Helga Heinrich (Steudel)

Helga Heinrich, formerly known as Helga Steudel, is a German driver and motorcyclist, originally from East Germany. 

She started out in motorcycle racing in 1959, aged 20, having learned to ride at thirteen. Six years later, she became the first female rider to win a major race, at the Sachsenring. To this day, she remains the only woman to win there on two wheels. She continued to win at other circuits, usually on a 125cc MZ RE. Despite her obvious talent, women found it very difficult to be granted licenses for international racing by the FIM, so she had to stay within club competition. Her two-wheeled career ended in 1967. 

After her marriage to Dieter Heinrich, she switched to cars in 1970, using a DDR-made Melkus RS 1000 sports racer to begin with. Without a major sponsor, she took on three jobs to affford her racing, including working in a paint factory and on her family's farm.

Being an Eastern Bloc sportsperson, she competed within the Communist countries almost exclusively. Schleizer Dreieck, in East Germany, was her commonest haunt. She achieved many top-ten finishes throughout the 1970s, in the RS 1000, and later, a Spyder and a Formel Easter single-seater. As well as races, she competed frequently in hillclimbs. 

Schleiz was the scene of her first major race result, a fifth in the 1971 Bernauer Schleife race for Melkus RS 1000 cars. Ulli Melkus, from the family who had created the cars, was the winner. The following year, she seems to have competed outside Germany for the first time, taking the Melkus to Most in modern Czechia, then the Soviet Republic of Czechoslovakia. She was eighth at Most and then seventh at Piestany, in modern Slovakia, before returning home to come sixth at Schleiz.

For 1974, she switched to the Spyder Krug, another sports prototype made in the GDR. She continued to race in Czechoslovakia, although she does not appear to have visited other Eastern Bloc countries to compete. The Spyder does not seem to have been the most reliable of cars and she rarely finished this year. It was more successful in hillclimbs, with a best result of fifth at Bautzen in the GDR. That said, she had her fair share of non-finishes in speed events as well.

Another season in the Krug was mostly spent in hillclimbs. Her best result was fifth again, this time at Torun in Poland. By now, she had a sponsor, Malimo knitwear. She only used the Krug for half of the season in 1976, switching between it and a Spyder Scharfe. The Scharfe was the better car and she was third at the Annaberg hillclimb in the GDR in it. It was a car she would return to over and over again until 1980, although she did score two more third places in a Spyder Tschernoster in 1977, at Annaberg and Schwarzenberg. In hillclimbs, she also used a Lada and a later Melkus MT77 on occasion.

Her circuit racing appearances became more sporadic towards the end of the 1970s. In 1979, she was twelfth in a race at Ostrava in Czechoslovakia, driving the Spyder Scharfe. 

She first retired in 1984, only making one more appearance in 1992. However, in 2007, she came out of retirement again, initially for historic events, but more recently, in modern single-seaters. 

In 2013, she raced a Formula Renault in the ESET Eastern European championship, at the age of 75. Prior to this, she had won a hillclimb championship in 2010. The year before, she competed in a GDR-built Formel Easter Estonia 25 in the GLP Pro Series. She had raced in this Soviet single-seater championship more than 20 years earlier, when she was the only woman to take part.

Although she does not appear to have raced since 2016, she still remains Germany’s oldest female racing driver, having been active until the age of 75. Her last races were in the Carbonia Cup at the Slovakiaring, driving a Formula Renault.

(Image copyright Helga Henirich)

Laia Sanz

 

Laia with Carlos Sainz

Laia Sanz races in Extreme E for Carlos Sainz's team, sharing an electric Odyssey 4x4.

The Spanish racer, whose full name is Eulalia Sanz Pla-Giribert, is better-known as a motorcycle endurance rider who has won 14 ladies' European trials championships and ridden in the Dakar ten times on a motorbike. She has finished every Dakar she has entered, between 2011 and 2020, with a women’s award each time. Her best overall finish has been ninth in 2015.  

She had been competing in trials aged seven, in 1992. Her first win was in 1997 and she won her first women’s title in 1998, still aged only twelve.

Her four-wheel career began at around the same time as her Dakar debut. Interestingly, she did not opt for off-road competition.

She entered a couple of Clio Cup races in Spain in 2011 and won class A2 of the 2011 Barcelona 24 Hours, driving a Renault Clio. She was 18th overall, assisted by Enric and Jordi Codony, Francesc Gutierrez and Santi Navarro. 

In 2014, she did some ice racing in Andorra, in the G Series, and competed directly against Ingrid Rossell in a match race. She also did two rounds of the SEAT Leon Supercopa, in Catalunya, and was 19th and 20th. 

