian women’s rally championship on at least one occasion.

Later, in 1980, she entered the Vallelunga 6 Hours with Bruno Bocconi in a Porsche 930, but did not qualify. In between, she did at least two seasons in the Renault 5 Cup, in 1976 and 1979. The second was as part of an all-female team with Caterina Baldoni and Nicoletta Mista. Ivana had started the season as the favourite for the Ladies’ Trophy, but Nicoletta proved faster.

(Image copyright Luigi Calamai)

Christine Giampaoli Zonca

 

Christine Giampaoli Zonca, also known as Christine GZ, is best known as being one of the first drivers in the debut season of Extreme E, an electric off-road championship.

Christine competes under an Italian license, despite spending her early childhood in India and mainly competing in her adopted home of the Canary Islands. She also studied engineering in the UK. Her career encompasses stage rallying and buggy-based off-road rallying. 

Her first rally appears to have been the Corralejo-Majanicho Rallysprint in 2013, although she did not even get to the start in her self-built VW Golf as the rally was cancelled. Throughout her career, she has used her training to work on her own cars

She returned in 2014 and her first event was the San Bartolomé slalom. Christine, the only non-Spanish entrant, was 25th overall, driving a Toyota Corolla. She states on her website that the Corolla was the car that made her want to take up rallying. It remained her favoured car in 2014 and her first stage rally, the Tierra Isla Verde Rally, gave her a fourteenth place with a class win. She achieved two more top-twenty finishes in the Canary Islands and was 18th in the islands’ gravel championship, with a class win. In slaloms, she did even better, with a best finish of fourth in the Isla de Lanzarote-Tinjo event. She was 16th overall in the Canary Islands Gravel championship and won the 2WD class.

2015 had more of the same. She combined slaloms and stage rallies again and achieved her first top ten on the stages, a ninth place in the Isla de los Volcanes Rally. Her car was the Corolla. She entered five rallies that year, but was plagued by car trouble, and only finished two of them. Slaloms were a happier hunting ground and her best finish was fourth again in the Lanzarote-Tinjo slalom. During the season, she was signed up by the Spanish motorsport association for a two-year development programme, supported by Peugeot. Her first event in a Peugeot was the Rallye de Tierra at Malaga, but she retired due to mechanical failure.

In 2016, she started the year with slaloms in a Subaru Impreza. This had been her road car until she converted it herself to Group N spec. Her first event of the year was the La Candelaria - Tias event and she was second overall. Later, she did the Isla de los Volcanes event in it, finishing fourteenth. Her Peugeot deal led to several drives in an R2-spec 208, including a run in the WRC Rally Catalunya. She finished 49th overall. Her best finish in the 208 that year was a 16th place in the Ciutat de Valls Rally, one of the first asphalt rallies she had tried.

She was the top female driver in the Spanish gravel championship and third in the Junior class, as well as third in the overall Spanish women's championship. Away from Spain, she did her first international rally in a Ford Fiesta: the Bianco Azzurro Rose‘n’Bowl event in San Marino. She was 31st.

In 2017, she rallied four different cars, including the Impreza, a Fiesta R2 and two different Peugeots. She entered the Rally of Catalunya in a Peugeot 208, but did not finish. As well as stage rallies, she was very active in off-roading, having joined the US-based Dynamic Racing team. Her events included the Mexican Baja 500 and the Californian Baja 1000, driving a SxS buggy. A year that began with plans to contest the European Rally Championship ended up bringing her into another motorsport world and she showed promise, with a best finish of tenth.

Off-roading became her focus in 2018, although she did enter a Can-Am Maverick buggy into some Spanish gravel rallies too. She was eighth in the Ciutat de Tarrega rally and 15th in the Ralli Vidreres de Terra. In pure off-road competition, she was active in America again, but she also tried her first FIA Cross-Country World Championship rallies in Portugal and Spain. She was tenth in the Baja Portugal.She switched teams to the Avatel setup for European events in 2020, although the coronavirus crisis prevented a lot of events from happening..

After spending 2019 and part of 2020 in Spanish off-roading, she was announced as a driver for the Xite Hispano-Suiza team for Extreme E, an electric eco-conscious off-road championship which features male-female teams. She was signed alongside rallycross driver Oliver Bennett. They were fifth in the Desert XPrix in Saudi Arabia then sixth in the Ocean XPrix, held at Lac Rose in Senegal. These were their best results of the season; although Christine got progressively quicker as the year went on, the team struggled. She was announced as the 2022 female driver for Veloce in January.

