Under-17 Racing Series

Jamie Chadwick

During the past ten years in the UK, several full-size championships for junior drivers aged fourteen to seventeen have emerged. Girls have been involved from the start, and have found varying degrees of success, up to and including championship wins.

This is a list of drivers who are most known for, or have only competed in, racing series designed for the under-17s. Due to space constraints, this only includes full-size car racing and not karting.
Junior Rallycross racers can be found here. Charlotte Birch, Abbi Pulling, Esmee Hawkey, Sarah Moore, Irina Sidorkova, Lydia Walmsley, Emily Linscott, Alisha Palmowski, Ella Lloyd and Katie Milner have "graduated". Sophia Floersch now has her own post.

Flame Airikkala - began her career in cars at the start of 2023, when she was 16, racing in the Fiesta Junior championship. This followed a junior karting career. Her first races were at Snetterton and she was 18th and 15th. The Croft round gave her a 20th and 14th place. By the end of the year, she was a podium finisher. In 2024, she competed in both single-seaters and tin-tops, taking in rounds of the Formula Nordic championship and the electric Mini one-make series, the Nxt Gen Cup. In 2025, she concentrated more on single-seaters, doing the second half of the GB4 championship. Brands Hatch was her best circuit and she was 15th there. In the second half of the season, she also raced in the Kyojo Cup in Japan, an all-female series which began using single-seaters that year. She scored one top ten, a ninth place at Fuji. As well as circuit racing, she also took her first steps in rallying, taking on two circuit rallies and one forest rally in the UK, driving an MG3 and a Ford Fiesta. She finished one rally, the Knockhill Stages, in 46th place. Flame is the granddaugher of Finnish WRC rally winner Pentti Airikkala and rally driver Kirsti Airikkala, who settled in the UK. She has also represented her school and county at chess and indoor rowing, alongside her brother Finn.

Nina-Jo Atkinson - raced a Saxmax Citroen Saxo in 2006 and 2007, starting at the age of fourteen. She scored a few top-ten finishes towards the end of her time in the series. In 2008, she moved up to the Mini Challenge, despite being still only sixteen years old. She is noted for having driven the Nürburgring at speed when only fourteen. As well as circuit racing, she has done some rally navigation.

Lydia Austen - one of the first girls to take part in Britain's then-leading junior car racing series, T-Cars, in 2001. She raced for two full seasons. Her results were not spectacular, but she proved herself capable of holding her own on the track. She suffered a couple of nasty on-track accidents but always kept going, holding out for a finish. For 2002 she was considered good enough for the new Zip Formula junior single-seater category, and managed to put together a sponsorship deal. Unfortunately, the deal fell through and Lydia has been absent from the national racing scene ever since.

Lexie Belk - raced in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship in 2022. She was fourth in the championship after a fairly consistent season with good reliability. Her best finish was fifth, which she achieved twice at Knockhill. In 2023, she did the Ginetta GT5 Challenge, before joining the GB4 grid for the final rounds of the year at Donington. Previously, she and her sister Freya were active in karting, with the younger Lexie winning some junior titles. In 2023, she raced in the Ginetta GT5 championship in the UK, finishing sixth in the Pro class. She was third twice at Donington. Switching makes, she raced in the UK Radical Cup in 2024, with a best finish of fourth, at Donington again. In 2025, she went back to Ginettas, contesting three rounds of the GT Academy. Although she had problems and couldn't start any of the Donington races, she managed sixth places at Snetterton and Brands Hatch.

Sophie Byrne - raced in the Irish Ginetta Junior championship between 2011 and 2013. Her results improved every year, from eighth in 2011 to third in 2013. After moving up to senior competition, she acquired a Ford Fiesta XR2 which she raced in the Future Classics championship in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, as Sophie Austen-Byrne, she travelled to Silverstone for the BWRDC’s Race for a Record women’s handicap.

Megan Campbell - Northern Irish driver who raced in the Irish Ginetta Junior championship between 2015 and 2017. She was fifth in the 2017 series, having only been out of the top five when she did not finish twice at the start of the season. She made steady progress over her three seasons, with a tenth and a seventh in 2015 and 2016.

Pippa Coleman – did a season of Ginetta Junior racing in 2009. She was a competent, if not quite consistent driver, who did not compete for the full season. She managed six top-ten finishes, the best of these being two sixth places, at Thruxton and Rockingham. Her 2009 campaign followed a run in the 2008 Winter season. She does not appear to have raced since then.

