Elyane Imbert

Elyane, left, in 1953

 Elyane Imbert was a French driver who raced sportscars in the mid-1950s. 

A rather elusive figure, she first appears on the circuit entry lists in 1952, racing a Porsche in the Coupe d’Automne, held at Montlhery. The same year, she drove a Simca Sport in the Rallye Maroc.

In 1953, she and Simone des Forest drove a Porsche 356 Super 1500 together, starting with the Monte Carlo Rally. Elyane drove with Simone as navigator and they were 281st overall, from 346 crews that finished. This was Simone’s last major rally.

On the circuits, they competed in two World Sportscar Championship races: the Spa 24 Hours and Nürburgring 1000km. They were disqualified both times, once for receiving assistance. Driving solo, Elyane was fourth in the Rouen GP. The car appears to have been the same one each time and it belonged to Elyane. The pair were photographed together at both the Nürburgring and Monte Carlo.

In 1954, she returned to Morocco and was third in the Marrakesh Grand Prix. She was then third in the Circuit de Bressuire race for cars of more than 1100cc. 

She did not enter any more World Championship races. The retirement of her usual co-driver Simone may have been a factor. She did, however, do some more rallies in France that year, including the Rallye Sable Solesmes, driving for a team called “Ecurie des ecureuils”, or “Team Squirrel”. She had joined the team in February, alongside Gilberte Thirion. After 1954, she disappears completely from the entry lists.

(Image copyright Mike Copperthite)

Marie-Léonie ("Albertine") Derancourt

Mme Derancourt, centre, 1929

Marie-Léonie Derancourt, who used the name “Albertine”, was a popular but not particularly successful French racer of the late 1920s and early 1930s.

In 1927, she entered the Grand Prix de la Marne in a Salmson, but did not finish. Earlier, she had also entered the Formula Libre race at the Grand Prix de l’ACF, and was fourth, and last classified finisher. This was her first entry in a Grand Prix, and although it was not a headline event, she was up against the likes of George Eyston and Louis Chiron. That summer, she was quite a busy racer. Her best confirmed result was a third place, from eight finishers, in a ladies’ handicap at Montlhéry, in August. She was driving the Salmson, and was only beaten by Elisabeth Junek and Charlotte Versigny.

Away from the Grand Prix scene, she had more success in the ladies’ races that became popular in Paris in the late 1920s. Driving her Salmson, she was one of the participants in the original Journée Féminine de l’Automobile in 1927. A little later, she won her class in the Paris-La Baule women’s rally, picking up the prize for 1100cc racing cars.

She later owned one of Elisabeth Junek's old Bugattis. In this car, she was eighth in a heat for the 1928 Bugatti Grand Prix. It was a Bugatti that she drove in the Paris-La Baule event, but it is unclear whether it was the same one. She was twelfth overall, and won the class for 2000cc sportscars.

In 1929, she drove a Bugatti T35, almost certainly the same car, in the Grand Prix de la Marne. She was fifth in the 2000cc class. Early in the season, she drove the Bugatti in the same class of the Circuit de l’Aisne, and the Bourgogne Grand Prix. These were all mixed events. In June, she is listed as a finisher in the Lyon Grand Prix, held at Quincieux, and was third in the 2000cc supercharged class. 

The latest motorsport activity that can be found for Madame Derancourt is in 1930. She drove her two-litre Bugatti in the Moroccan Automobile Club’s Grand Prix, held in French-ruled Morocco, in April. Among her rivals was Hellé-Nice.

She is sometimes referred to as “Albertine”, probably after her son, Albert, who drove a Salmson and a Bugatti as a daredevil act when he was a child. He was only five years old when he started, and he was billed as the youngest driver in the world. He was awarded an official driving license a year later, in 1921, and set a speed record at Montlhéry in 1922. His own driving career overlapped with his mother’s considerably. They may have contested the Paris-La Baule Rally together at some point; many sources claim that Albert won this event when he was eight, although it was not run until 1925, and was a women’s rally. At the Marne Grand Prix in 1927, in which Marie-Léonie raced, Albert did a demonstration run.

Marie-Léonie disappears from the public eye after 1930. Her son remained in the limelight for a while longer. It is unclear what she did for the rest of her life, or when she died.

(Image from http://pastouch.fr/category/circuit-de-gueux/cdg-autrement/)

Female Drivers Racing in Africa

Sandra Bocandé

This page profiles some female racers active sportscar and saloon racing in Africa. Mostly, they are Europeans who travel over to compete, but hopefully, more local African drivers will appear.

For African single-seater drivers, go here.

Ingrid Aupaix - Belgian driver who raced in Africa in 2011-2012. She was taking part in the Senegal Endurance Championship, in which she finished fourth, with her countrywoman Gaëtane Bachy. They drove for the Penelope and Divoy teams, using a Honda Civic and a VW Polo. They performed very well in the under-1300cc class. Before the Senegal endurance series, Ingrid was Belgium’s most successful female slalom driver, usually driving a Mini run by her family team. She seems to have returned to slalom and speed events in 2013 and 2014. 

Gaëtane Bachy - well-travelled Belgian racer. In 2011 and 2012, she raced in the Senegal Endurance Championships, beginning with the Dakar 12-Hour race in a Renault Clio. In 2012, she teamed up with Ingrid Aupaix in Africa, first in a VW Polo, then a Honda Civic. Their best finish was seventh, second in class, at the Dakar circuit. In Belgium, Gaëtane has also entered two 24-hour races for Citroen 2CVs at Spa, finishing once. In 2011, she drove in several slalom events, and one round of the Belgian “Gentlemen” Drivers’ Cup, in a Civic. Her team is normally Penelope Racing, and she sometimes uses the nom de course of “Penelope”. She is still actively involved in motorsport in Belgium, on the administrative side.