In 2015, she returned to enduros, and was ninth in the Dakar on a KTM. She did do some four-wheeled outings in a SEAT Leon, including two races in the Supercopa and the Catalunya 24 Hours, at Barcelona. She was 16th overall and second in class, as part of a two-driver team. 

At the end of the season, she was signed by the works KTM team, and concentrated on motorcycles for a season. 

She did another car race in 2017, finishing 15th in the TCR 24H race at Catalunya. Her car was a SEAT Leon. 

She entered the same race in 2018, driving a SEAT Cupra for the Monlau team. She and her team-mates won their class. 

Her first start in Extreme E came after a long recovery period for wrist injuries sustained in the 2020 Dakar where she was riding for the works Gas Gas team. Her warm-up was a run in a Can-Am SxS vehicle at the Baja Dubai. She was fourth in the UTV class.

Carlos Sainz himself had requested that she join the Acciona Sainz XE team. Each Extreme E must have a male and a female driver and Laia was the first choice for the Spanish team’s female seat.

The first Extreme E race was held in Saudi Arabia and the second event in Senegal and this was her first time visiting the country, as the Dakar had stopped visiting Dakar itself by the time she made her debut. She and Carlos Sainz were ninth in Senegal, having finished fourth in Saudi.

Despite saying that she would carry on with motorcycles when her seat in Extreme E was announced, she decided to commit to four wheels during 2021, including her first run in the Dakar in a car for 2022.

Her first E-Prix in Saudi was a relative success and she and Carlos qualified second, although they were dropped to fourth in the final by mechanical problems. The pair tended to qualify well but come up against issues in finals and their best finish was third in Greenland. They were fifth in the championship.

The second season of Extreme E featured an unchanged Acciona Sainz driver pairing. They were third overall, with two second places in the Saudi desert round and the Chile race. Both drivers usually qualified well, but did quite not have the pace for the final.

Her Dakar adventure ended in a solid 23rd place in the Car class, driving a Mini All4 with Maurizio Gerini. The car was run by the X-Raid team.

Laia's third season in Extreme E featured a new team-mate in Mattias Ekstrom. The pair won two races in Saudi and Sardinia from pole, on their way to second in the championship. They were also second four times. They were also the fastest qualifiers for the second Chile race, but were beaten by the Veloce team, who won the championship.

She entered the Dakar again in 2024, driving an Astara T1.2 prototype. Her co-driver was the Italian Maurizio Gerini. They were 15th in the Car class.

Back in Extreme E, Laia partnered Jamaican driver Fraser McConnell. They won the second Desert E-Prix and were second in both Hydro races, finishing second overall in the final Extreme E championship.

The same pairing as 2024 entered the 2025 Dakar, driving for the Century Racing Factory Team, but they had to retire on the second stage.

Mid-season, she rejoined the Sainz Extreme E team for the Final Lap, the championship's last event before becoming Extreme H. Laia and Fraser McConnell were fourth and eighth in their two races.

(Image from enduro21.com)

Corinne Koppenhague (Tarnaud)

Corinne, left, with Bob Wollek and Jacques Rey in 1970

Corinne Koppenhague was a versatile French racer, probably best known for coming 11th at Le Mans in a Porsche Carrera in 1975, as Corinne Tarnaud. Her team-mates were Yvette Fontaine and Anny-Charlotte Verney.

Her motorsport journey began in 1968 or 1969, depending upon which source one trusts. Her cousin, Marie-Claire Cibié (Beaulieu), had been involved in events like the Tour de France, and Corinne had become friends with some of the young guns of French motor racing, including Jacques Laffite and Jean-Pierre Jabouille. Her first practical experience of a motor race was when she helped out in the pits at the Reims 12 Hours, working for Sylvain Garant. This spurred her on to start her own competition career. In 1969, she co-drove for Marie-Pierre Palayer in the Critérium des Cévennes, in a BMW. They won the Coupe des Dames.

In the 1970 Critérium des Cévennes, she navigated for Bob Wollek, and helped him to second place in his Porsche 911. She shared a similar car with Thierry Sabine for the AGACI 300 at Montlhéry, but the result has been lost. Her performance on the Critérium des Cévennes was enough to win her the French Coupe des Dames for co-drivers. She also drove herself in some French rallies, in the Porsche, at Chataigne and Poitou.

By 1971, she had moved more fully into the driving seat. Her biggest event of the year was the Tour de France, which she had entered in a Porsche 911. Her co-driver was Christine Rouff, later a key member of Team Aseptogyl, and they had a third team member in the shape of a tortoise, which slept in the Porsche’s glove box and was fed by the mechanics. Corinne and her team were 27^th out of 49 finishers, and ninth in the 2000cc GT class. Navigation had not been completely left behind: she sat beside Francine Warein in a Simca for the Morocco Rally. At some point, she also co-drove for Christine Dacremont in an Opel Kadett, perhaps this year.

