Luisa Rezzonico

Luisa Rezzonico was a Swiss-Italian driver who died following a crash whilst competing in the 1954 Autogiro d’Italia, driving a Lancia Aurelia. 

She started racing at the age of nineteen, in 1951. After only a couple of years of major competition, she won the 1953 Perla di Sanremo women’s rally, and the Como-Lieto Colle hillclimb, another ladies’ event, both in the Aurelia. She won the Como-Lieto Colle event three times; it ran as an “International Coupe des Dames” and sometimes had a short circuit race attached to it. Research into this event and which editions Luisa participated in is made more difficult by the fact that the Como-Lieto Colle hillclimb course was also used for mixed events from 1948.

The same year, 1953, and in a similar car, she was fifth overall in the Circuito Ospedaletti road race, and second in the 2000cc GT class. Her other outings included the Venice Lido Rally and the Cesana-Sestriere hillclimb. During one of her early races, she reportedly had a lucky escape when her car crashed and caught fire, although it is not entirely clear on which event this happened.

Prior to the Giro, Luisa had entered the 1954 Paris-St. Raphael Rally, another high-profile women-only event. She was driving a factory-supported Aurelia and was tipped by some as a potential winner, but picking up car both car damage and penalties early on dropped her out of the running. 

Luisa was driving in the Giro with her co-driver Franco Simontacchi, using a newer Aurelia B20 with which she was not overly familiar, run by the Sant Ambroeus team. She had originally planned on driving a Zagato-bodied Fiat 1100. The third stage of the event ran between Napoli and Bari and Luisa’s accident happened at or near the end. Some Italian newspapers describe her as having overshot the end of the stage.

She and Simontacchi were killed instantly when the Aurelia crashed into the wall of a church at Castellana. They had been running second overall at the time.

The Como-Lieto Colle Coppa Dames was named the “Luisa Rezzonico Trophy” in her honour in 1955.

(Image copyright formulapassion.it)

Female Drivers at the Macau Grand Prix

Tatiana Calderon in 2014

The Macau Grand Prix is the longest-standing motorsport event in Asia. It started life as a motorised treasure hunt, then became a sportscar race, before evolving into a single-seater event. It ran under Formula Libre rules from 1961 to 1973, then becoming part of the Formula Pacific championship in 1974. Since 1983, it has been a Formula 3 race, and has been contested by Formula One hopefuls from around the world, including Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.

The race is held on the Guia street circuit in Macau, a Chinese special territory. Speeds reached at Macau are can be extremely high due to the circuit’s long straights. As well as the single-seater race, the event hosts a major touring car race (previously the finale of the WTCC), a motorcycle Grand Prix and a number of support races for saloons, sportscars and local single-seater formulae.

Women drivers have been a distinct rarity throughout the history of the Grand Prix. More have contested the Guia touring car race, or the other support races, and there have even been pro-am women’s races on the bill in the past. Anne Wong won the touring car race in 1970, in a Mini. However, only a handful of female drivers have contested the blue-riband Grand Prix. 

Below is a list. It may be added to in future, as the results for the earlier runnings of the race are not easy to find.

1976

Diana Poon  (Brabham BT40) DNF?

1980

Desiré Wilson (Ralt RT1) – 6^th

1983

Cathy Muller (Ralt RT3) – 12^th

2014

Tatiana Calderon (Dallara-Mercedes) – 13<sup>th

2018
Sophia Floersch (Dallara-Mercedes) - DNF (accident)

2019
Sophia Floersch (Dallara-Mecachrome) - DNF</sup>

²⁰²³

^{Sophia Floersch (Dallara F3 2019) - 11th}

(Image from www.tatianacalderon.com)