Samira el-Bennani – Moroccan driver who became the first African ladies’ circuit racing champion, and the first ladies’ champion of Morocco, in 1998. Her car was a Renault 5, and it was her first season of racing. The following year, she travelled to Spain, and competed there in the Renault Megane Supercopa. In 2008, she seems to have been active again, in a Renault Clio, taking part in a raced at Casablanca. In 2009, she raced in the Casablanca Grand Prix, in the 2000cc class, alongside her son, Mehdi Bennani. That year, she also drove a Legend car in the WTCC support race, and a Renault Clio in the Moroccan circuit championship, in which she was eleventh.  After that, she continued to compete, often in a Renault Clio. She was in action in 2014 in the Moroccan championship. As well as circuit racing, she has also competed in the Dakar Rally, in 2005, in a Mercedes. Her son, Mehdi el-Bennani, races touring cars internationally. 

Sandra Bocandé - Senegalese driver, active since 2010, after getting into motorsport through her photo agency work. After learning to drive in France, she competed in the Endurance and 2L Sprint championships in Senegal, in a Renault Clio run by 25 Racing. She won the second round of the Sprint championship, and was 20th overall in the Endurance series, after entering three races. In 2012, she drove a Nissan buggy in the Africa Eco Race with Pierrick Legendre, as a navigator. She was the first Senegalese finisher, and they were 30th overall. She was racing again in 2014, and was sixth in the Dakar 6 Hour race, with Laïla Chekir. They were driving a Renault Clio. In January, Sandra also won a ladies' race, the Ronde des Lionnes, at the Dakar circuit. Sandra is a former dancer.

Fabienne Lanz - Swiss/South African driver, based in South Africa. Her motorsport achievements have mainly come from karting, where she has earned good championship positions in various formulae, in South Africa, the Middle East and Europe. She has raced cars occasionally since 2011, when she drove a VW Golf in the South Africa Coastal Championship, winning her class. Since 2012, she has competed in two saloon endurance races in the Golf. She retired from the LUK 3 Hours at Port Elizabeth, but was fourth in class, with the Stephen2Racing team, in the Africa 6 Hours at Phakisa, in February 2013. She has also driven in hillclimbs in South Africa, and raced in Legends cars. She attempted to qualify for the 2019 W Series, but was eliminated during the first round of driver selections.

Joy Monareng – one of South Africa’s first black female racers. She started in 2002, in the Sports 2000 series. Her first race was at Zwartkops, after winning a place on a racing development programme. She raced in Sports 2000 for at least three seasons. In 2003, she finished in the top ten of the championship. As well as Sports 2000, she has raced motorcycles, and competed in some rallies in the Gauteng province. She is a TV motoring journalist. 

(Picture from mezario.over-blog.com)

Cross-Country Rallying

Syndiely Wade

Specialist drivers who have competed in rally raids across the globe. Those who are better-known as stage rally drivers or circuit racers are listed in their respective sections. The best-known female rally-raid exponents, Jutta Kleinschmidt, Isabelle Patissier, Martyna Wojciechowska, Monique Delannoy, Estelle Hallyday, Sara Price and Andrea Mayer, have their own profiles.

Dania Akeel - winner of the T3 championship in the 2021 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas. Her car was a Mamba SSV. She competed in her first Dakar in 2022, driving a Can-Am Maverick SSV and finishing eighth in the Light Prototype class. Her second Dakar, at the beginning of 2023, ended with 93rd place, driving another Can-Am. She was invited to enter the Dakar by the Saudi Ministry of Sport, which is keen to use female drivers to promote the country. After problems early on, she was 28th in the 2023 Dakar. In 2024, she joined the Extreme E grid, driving for JBXE with Andreas Bakkerud. She did the first two races in Saudi, finishing seventh and eighth, but was then replaced by Amanda Sorensen. At the end of the year, she entered the Dakar and was one of the leading drivers in the Challenger class, driving a Taurus. She won a stage, but late hold-ups dropped her to 27th. Rally raids continued to be her focus for the rest of the year, and she ended up third in the FIA Cross Country Challenger class. She was the outright winner of the Baja Middle East, won her class in the UAE Desert Challenge and was second in the Saudi championship. For most of the year she drove for Taurus, although her car for the Saudi series was a Toyota Landcruiser. Previously, she raced motorcycles on circuits, until she had an accident in Bahrain and had to stop.

Mashael Alobaidan - Saudi driver who entered her first Dakar in 2022, driving a Can-Am Maverick in the Light Prototype class. She was 17th in class. Along with Dania Akeel, she is supported by the Saudi Ministry of Sport in order to promote the country via female drivers. Although she had been involved in other sports, including diving, and also driven recreationally in the sand dunes, she only started rallying in 2021, entering Baja events in Sharqiyah, Aragon and H’all. She did the Dakar again in 2023, finishing 83rd in a Can-Am light prototype. She was due to enter again in 2024, but pulled out for unexplained reasons. That year, she began racing electric powerboats in the E1 Series, partnering Saud Ahmed in the Aoki Racing team. She remained with the team for 2025 and won the first round, with new team-mate Dani Clos.

Madalena Antas (Cupertino de Miranda)  – competed in rally raids, often for the Nissan Dessoude team. She drove a Pathfinder pick-up for the team in the 2007 Dakar, the last to be held in Africa, but did not finish. This was her third attempt at the Dakar for Nissan. In 2005, she was 17^th in the Baja Espana Aragon, driving a Toyota Landcruiser. Early in her career, she also won the Portuguese off-road championships. Madalena is following in the footsteps of her mother, Teresa, another Dakar competitor.