As well as Extreme E, Christine contested the 2021 Iberia Cup for cross-country rallies. She won the T1N class in the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura, driving a Toyota Hilux.

Her time with Veloce in Extreme E started badly with a broken foot in qualifying for the season-opening Desert X-Prix in Saudi. She was replaced by championship driver Hedda Hosas. The long gap between rounds one and two meant that she was able to return for the second round in Sardinia, but she and Lance Woolridge could only manage eighth. They did not reach any finals this year and both drivers were replaced for the final round in Uruguay, with Christine taking over as championship driver. 

She started 2023 as a driver for Carl Cox's team, who had bought out Xite. Together with Timo Scheider, she managed on third place in the first Scottish race, but their car was not fit to race the next day and they dropped out. Christine was replaced by Lia Block for the rest of the season, although she did deputise as championship driver for the last two rounds. 

Much of the rest of 2023 was spent preparing for her first attempt at the Dakar in 2024. She joined the TC Racing team in a Can-Am SSV, partnered by Ricardo Torlaschi. They did not finish.

There were no more Extreme E rounds in 2024, although she was one of the series' championship drivers for the first two races. 

Extreme E ended during 2025 and was replaced by the hydrogen-powered Extreme H, which uses a very similar format. Christine was signed by Jenson Button's JBX team with Tommi Hallman. 

(Image copyright Extreme E)

Carlotta Fedeli

 

Carlotta Fedeli races saloons in Italy and has been a regular in both one-make series and the Italian TCR championship.

Her first year as a competitive racing driver was 2011, when she took part in the Italian production touring car championship in a Mini. Before that, she was active in karting.

Keeping the Mini but jumping into a new championship, she raced in the Italian Mini Challenge for two part-seasons in 2012 and 2013. The second season was combined with a part-season in the Cupra Ibiza Cup. This was the beginning of a long-term relationship with SEAT, usually in endurance-based competition. 

Following another year in a Cupra one-make series, she made her debut in the Italian Touring Endurance Championship (CITE) in 2015. Supported by the SEAT factory, she was third in the TCR section with three podium finishes. She won the Junior and Ladies’ titles. 

She did a fourth season in a SEAT in 2016, racing in the Leon Eurocup. Her best result was a second place at Mugello, and she would have been a contender for a top-five championship result without a DNF and an indifferent round mid-season. This drive included guest appearances in the TCR International Series in Italy and she picked up a ninth position at Imola. 

It was time for a new challenge. She entered the Italian TCR championship again in 2017, this time driving an Audi RS3. Unfortunately, she was disqualified from one race and did not finish the other. 

After a year off to have a baby daughter, she returned to motorsport in 2019, racing a SEAT Cupra in the TCR DSG Endurance series. She was fourth overall with three third places at Vallelunga, Monza and Misano. 

A second season in the series gave her sixth place, with one third at Mugello. Her car was a Volkswagen Golf run by Scuderia del Girasole (“Team Sunflower” in English).

The same year, she attempted to qualify for the all-female W Series, but was rejected after the first round of assessments. She returned to the TCR championship in 2020 and was sixth in the DSG class, with a best finish of third at Mugello. She was driving the Golf again.

Going back to Audi power, she signed for RC Motorsport in 2021, racing in the Italian TCR championship. She won the DSG Endurance title with five class wins. She shared her car with multiple Le Mans winner Emmanuele Pirro for the last race of the season.

After a break, she returned to the Italian Touring Car Championship for 2023. She drove an Audi LMS in TCR trim and later, DSG trim. The latter car worked better for her; she won the first race at Imola and was second or third in the other three races of the series.

2024's racing was limited to three guest appearances in the Italian Touring Car Championship, driving an Audi RS3 LMS DSG. She was ninth and eighth at Vallelunga.

She was announced as a driver for the 2025 TCR European Endurance Series, but does not appear to have competed.

(Image from iltornante.it)

Isabella Bignardi

 

Isabella Bignardi is a driver and co-driver from Italy who has competed since 1978. She was Italian ladies’ rally champion in 1980 and 1981.

Born in Piacenza but growing up in Turin, Isabella’s family were motorsport fans and she grew up around rallies and the drivers who were among her family friends.