Christie Doran - had her first season of full-sized motorsport in 2011, aged fifteen, in the Ginetta Junior championship. Despite a fairly large-scale media campaign in her favour, she only managed to compete at the Knockhill meeting. She was thirteenth in her first race and did not finish her second. Despite her age, she occasionally carries out road tests for the Scottish Sun, under the tutelage of her father, Jon. In 2012, she had support from the Scottish Sun for another race season, but she does not appear to have secured the additional funding she needed. Instead, she moved into historic racing, in a Triumph TR8. She was quite effective in the Scottish Classic Sports and Saloon series, finishing tenth overall. The next two seasons were spent in the Scottish BMW Compact Cup, which was a mixed experience, and she had to miss some of 2014 after a big crash in the first round. In 2015, she raced in England, in the VAG Trophy. Her car was a VW Golf. After a steep learning curve, she finished the season with three third places. As well as racing, she was part of an initiative that offers training and racing opportunities to injured service personnel. In 2016, she did her second VAG season, and scored three wins, putting her in the running for the Class B title. She raced the Golf again in 2017, but only for a part-season. This was due to badly damaging her car in a crash at Rockingham. Her best finishes were a pair of seconds at Thruxton, and she was third in the Class B championship. In 2018, she did some rounds of Britcar in the Golf, but her season was restricted by budget issues.

Katrina Ee - began racing in Ginetta Juniors in 2025, aged fourteen. She is from Hong Kong and also of Malaysian descent. Her best result during her part-season was a 13th place at Zandvoort, where she scored two top-twenties. She was 28th in the championship. She is a member of David Coulthard's More Than Equal development programme, after being scouted as a karter in Asia. She competed internationally in karting in 2024. 

Virsavia Goltsova - part of the Goltsova Racing team with her mother, Natalia Goltsova. She began racing in 2017. Her first race was the Kazan round of the Russian Junior Touring Car Championship. She was 16th then 13th in a Lada Kalina, as part of a three-car Goltsova Racing team. Her best overall results in the series were two eleventh places at Smolensk. In September, she was third in a two-hour endurance race at Kazan. She did a part-season in the Junior championship in 2018, driving a Kalina, and had a best finish of tenth at Kazan. 2019 was similar, with three races in the Junior championship. 2020 was something of a disaster; she was eleventh twice at Igora Drive then did not qualify for the two Kazan rounds.

Alicia Goundry - had her first season in cars in 2017, at the age of fourteen. She was competing in the Junior Saloon Car Championship for MMR Racing. Her season started steadily, but she found some speed at Croft and took the first of her two third places. Previously, she raced karts from 2013, as part of the “Goundry Girls” team with her two younger sisters, Tilly and Sienna. Alicia and Tilly competed in the 2016 National Super One series.

Ashley Gregory - junior saloon racer who moved up to senior competition in 2023. In three seasons of Junior Saloon Car Championship competition between 2019 and 2021, she won one race at Knockhill in 2021 and two further podiums at Mallory Park in 2020. Previously, she raced Ministox on short ovals from the age of ten, winning three championships. After ageing out of the JSCC, she returned to short ovals and won some F2 Stock Car races. She signed up to contest the Mini Challenge in 2023 and became a top-ten contender, but penalties dropped her to 22nd in the final standings. She was tenth in the 2024 championship, with a best finish of fifth at Brands Hatch. She was sixth in the 2025 Mini Challenge Trophy, winning one race at Donington and picking up four more podium finishes.

Jamie-Lea Hawley - raced in the Renault Clio Cup Junior series in the UK in 2018, with the Finsport team. She did her first season in a car in 2017, in the Ford Fiesta Junior championship. With only a little karting experience, it was a steep learning curve for her, but by the end of the season she was almost finishing on the podium; she was fourth in the last race at Donington. This was enough for tenth overall in the championship.

Emma Laddiman - competed in some Saxmax races in 2008, after taking a year out from expected motorsport activities due to injuries. She now works for Barwell Motorsports.

Abby Lock - began racing in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior championship in 2017, when she was 14. She had not had any prior competitive experience before that. She returned for a longer part-season in 2018, and had a best finish of sixth at Thruxton. She was ninth in the championship. She was named Driver of the Day at Rockingham in 2018. In 2019, she had another season in Fiesta Juniors, which was hampered by very small grids. She tried to move up to senior competition in 2020, but was hampered by the coronavirus crisis. She was meant to compete in the Lotus Elise Trophy in 2021, but only managed one round.