Victoria Carrasco - Chilean driver. She has competed in off-road rallies in South America from 2004, using a Kia Sorrento. She was eleventh in the 2006 Por las Pampas Rally, her only Cross-Country World Cup outing. Now, she is more commonly seen as a navigator to Juan Francisco Carrasco, in rally raids and stage rallies.

Hend Chaouch - one of Tunisia’s foremost drivers. She has driven in the Rally Tunisia fourteen times, as driver and navigator. Her first time in the driving seat was 2001, when she finished the Tunisian, Moroccan, Dubai and Paris-Dakar raids. Her best finish was 17th with a class win in Dubai. These have been her best results, although she has won several honours for being the first Tunisian, African or female finisher. She has taken part in the Dakar twice. As well as the Cross-Country World Cup, she has competed in women-only rallies, and was third in the 1994 Rallye des Gazelles. She has also organised rallies in Tunisia and worked in assistance teams. Her cars have been a Toyota Landcruiser, Mitsubishi Evolution and Nissan Patrol. She was banned from competition for 2010, after an incident on the 2009 Tunisia Rally. In 2011, she returned to the Rally Tunisia in a Toyota. After this, she does not appear to have competed, and her website has been taken down. In 2013, she spoke out publicly in support of Saudi women being permitted to drive, alongside Ari Vatanen. In 2014, she returned to desert rally raids, and won the Ladies' award on the Rallye du Maroc. Her car was a Toyota HDJ80. She planned to enter the Rally of Tunisia again in 2015, but did not make the start. In 2017, she was second in the Rallye El Chott, driving a Toyota, an event she won in 2018.

Martine de Cortanze - Frenchwoman who raced both cars and bikes in long-distance events. She entered the first Dakar in 1979 on a motorcycle, and entered every race until 1983. She also had a considerable career in stage rallying, winning ladies’ awards in the Monte Carlo and Corsica rallies, among others. She also took part in the Paris-St. Raphaël Rally at least once, in the 1970s.

Sylviane Goutaland – French veteran of many Paris-Dakar rallies, beginning in 1980, when she entered in a Lada Niva, up to 2007. Her vehicles have included a Toyota Landcruiser and a Nissan Patrol. She has usually finished, but not been among the top drivers. As well as the Dakar, she competed in other raid-type events around the world, but not always successfully or happily. She has kept a low media profile since 1994, when she was involved in a fatal accident in Australia.

Pascale Geurie - one of the first women to enter the Paris-Dakar rally, in 1979. She was contesting the motorcycle class. She also drove a Range Rover in the 1982 event, but did not finish. On the track, she attempted to qualify for Le Mans as well, driving a Lola with Martine Renier and Anna Cambiaghi in 1978. Prior to this, she had raced on the French circuits, in touring cars.

Elisabete Jacinto - began her career as an international motocross rider, before moving up to rally raids and the Dakar, She was the highest-placed female motorcyclist in 2000. In 2003, she got her licence to drive trucks and began entering rally raids in this class. She did her first four-wheeled Dakar that year. Since then, she has won the Truck class of the 2006 Shamrock Rally and the 2007 Morocco Rally. On the 2007 Dakar, she was 21st overall and sixth in the Truck class, her best finish. Since then, she has really upper her game to become one of the leading drivers in the Truck class. In 2010, she won the Tunisian and Moroccan rallies. Returning to those events in 2011 gave her another win, and a third place, as well as a second overall in the Rally Africa Eco Race. 2012 was not quite as fruitful, with a fourth overall (second truck) in the Rally Africa Eco Race, and a third in the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles, in a VW Amarok. Late in the season, she was third in the truck class of the Rally Morocco. Driving a MAN truck in 2013, she won the truck class of the Rally of Morocco and came second in the Baja Aragon and Africa Eco Race. In the MANTGS, she was seventh overall in the 2014 Africa Eco Race, and third in the Truck class. Later, she was tenth overall in the Rally of Morocco, and fourth truck. In between, she drove the Amarok again in the Rallye des Gazelles, and was second. In 2015, she drove a MAN truck for the Oleoban team. She was fourth in the Africa Eco Race, and took part in the Morocco Rally. For Volkswagen, she was sixth in the Rallye des Gazelles. She entered the Africa Eco Race again in 2016, and was fourteenth overall, and third in class, in the MAN. Driving a VW Amarok, she was fifth in the Gazelles event. She also participated in the Libya Rally, but did not finish. In 2017, she was back in the MAN truck, run by the Bio-Ritmo team. She was third in the Truck class of the Morocco Desert Challenge, but did not finish the Rallye du Maroc. The truck got stuck in a sand dune and it took 14 hours to get it out. Bio-Ritmo concentrated on alternative-fuel events in 2018; Elisabete did not finish the Africa Eco Race and was seventh in class in the Morocco Desert Challenge. She was second in the 2019 Africa Eco Race, driving a MAN truck.

Véronique Jacquot (Muringer) – took part in rally raids in a truck in the mid-2000s. She was 29^th in the 2004 Dakar, as part of an all-female team in a MAN truck. Her team-mates were Geraldine Brucy and Uta Baier. She first entered the Dakar in 2003. In 2004, she also became the first driver to enter the Rallye des Gazelles in an HGV, a Mercedes Unimog. She first competed in the Rallye des Gazelles in 2002.

Camelia Liparoti - Italian off-road rally driver who has competed on two and four wheels. She won her first event on a motorcycle in 2007, winning the all-female Trophee Roses de Sables. She went on to win the women’s world off-road title six times between 2009 and 2014. She has entered the Dakar every year since 2009; nine times on a quad and three times in an SSV. She was fifth in the SSV class in 2017 and has won stages in the class. Since 2016, she has raced extensively in Middle Eastern rally raids. Her best year was 2017, when she scored third places in the Quad class in Dubai, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. In 2022, she entered the Dakar again in the Light Prototype category, finishing sixth in a Yamaha X-Raid. In a similar vehicle, she entered the 2023 Dakar, but problems dropped her to 11th place. The following year, she drove an experimental Avid UTV in the Dakar Future Mission 1000 which ran alongside part of the 2024 Dakar. In 2025, she competed in a SxS vehicle for Yamaha, mainly in the Middle East.She did not start racing until she was in her thirties.