During the early part of her career she was an on-off member of the all-female Team Aseptogyl. Her first major outing as a driver was the 1979 Rally della Lana, as part of a three-car Fiat 127 team with Maurizia Baresi and Betty Tognana. She finished 62nd, the first Aseptogyl car home. Earlier that year, she had joined the team as navigator to Maurizia. 

1980 was devoted to driving rather than co-driving. Isabella’s father had helped her to buy an Opel Kadett, which was run by the Astigiana Corse team. It was in this car that she scored her first top-ten, finishing seventh in the Valli Piacentine Rally on her way to her first national womens’ title.

The Kadett was exchanged for a powerful Lancia Stratos in 1981. Her best result in this car was a fifth place in the Rally di Alba e delle Langhi. The car was run by Brunik Squadra, which was enjoying some success in Italy at the time. Isabella’s second Italian ladies’ championship was a welcome addition. 

The same car tackled the Italian championship again in 1982, with the same crew of Isabella and Luisa Zumelli, although it was now being run by Tre Gazzelle. The Stratos was generally a somewhat fragile car and Isabella’s showed little reliability throughout the year, only finishing four rallies. The only notable result was a 19th place in the Rally 4 Regioni. 

Unsurprisingly, the Stratos was changed for an Alfa Romeo Alfasud in 1983. The year started with the last gasp of Team Aseptogyl, which entered Isabella into the Monte Carlo Rally with a large group of other female crews representing several European countries. She was one of the few to qualify for the rally proper and the third to finish, in 60th place. The rest of the year was spent in the Italian championship, with a best finish of fourteenth with a class win in the Rally Valli Vesimesi.

After 1983, Isabella competed less, only taking part in a few rallies per year. First she used an Opel Manta, scoring a sixth place in the 1984 Citta di Sassari event, then she moved on to a Renault 5 which she drove between 1985 and 1989. This car gave her another top ten finish: fifth in the 4 Regioni Rally. 

Aside from a single 1993 outing in a Lancia Delta Integrale and a co-driving slot the following year, she did not appear on the stages again until 2011. That year, she resurfaced in historic competition, driving first an Opel Kadett and then a Porsche 911 for Biella Corse. Her second rally back, the Rally Lana Historico, led to a seventh in the Kadett. It took slightly longer for her to get results from the Porsche, but in 2012 she was third in the Targa Florio Historic.

After a full season of historic competition she settled into occasional outings again. She remained competitive, as shown by results such as her sixth place in the Historic Rally 4 Stagioni in 2016, driving the Porsche. She was nint in the same event in 2017, driving the Porsche this time. 

2018 featured a move back to contemporary rallying, using the unlikely choice of a BMW 318. As of 2020, she is still rallying this car in Italy. 

Away from rallying, she studied veterinary medicine. 

(Image from ilquotidianodaybyday.eu)

Julia Pankiewicz

Julia Pankiewicz is a Polish single-seater driver. She is most famous for racing alongside her identical twin, Wiktoria.

Julia and Wiktoria both came to prominence competing in Italy, in Formula 4. Twin female drivers have never before raced in such a championship, although they had previously competed against one another in Eastern European Junior Rotax. Julia was usually the faster driver.

Julia graduated from karting at the start of the 2015 season. She raced for the Swiss RB Racing team with Wiktoria. She had a best finish of fourteenth, achieved twice at Misano. Her final championship position was 33rd. She clinched the series’ women’s trophy after Wiktoria had to sit out the last rounds of the season, having suffered a serious accident at Adria. This was the end of the Pankiewicz twins as a sister act, although Julia continued her career.

In 2016, she did a few races in the Formula Renault Eurocup, as well as Formula Renault NEC. Her best result in the Eurocup was nineteenth at Aragon Motorland, one of three races she did there. She did slightly better in the NEC series, with a thirteenth at Hockenheim and 27th overall. Although she was not really competitive, she had a decent finishing record and was rarely last. Lando Norris was that year’s champion. 

Her 2017 season was based around the Eurocup, with only a couple of guest spots in the NEC series. Her best Eurocup result was fifteenth at Monza, and she was 30th overall. Her NEC races at Monza yielded the best results of her career: a seventh and tenth place.

Her team boss Mark Burdett described her as “a pleasure to work with” but her career petered out after 2017. She appears on the entry list for the 2018 Euroformula Open Winter Series, driving for the leading RP Motorsport team, but does not appear to have raced. 

(Image from www.motorsport.v10.pl)