Ceol Lynch - Irish driver competing in the Junior Saloon Car Championship in the UK. She began racing at 14 in 2021, although her part-season was not a success, with just one finish from six races. In 2022, she did record more finishes, the best of these being a pair of 18th places at Anglesey, but her year was affected again by a string of DNFs. Her record improved in 2023 and she was 24th in the championship. She repeated the result in 2024. She is the daughter of B*Witched singer Edele Lynch and the niece of racer and Boyzone singer Shane Lynch.

Mia Morgan - started racing in Ginetta Juniors in 2007. She returned to the series for a part-season in 2008, improving slightly on her 2007 results.

Nadja Olbrisch - German driver who raced in the 2021 Tourenwagen Junior Cup. This was her second season in junior motorsport, having entered the NATC junior series in 2020, aged 15. She drove a Chevrolet Cruze and a BMW 318, winning two races in the Chevrolet at Lausitz and Oschersleben and finishing third in the championship. Her time in the Junior Cup, which uses the Ford Fiesta, was not as fruitful and she has a best finish of eighth. Her second season in 2022 was better, with a fifth place at Oschersleben her best rsult on the way to eighth overall. She previously competed in a Rotax kart in Germany between 2013 and 2015, with some success. 

Emma Pascall - raced in the UK's T-Car series in 2004 and 2005. A serious accident limited her participation in 2004 and she was a solid, rather than competitive, finisher. She does not appear to have continued in motorsport after 2005.

Amy Scarisbrick - has competed in both junior and senior categories. She ran a whole season of Saxmax in 2006, before using the same Citroen Saxo in the 750MC Stock Hatch championship in 2007. Her results were unspectacular, but she managed to hold her own against experienced drivers. In 2008, Amy concentrated on her education and did not race. She now works as a sports broadcaster on local radio.

Jasmine Shaw - raced in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior series in 2022, racing a Ford Fiesta against other teenagers. This was her first year of car racing. She was tenth in the championship after completing all of the rounds except for Croft, although this counted as her dropped score at the end of the year. Her best finish was a fifth place at Cadwell in the middle of the season. She was driving for the 20Ten team and continued to do so in 2023. Her results were stronger in 2023, with several top tens, and she was 18th in the championship. In 2024, she raced an F3 car in Monopostos, but crash damage put her out of the championship. She moved into Caterham racing in 2025, and was quickly a top-ten finisher.

Julia Strukova – Russian driver who made her circuit racing debut in 2015, in the RSKG Junior championship, a saloon series for 14-17 year olds. Her car was a VAZ, and she was second in the championship, winning two races at Kazan. For the rest of the season, she was rarely off the podium. As she turned 17 in 2015, she had to move up to senior motorsport in 2016. She joined the Russian National Touring Car Championship, driving a Kia Rio. At the end of the season, she was eleventh in the championship, with a best finish of sixth, at Kazan. She had another season in the Kia in 2017, recording a best finish of seventh, at Smolensk. 2018 was quite similar, with three top-ten finishes and a best of fifth at Grozny. Prior to 2015, she was involved in rally raids.

Liona Theobald - began circuit racing in 2021, entering the Ginetta Junior Winter Series before taking on the main 2022 championship with Assetto Motorsport. Her best overall result so far has been a 14th place at Croft. At the end of the season, she stepped up to the senior Ginetta GT5 Challenge at Donington, finishing tenth once and twelfth twice. She was sixth in the GTP class in 2023. In 2024, she raced in the GT Cup, with a best finish of second at Silverstone. Her car was a Ginetta, shared with James Townsend. Before Ginettas, she took part in autosolo events in a Mini, having learned to drive at the age of 11 at Brands Hatch. 

Lilly Zug - former karter who switched to cars in 2021, aged 15. After testing a Formula 4 car in 2020, she chose to join the new Tourenwagen Junior Cup in her native Germany. Her car for this one-make series is a Volkswagen Up! She improved quickly over the season and had a best finish of fourth at Hockenheim. At the end of the season, she was sixth in the championship. Previously, she was one of the selected drivers for the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission’s Girls on Track training camps, but did not make the final group for an F4 drive, partly due to her age at the time.