Merce Marti - record-breaking pilot who entered her first Dakar in 2022. She drove a Can-Am Maverick in the Light Prototype class as part of an all-female team, with co-driver Margot Llobera and women mechanics and engineers. Her car suffered problems and she was only 33rd overall. She tried again in 2023 but did not finish. Her previous motorsport experience was in historics, racing a Porsche and a Ferrari. Her first off-road event was the 1995 Paris-St Raphael Off Road Rally in a Jeep Cherokee, an all-female rally.

Christine Martin – French driver who drove in rally raids in the early 1980s. She raced motorcycles in rally raids for much longer, and was one of the first women to finish the Dakar on a motorcycle. In 1984, she entered the four-wheeled Dakar, and drove a Lada Niva. She did not finish. Unfortunately, the following year, she scored another DNF in the Dakar, this time driving a Peugeot 504 Dangel. She does not appear to have rallied again after this.

Guo Meiling – Chinese driver who entered the Dakar in 2016, driving a Mini. Unfortunately, she was injured in a crash during the prologue, when her car left the road and hit spectators. Previously, she had driven the car in rally raids in China, finishing 22^nd in the 2015 Taklimakan Rally, and 21^st in the 2014 Grand China Rally. Her start in rallying came through competing on a quad in Chinese raids.

Carole Montillet (Carles) – former Olympic skiing champion who turned to motorsport after her retirement. Initially, she concentrated on rally raids, and won the Quad class of the Rally Aïcha des Gazelles in 2004 and 2005. Her partner was Mélanie Suchet. In 2006 and 2007, she was second in the Car class. She then moved into mixed competition, in the French Tout-Terrain championship, and the Transafrican Rally. She was sixth in the Transafrican event in 2006. In 2007, she took part in her first Dakar Rally, driving a Nissan, but could not finish, due to problems with the car’s electronics. Later, in 2011, she returned to the Rallye des Gazelles, in a Springbok prototype with Syndiely Wade, and won the event outright, a feat she repeated in 2012, navigated by Julie Verdaguer in a Jugand Buggy. In between, she tried circuit racing, in the form of the Racecar stock car championship in France, in 2010. She did four races, and was 24^th overall. In 2015, she won the expert category of the Rally Aïcha des Gazelles, driving a Toyota. 

(Maria) Céu Pires de Lima – Portuguese driver who competes in rally raids in Europe and further afield. She drove a Toyota with Pedro Silva Nunes in the 2006 Dakar, and finished in 66^th place. At the time, she was 58 years old. This was her second attempt at the Dakar, having entered, but not finished, in 1997. In her home country, she has won multiple Ladies’ titles in off-road rallying, as well as class wins, in the 1990s and 2000s. She has occasionally been co-driven by Teresa Cupertino de Miranda, her cousin and the mother of Madalena Antas. The two rallied together in the 2011 Baja Portugal. She has often driven Toyotas, but also used a Nissan Navarra for the 2004 Baja Portugal.

Yara Shalaby – Egyptian driver who competes in cross-country rallies. She has raced both cars and motorcycles, but now concentrates on four wheels. In 2014, she entered the Pharaons Rally, in a Toyota Landcruiser. In 2015, she drove in a series of local raid events, including the El- Remal Desert Challenge and the El-Gouna Rally (on a motorcycle), where she had an accident and injured herself. She is not from a motorsport background, and initially struggled to prepare her car to the correct scrutineering standards, and to find a reliable navigator who would not get the team lost.  At the end of 2015, she vied for a funded place in the 2016 Sealine Desert Rally Challenge, through the FIA’s Women In Motorsport event in Qatar. She was not one of the winners. In 2016, she competed in the Al-Remal Challenge, as well as setting a record for kayaking, and founding the Gazelle Rally Team, and all-female, all-Egyptian rally raid team. She drove in the 2018 Fujairah Rally in the UAE but did not finish in her Nissan Pathfinder. In 2019, she entered the Sharjah Rally in the same vehicle, but again did not finish.

Amanda Sorensen - competed in drifting for several seasons before being signed up for the Extreme E championship in 2023. She joined the GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi team alongside RJ Anderson, another American driver. They scored third places in Scotland and Sardinia during their first season, qualifying on pole in Scotland. She was recalled to the JBXE team for the Scottish rounds, after the departure of Dania Akeel. She returned to Extreme E in 2025 for its Final Lap, joining the STARD team with Patrick O'Donovan. They were eighth overall. In drifting, Amanda drove a BMW M3 E46 and got as far as the Drift2 class in Formula Drift. She also did some off-roading as a teenager, plus karting and figure skating.

Tatiana Sycheva - Russian driver who entered her first Dakar in 2022. She drove a Can-Am Maverick in the Light Prototype class and finished 30th in the category after a slow couple of final stages. She is the first Russian woman to tackle the event in a car. Previously, she did rally raids in Russia and its surrounding countries, finishing eighth in the 2020 Baja Russia. She has also done the Silk Way Rally at least four times, in 2019 and 2021, in the same car, and in 2023 and 2025. As well as rally raids, she also competes in stage rallies in a Volkswagen Polo. Her best results in 2025 was a 29th place in the Rally Belye Nochi.

Makiko Tomokawa – competed in rally raids in the 1990s and early 2000s, usually in a Mitsubishi. Frustratingly little information about her career is readily available, but she appears to have driven in the Dakar from at least 1995, using a Mitsubishi T1 that year, and other Mitsubishi models in subsequent additions. In 2000, she is described as a “veteran”, alongside her regular co-driver, Akemi Asada.