In 1972, she stepped away from Porsches temporarily, and drove an Alfa Romeo 2000 GT. She did not finish this year’s Tour de France due to engine failure, but was 32^nd in the Ronde Cévenole. She was still active in French rallies in the Porsche, and entered that year’s Paris-St. Raphaël Rally. 

She did not compete in 1973. It was this year that she married, and thereafter, raced under the name Tarnaud or Koppenhague-Tarnaud. She was eighth in the 1974 Paris-St. Raphaël, driving an Alfa Romeo 2000. Another run in the Ronde Cévenole led to an 18^th place, out of 33 drivers, and she was 27^th in the Tour de France, in an Alfa Romeo again. Her team-mate for the Tour was a Madame Hoube, who had co-driven for her in rallies previously.

1975 was the year of her Le Mans adventure. She was part of an all-female team, led by Anny-Charlotte Verney, whose Porsche 911 Carrera RS they drove. Anny-Charlotte was another regular on the French racing and rally scene. Yvette Fontaine, the third team member, was also multi-talented, and from Belgium. They were the better of the two all-female teams that year, and were second in the Series GT class. She teamed up with Christine Beckers at Zolder, driving a Triumph Dolomite, and even made the trip out to Sweden, to race a Volvo in a one-make cup there. She was all set to drive in another Tour de France, too, but the death of her intended team-mate, “Charlotte”, in a road traffic accident, meant that she dropped out.

She attempted to qualify for Le Mans again in 1976, driving a TOJ SC204 with Jacky Haran and Jacques Marquet. They were not successful.

She was certainly still involved in stage rallying in 1976, and was part of one of the later incarnations of Team Aseptogyl. She drove a little Autobianchi A110 in the Monte Carlo Rally for the team, although she does not appear to have finished. She may well have rallied elsewhere in the pink A110, as she appears in Aseptogyl publicity material for that season. She entered the Mont Blanc Rally that year, but crashed out. As well as the Aseptogyl car, she also drove an Alpine-Renault 1800.

1977 was mostly spent away from motorsport, “resting”, as Corinne claimed in a contemporary interview in Echappement. In 1978, she raced an Alfasud in a European one-make series, finishing third at Albi, and setting a lap record in the process.

After 1978, she became more and more involved in rally raids, first on motorcycles, then on four wheels. In 1979, she entered the first Paris-Dakar Rally, on a motorbike, one of seven female riders making history that year. She rode a Suzuki, but did not finish. The following year, she moved into the car class, in a Willys Jeep. This led to another non-finish. She attempted the Dakar another eight times, once more on a motorcycle in 1985. Her last try was in 1988, when she drove a Land Rover. Her other vehicles included a Range Rover, a Jeep Hotchkiss in 1981 and a Toyota pickup in 1982.

After her retirement from active motorsport in 1988, she has remained involved in competitive sport. She still rides motorcycles recreationally, and skis competitively, despite her advancing age.

(Image copyright Michelle Wollek)

Female Drivers at the 2011 Goodwood Revival

This year’s Goodwood Revival was one of the best I’ve attended yet in terms of on-track action: the right mix of audacious moves, skilful racing and beautiful cars. Highlights were the Whitsun Trophy, and the Freddie March Memorial Trophy for sportscars, although the single-seaters and motorcycles were all great. My Driver of the Meeting was Sam Wilson, a young male driver who won the Chichester Cup and Earl of March Trophy in fine style, driving a Cooper T59 and Kieft-Norton respectively. The Goodwood awards panel agreed.
Speedqueens were very much in evidence, although not among the winners this year. Desiré Wilson probably stood the best chance in the all– E Type Fordwater Trophy, but crashed out spectacularly through the circuit’s beleaguered chicane. She was unhurt, although she declined to drive in the RAC TT Celebration the following day. She was awarded a trophy for the fastest female lap of the meeting, at 96.6mph in the Jaguar.
Below are the results for all Speedqueens (and their team-mates) competing during the weekend.


Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy Race 1:
Sophie Smith/Tony Smith (McIntyre Matchless G50) - 16th
Race 2:
Sophie Smith/Tony Smith (McIntyre Matchless G50) - 19th


St. Mary’s Trophy Race 1:
Claudia Hürtgen (Austin Mini Cooper S) - DNF/NC


Fordwater Trophy
Desiré Wilson/Emmanuele Pirro (Jaguar E-Type) - DNF


Freddie March Memorial Trophy
Holly Mason Franchitti (Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica) - 23rd


Richmond Trophy
Niamh Maguire (Cooper-Bristol Mk1 T20) - 18th

Julia de Baldanza (Maserati A6GCM) - 21st


(Fordwater Trophy picture from http://www.ultimatecarpages.com/)