Luisa Trucco - competes in the Truck class of international rally raids, using an Iveco racetruck. She entered her first Dakar in 2005, and has competed in every edition since then. In 2010, she seems to have branched out and entered more rounds of the Cross-Country World Cup, still in the Iveco. Her best result has been a win in the Truck class of the 2010 Pharaons Rally, and  a third in class in the Tunisian Rally. She also competes in motorcycle enduros in her homeland of Italy. It is unclear whether she raced after this.

Syndiely Wade - Senegalese rally raid specialist who has participated in four editions of the Dakar. Her first entry, in 2003, resulted in the 58th spot. She drove a Nissan Terrano in the event in 2004, but could not finish this time. Another Nissan vehicle gave her a 52nd place in 2005, as well as a finish in the all-female Rally Aicha des Gazelles, with Valerie Dot navigating. After a break from competition in 2006, she tried the Dakar again in 2007, but did not finish. She and Valerie competed in the 2008 Rally des Gazelles, although the Dakar was cancelled. In 2010, she entered the Rallye des Gazelles again, alongside Carole Montillet Carles. Their vehicle was a Nissan Springbok. They repeated their win in 2011, and Syndiely triumphed again in 2013, this time with Florence Pham. They were driving an Isuzu D-Max. Her profile has been lower since her father was deposed as the President of Senegal, although she competed in the 2022 Dakar as part of an Iveco truck crew. She returned as a truck crew member in 2024 and co-drove for Camelia Liparoti and others in 2025.

Holly Wicklow - British off-road driver who started in hill rallies in the UK in 2024. Her vehicle was a Can-Am Maverick SSV and her best finish in her first year was a twelfth place in the Scottish Borders Hill Rally. In 2025, she entered her first desert rally raid, the Morocco Desert Challenge. She kept the same vehicle and the same co-driver, Danielle Scarr. They were 36th in their class. 

(Image copyright www.motorsport.com)

Jutta Kleinschmidt

Jutta as a VW driver

Jutta is one of a select group of speedqueens who have gone all the way to the top. She is a recognised star in the field of cross-country rallying, one of the best-known drivers in her discipline. This is mainly down to her win in the world-famous Paris-Dakar rally in January 2001. Partnered by Andreas Schulz, in her works Mitsubishi Pajero, she fought off competition from the likes of Jean-Louis Schlesser and Carlos Sousa. 2001 has been Jutta's finest year to date; she scrapped with Schlesser for the FIA cross-country rally title all season, and came out with two wins and four seconds. Her other win came in the Italian Baja event, giving her back-to-back victories. She was second in the Morocco, Portugal, Master Rally and Por Las Pampas races.

She came into motorsport through engineering. Known as the "flying physicist" in her German homeland, she was a research engineer for BMW for several years. She became interested in rally raids through coverage of the Dakar on television. In 1985 she followed the event on her own BMW motorcycle, and by 1987 she was competing for real. To begin with she financed herself, but later she was supported by BMW, and then KTM. The Ladies' Trophy for bikes was hers on the Dakar, Pharaohs and Dubai rallies many times, between 1987 and 1996. She also circuit-raced bikes with some success, including an excellent win in the Clermont-Ferrand 24 Hour race.

Her introduction to cars came on the track, in the form of the Veedol Trophy. This is an endurance series contested on the old Nordschleife of the Nürburgring. Jutta first raced there in 1991. The following year she took part in her first rally raid, as co-driver to Jean-Louis Schlesser. In 1994 she began driving one of Schlesser's buggies herself, and was rewarded with second place in the two-wheel-drive category of the Cross-Country Cup. This arrangement continued until 1997, with increasingly good results, culminating in a stage win on the Dakar, a win in the two-wheel-drive class and a win in the prototype class in the FIA series. It is perhaps ironic that Schlesser, a former boyfriend of Jutta's, who was so instrumental in her early career, became one of her biggest rivals.

1998 began with some ice-racing in the Andros Trophy, which Jutta enjoyed immensely. That year she also became a works Mitsubishi driver and hooked up with Andreas Schulz. That season was mainly a learning one, in preparation for the next. 1999 opened brightly for the German pair, when Jutta became the first woman to lead the Dakar. She held that lead for three days but ended up third, the first podium finish for a female driver.

In 2000 she went one better and came second, in the Pajero again. Her career was really taking off and she finished the season first T2 and second overall in the Cross-Country Cup.

After her triumphant 2001 season, things started to go awry. 2002 began promisingly, although she was unable to catch team-mate Hiroshi Masuoka for a second Dakar win. She had caught up many minutes in her favoured desert terrain. However, in the middle of the season, Mitsubishi dispensed with the services of its German star and she decamped to Volkswagen, new to the rally raid scene. She was signed to develop the Touareg off-roader, with the aim of winning the Dakar in 2005.

Teaming up with Michèle Mouton's former co-driver Fabrizia Pons, Jutta again fought bravely in the Sahara to finish eighth in the 2003 Dakar. The Touareg was still under development and was lacking in pace. It was good enough for seventh place on the Italian Baja, though, and third on the non-championship Baja Deutschland. Jutta's development skills were also put to good use on the VW Polo Super 1600 rally car, which she drove as course car on the Rally Deutschland.

Staying with VW and Fabrizia Pons, she completed another Dakar in 2004, but finished just out of the top ten. A flooded engine sustained in rainy Morocco lost her many hours and could have lost her her late stage win. She ran the rest of the rally under appeal after being accused of illegally changing the Touareg's engine block. After a long discussion, she was allowed to remain in the standings, in 21st place.

Elsewhere, Jutta ran well. Although she was only thirteenth in the UAE Desert Challenge, she was fourth in the Morocco Rally and equalled her previous Volkswagen best in the Rallye d'Orient, coming third.

After the controversy of 2004, the 2005 Dakar ran much more smoothly for Jutta and Fabrizia. Again, they battled hard on the desert stages and finished third. That year, the Touareg was much more competitive and Jutta was in a position to challenge for wins again. She was fourth in Tunisia, third on the Morocco and Por Las Pampas events and second on the Baja Portalegre in Portugal.

The 2006 Dakar was her last race for Volkswagen. It was a disappointing one, as the Touareg could not make it to the finish. The official line was that the German star's contract was now over, and she had decided to move on, in search of more wins. Much later, Jutta admitted that she had had a serious disagreement with VW's sporting director, Kris Nissen, who was later arrested for sexual assault.

Mid-season, she announced that she was joining the now-dominant X-Raid BMW team. Her first event for them was originally to be the 2007 Dakar, after she decided that she didn't have enough testing under her belt to be competitive in the Pharaohs Rally, in October. However, a decision to enter the UAE Desert Challenge late in the season gave her a sixth place. Her new navigator was Tina Thörner, an old friend, as Fabrizia Pons had first decided to retire, then changed her mind and joined Ari Vatanen instead.

Jutta and Tina were 15th on their first Dakar in the BMW X3, after struggling with technical problems. Shortly afterwards, Jutta’s one-year contract with X-Raid expired, and she chose not to renew it. This meant that she did not compete for the rest of the season. She then announced that she was not going to enter the Dakar in 2008 either, due to a lack of a suitable car. This pre-empted the event’s cancellation.

In 2008, she pursued some different projects, including stunt driving work and helicopter piloting for a film in Tunisia. She also had a small acting cameo. In May, she returned to her native Germany again for the Nürburgring 24 Hours. She drove a BMW 330d with Thomas Haider, Rainer Kutsch and Marc Hiltscher. They were 60th overall, and winners of class S2. The previous year, the team had finished 153rd.

Jutta did not enter the South American Dakar in 2009, after failing to agree a deal with a suitable team. She kept a low profile for a while, but now, appears on TV quite regularly, and at awards ceremonies, including one where she was presented with a lifetime achievement award for her motorcycling endeavours.

Motorsport has not been completely forgotten. Jutta raced in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, in 2013 and 2014. In 2013, she drove an Audi TT with Walter Nawotka and Wolfgang Müller, finishing 113th. In 2014, she shared the TT again with Walter Nawotka and Wolfgang Müller, plus Carlos Arimon. They did not finish. Another outing at the 'Ring in 2015 gave her a lap record, and 64th overall. The car was a TT again, and her team-mates were Wolfgang Müller and Sabine Podzus.

Jutta made a return to rally raids in 2016, competing in the Cross-Country Cup in an X-Raid Buggy. Reunited with Tina Thörner, her first event, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge was fraught with difficulty. In a new vehicle, problems with wheels digging into sand, and mechanical gremlins, were an issue. Jutta finished the event in 23rd place. By the time the Qatar Sealine Rally came around, Jutta and her navigator, Philipp Beier, knew the car better. They were fifth overall, and won the 2WD class.

Jutta was elected President of the FIA Cross-Country Commission in 2019, after having served on the Women in Motorsport Commission as a talent scout.

Her competition career had wound down for several years when she was recruited by the Extreme E electric off-road series for male/female driver pairs. Initially, she was brought in as a "championship driver" who would act as a female reserve in emergencies, but she was soon called into action when Cupra driver Claudia Hurtgen was injured in a heavy roll in the first round and had to withdraw. Jutta partnered Mattias Ekstrom for the remainder of the five-round championship and impressed from the beginning, qualifying third in the Ocean X Prix, held in Senegal. Her best finish was second in Sardinia and she was sixth in the championship. 

Cupra retained her for a full season in 2022, alongside 2022 Dakar winner Nasser al-Attiyah. The year did not start well for the veteran pair, with eighth in Saudi and ninth in Sardinia. They were then disqualified from the second Sardinia race after Jutta was found to have not fastened her seatbelt properly after a driver change. They had been second, their best finish of the season. A heavy landing during practice in Chile then meant that she had to sit out the rest of the season.

(Image from www.autobild.de)

Isabelle Patissier

In 2004, Isabelle Patissier of France celebrated her first rally raid win on the Oman Desert Express. She drove a Nissan Pathfinder run by the French Dessoude team on the arduous cross-country race for production vehicles. On her next event, the Rally Optic 2000 in Tunisia, she and Bernard Irissou scored a victory in the production class and came ninth overall. For the rest of the year, Isabelle led class T1 in the World Cross-Country Cup and walked away with the title.

Prior to her switch to motorsport in 2000, Isabelle was twice world champion in rock-climbing, and a multiple French champion. Although she loved cars and driving and had done since passing her driving test, they took a back seat until she had achieved almost all she could in the climbing world.

By 2000, it was time for a change. Isabelle filled the gap left by her mountain training by entering the Star Trophy of France, a racing series. Her first race was a disaster; she managed to spin off on a bend at Spa. Still, she persevered and finished the season with a best finish of second. The following year she continued her track activities, racing in the Star Trophy, plus some karting and Formula Ford too. However, a third place in the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles womens' rally raid event made it clear where her abilities really lay, and although she still raced in the Star Cup on and off, rallying became her main focus.

The start of 2001 was busy. Isabelle entered her first Dakar, as co-driver to Yves Fromont, in a Toyota. They did not finish. In a complete change of scenery, she also raced in the Trophée Andros ice-racing series in the kart-cross class, as one of the first contenders for the Andros “Ice Girls” ladies’ championship. Later in the year she returned to the sand dunes for the Orpi Rally Morocco as a driver, and was rewarded with a twentieth place. Round-the-world yachtsman Steve Ravussin was her navigator.

She took part in her second Dakar in 2002, still using a Toyota Landcruiser with Yves Fromont, as part of an arrive-and-drive package. She did not finish.

2003 saw her build on her rally-raid success. She drove in the Dakar again, finishing mid-field. Later, she revisited the Morocco Rally, coming twelfth this time. Her first start in the Rally Optic 2000 in Tunisia gave her twentieth position. Her car this year was a buggy based on a new Volkswagen Beetle. Isabelle likes to be different, and this attracted her to this unusual but competitive vehicle.

At the beginning of 2004 her talent was recognised, and she earned a regular race seat with Nissan Dessoude, alongside Bernard Irissou, for the Dakar and the Production class of the Cross-Country Cup. Together with their mechanics and crew, they became a very effective team. On the Dakar, they were 23rd, better than Isabelle's previous results. Out of the four FIA Cross Country events they entered, they won class T1 in three of them: Rally Optic 2000 in Tunisia, Rally Orpi Morocco and the Rallye d'Orient in Turkey. Their overall positions were two ninths and a twelfth. In their last event of the season, the UAE Desert Challenge, they were tenth and second T1, which was enough to award the T1 World Champion's title to Isabelle.

In recognition of her excellent results in 2004, Nissan Dessoude allowed Isabelle to move up to a T2 prototype Pathfinder in 2005. Her schedule was shorter than the previous year's and did not include the Dakar Rally this time. In the navigator's seat was Thierry Delli Zotti, previously with Carlos Sousa. Bernard Irissou was now working with Serge Jordan.

Their first raid together was a disappointment; they were running in the top ten of the Optic 2000 Rally when they were struck by two punctures and a series of mechanical problems. It was doubtful whether Isabelle would start the last stage, but she managed, having dropped to 37th.

Later in the year, she tackled the Rally d'Orient and was a much more competitive seventh overall. Her last rally of the season was the Pharaohs in Egypt, in which she was sixth, ending the year on a positive. She had scored FIA points on two of her three outings.

Isabelle's Dessoude contract was not renewed for 2006. For the Dakar, she used a Mitsubishi Pajero, and was 39th. She kept up her partnership with Thierry Delli Zotti, who was now her partner in life as well as in the car. She contested two major raids, coming thirteenth in the Orpi Rally Morocco in the Pajero and seventh in the Optic 2000.

In 2007, Isabelle and Thierry received delivery of another specialist Buggy, designed by Thierry and powered by a V8 Corvette engine. They were 36th in the Dakar in it. They also entered the Orpi Rally Morocco, and were fourth in the two-wheel drive class, twelfth overall.

Political unrest and safety concerns in West Africa put paid to the 2008 Dakar, and threw the rally raid season off-kilter. Isabelle’s plans for her next Dakar were put on hold, and it does not look like she competed much, or at all, during 2008. However, she returned to the Dakar, now staged across Chile and Argentina, in 2009. It was her first competition in South America. She and Thierry, driving their Buggy, were 17th overall, Isabelle’s best result. She also contested the Silk Way Rally, across Russia and Inner Asia, in the autumn, but did not finish.

In 2010, she returned to the Dessoude setup. She first drove the two-wheel-drive T1 Pathfinder in the Dakar, still running in South America. Sadly, she and Thierry retired on the third stage, after multiple problems.

In 2011, she moved teams to the Sadev operation, although she stuck to Nissan power with their Buggy. This proved a smart move, as she scored her best-ever Dakar finish: sixteenth, and third in the two-wheel drive class.

She made another attempt on the South American Dakar in 2012, alongside her now-husband Thierry, and was 29th in a Dessoude-supported Oryx Buggy. The pair also entered the Silk Way Rally in Russia, in a new lightweight, motorcycle-engined buggy based on a Renault Clio. They retired halfway through, after the third stage.

In addition to this, Isabelle also returned to competitive climbing in 2011. She claims that her years of climbing gave her the spatial awareness and understanding of her surroundings that serve her so well in rally raids.

She does not appear to have competed in 2013, but was back on the Dakar entry list for the 2014 event, driving a Buggy. She was 26th overall.

In 2013, she and Thierry set up their own off-road driving school, which offers specialist tuition and women-only training.

She is also a popular motoring journalist in France, equally at home writing about bad-weather driving techniques or the art of driving in high heels.

(Image from www.isabellepatissierpilotage.com)

Andrea Mayer (Peterhansel)

Women have excelled in some of the toughest motorsport disciplines on Earth. Cross-country rallying must rank among the most extreme forms of motorised competition, and motorcycle rally raids even more so. Much like her compatriot Jutta Kleinschmidt, Andrea Mayer of Germany started her competition career on two wheels, before moving to cars.

There are a lot of similarities between the career paths of Andrea and Jutta. Both came from an academic background. Andrea trained as a journalist and was lucky enough to combine her job with her love of motorbikes, becoming an international writer for the motorcycle press. When he work took her to the terrain of Africa, she was inspired to start competing in enduros and rally raids, after enjoying a long trip across the continent. Her first event was in 1989. She stuck to European races to begin with, but she soon found her feet and was back traversing her favoured sand dunes.

After proving herself to be a quick and astute rider, she was picked for the BMW works team in 1997. There she remained until 2001, picking up Ladies' Awards in almost every event she entered and scoring some fine overall placings. Her best-ever finish was sixth in the UAE Desert Challenge, a raid she entered five times. She was also seventh in the Rally of Egypt, another Saharan rally. In smaller motorbike rallies in Scandinavia and Europe, she finished in the top three many times.

BMW pulled out of rally raids in 2001, after the death of its star rider, John Deacon. Andrea carried on in bikes at the dominant KTM team for another year, but the deaths of so many of her friends and team-mates were a big factor in pushing her towards cars. She had been a team-mate to Deacon, and his death affected her badly.

Andrea's desert prowess was known to the major raid teams and she was soon snapped up by the Mitsubishi squad to drive a Pajero in a selected programme of rallies. She did not disappoint, coming 17th in the Orpi Morocco Rally and tenth in the Tunisian Optic 2000. On home soil in Germany, she came a fantastic second in the non-championship Baja Deutschland, earning her an enthusiastic following there. 2002 was the year after Jutta Kleinschmidt was so dominant in the Dakar and elsewhere, so rally raids were big news.

Mitsubishi expanded Andrea's programme the next year to include all the major rallies. Her season began reasonably well on the Dakar, where she was 21st and fourth in the T2 diesel class. Over the year she steadily grew in confidence and picked up momentum. She was 16th in Morocco, but managed fifth place finishes in Tunisia, Dubai and the UAE, on her favoured Desert Challenge. In all of these, she was also winner or runner-up in the diesel class. Later in the season, she repeated her second place in Germany, to the delight of her fans.

2004 saw her best-ever four-wheeled Dakar. She was fifth, against tough opposition like Colin McRae, Luc Alphand and Hiroshi Masuoka, an excellent performance when you take into account that she was driving the second-string Mitsubishi as "water carrier" to the two prototypes, driven by Masuoka and eventual winner Stephane Peterhansel. Comparisons between her and Jutta Kleinschmidt continued, especially as Andrea was now driving with Jutta's former navigator, Andreas Schulz. Both women laughed off the comments, but it was true that both women were involved in scandal that year. Jutta was later excluded for an illegal engine change, but Andrea was cleared of wrongdoing after she helped to push Peterhansel's car with her own vehicle.

Further solid positions followed, with a tenth place on the Orpi Rally Morocco a highlight, but there was disappointment on the Baja Deutschland. Andrea had been tipped to win, but was forced to retire with mechanical trouble. She also competed in the Dubai raid that year.

Partnered now by Frenchman Jean-Michel Polato, Andrea entered the 2005 Dakar. She was driving the team's L200 pickup rather than the Pajero this time. Again, she was in the "support driver" role. Sadly, her rally ended at Atar, with crankshaft damage to the Pickup. The Mitsubishi team pulled her out of the event, as the vehicle was judged to be beyond repair.

After this disappointment, Andrea parted company with Mitsubishi. She took part in some raids later in the year in a private Nissan Pathfinder, assisted by Christian Schoen. They started the UAE Desert Challenge but retired on stage seven.

Andrea swapped cars again for 2006, electing to drive a KOS Buggy in European and North African rallies, as part of the new European Cup for rally raids. Her first event in the buggy was the Libya Desert Challenge, which was a problematic run, as the car was still very much in development. However, she still managed to hold the lead for some time and win the buggy class, coming second overall. She recorded outright wins on the Green Raid of China and the Grand Erg Tunisian raid. Sadly, a technical problem pushed her out of the UAE Desert Challenge. Away from rally-raids, she also won an off-road Kart-Cross event.

After 2006, she was absent from the rally raid scene for a long time. A return to the Dakar in 2008 was rumoured, but the event was cancelled. She remained under the radar for several more seasons, before returning to the South America-based Dakar in 2011, as part of the X-Raid team, driving a Man truck with Thomas Baumann and Philipp Beier. Although she was competing, she was more in a maintenance and spares-carrying role. Once again, she was driving a support vehicle for Stephane Peterhansel, who was now her partner. She finished 39th in the class.

Shortly afterwards, the pair went back to their motorcycling roots for the Sardinia Rally. Andrea won the Ladies' class, but did not feature strongly in the main standings.

In 2013, this turned into a supported Yamaha ride for five rounds of the Baja World Cup, taking in Morocco, Hungary, Romania, Spain and Italy. She finished in the top ten for her class on all five, and was either first or second lady rider. Late-season, she was even tempted back on to four wheels for the Rally Puglia e Lucania, in a lightweight Danisi Dust Devil T3 Buggy, a newly-homologated lightweight model. Andrea was not able to finish after the buggy ingested dust into its engine, but her team-mate was third overall.

That year, Andrea also competed in downhill mountain biking in Kenya.

In 2014, she continued to compete, in both mountain biking and rally raids. She drove the Dust Devil in the Baja Italia, an event hit badly by rain. She won class T3, by dint of being the only class finisher. Later in the year, she tested the Devil at Le Creusot in France, but did not actually race.

There was not much actual competition for Andrea in 2015. She remained with the Danisi team, developing the Dust Devil for a concerted attempt at the Cross-Country Cup in 2016.

The team rallied in the European rounds of the Cross-Country Cup, scoring a second place in the Italian Baja, and a third in the Baja Portalegre in Portugal. For a change, Andrea acted as the navigator this year, which she described as being unexpectedly fun.

In 2017 and 2018, Andrea and Stephane usually competed together, taking in a mix of Baja, offroad, motorcycle and even ice events. Andrea and her new co-driver Emma Clair won the TE class in the 2017 Italian Baja and 2018 Australian Finke Desert Challenge, driving an Acciona electric SUV. On ice, she usually drives a Yamaha buggy and won the Endurance section of the 2017 Ice-Tour Challenge at Val d'Isere. Her co-drivers were Stephane and his son Nicolas.

As co-driver to Stephane, she won the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, driving an X Raid-run buggy. She also co-drove for Annett Fischer on the Dakar, competing in the SxS category.

She and Stephane Peterhansel were married in 2016. They were due to do the 2020 Dakar together in a Mini, but unspecified health issues meant that Andrea was not cleared to race.

(Image from www.moto123.com)