(Image copyright Jakob Ebrey)

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)

Female Rally Winners

Ewy and Anita Rosqvist, at the 1960 Midnight Sun Rally

A number of the drivers featured in the Speedqueens profiles have scored outright wins in international and national rallies. Michele Mouton, Pat Moss, Gilberte Thirion and Rosemary Smith all found success on the world stage, while Louise Aitken-Walker, Paola de Martini, Anne Hall and Christine Beckers, among others, have been victorious in national-level competition. Sara Williams now has her own profile, as do Ramona Karlsson, Ewy Rosqvist, Romana Zrnec, Ann Taieth, Cristina Gutierrez Herrero, Carole Vergnaud, Nadia Cutro, Gabi Husar and Eija Jurvanen. Susan Muwonge can be found here.

Below are short profiles of a few lesser-known female drivers who have won rallies. Due to space constraints and often, a lack of information, the many winners of the women-only Paris-St. Raphaël event are not included.

Jo Cadman - winner of the 1997 Corolla Cup Rally in the Australian Championship. She won state and national class championships in the 1990s, sometimes driving a Mitsubishi Galant. Her only WRC outing was the 1999 Rally of New Zealand, in which she was 32nd in a Lancer Evo 3. More recently, she has been acting as co-driver to her partner, John Mitchell.

Brianne Corn – winner of three US rallies in 2011: the Roxton Rallye de Paris, Roxton Rumbles and Nocona Rally Stomp 2. She scored three additional Open Light class wins, and was the Rally America Open Light Central Division champion. Her car was a Subaru Impreza. She began rallying in 2006, after a couple of years in autocross and Solo competition. As well as rallying, she has competed at Pike’s Peak on several occasions, in different classes, winning the Time Attack class in 2011. Since 2012, she has concentrated mainly on running her own rallycross track in her home state of Texas, along with her brother.

Danielle Furzeland – rallies a Subarua Impreza WRC car in the UK, one of a handful of women to having driven a WRC in anger. She began rallying in 2013, and her first car was a Ford Escort MkI, which was quickly swapped for an Impreza. In her first year, she scored three top-ten finishes, the best of these being a seventh place in the Subaru WRC Spares TSH Stages. 2014 was quite similar, with four top tens and another seventh, in the Smeathorpe Stages. In 2015, she started driving the WRC Impreza, a 2000 model. She was second overall twice, in the Three Counties Stages and the Smeathorpe Stages. She also won her class in the Three Counties event. In 2016, she scored her first outright win: the Prima Motorsport Smeatharpe Stages. She was driving the Impreza. Her best finish in the car in 2017 was third, on the Three Counties Stages Rally. She finished in the top ten of all four events she entered. In 2022 and 2023, she continued to be a top-ten finisher in single-venue rallies. Danielle is from the Furzeland rallying family, and is the daughter of rally crew, Steve and Yvonne Furzeland.

Yinelsy Gamero - rallies a Volkswagen Beetle, mainly in her home country of Peru. In 2018, she seems to have picked up her stage rallying career again, entering asphalt rallies in Peru. She was 15th in the Rally Premio Ciudad de Mollendo and 16th in the Rally Hanss Gamero. This continued through 2019, using a Citroen DS3. Her best finish was twelfth in the Ciudad de Arequipa Rally. Earlier, she competed in Bolivia, coming 38th in the Circuito Mario Mercado Vaca Guzman. In between, she drove the Beetle in the 2016 Inca Trail rally raid, but did not finish. In 2022, she rallied a Mazda3 in Peru and was second in the Rally Pequena Roma de America. In 2023, she won her first rally, the Rally Hanss Gamero. This is an asphalt event. She was third in the 2024 event, one of five top-ten finishes that year. She had three cars in 2025: a Renault Clio, a Subaru Impreza and a Joyner dune buggy. She earned her best result in the Clio, a second place in the Rally Hanss Gamero. Yinelsy is a former model and beauty queen.

Magdalena Misiarz – rallies a Honda Civic in Eastern Europe. She began in 2014, in the Czech Republic, after several years of navigating for other drivers. Her best result was 40^th, in the Železné Hori rally, from 80 drivers. In 2015, she drove in many more rallies, in the Czech Republic and Poland itself. She was particularly strong in the SKJS Rally Masters events; her two finishes were a fifth and a ninth place. In the Czech rallies she entered, she did less well, with a 27^th place in the Železné Hori rally her best finish.  In 2016, she was twelfth in the same rally, driving the Civic, but her best finish was sixth, in the first round of the Polish Tarmac Masters. She was third in class in the Polish Rally Masters championship in 2017, winning her class in the SKARS Tarmac Masters and finishing third overall. In 2018, she was fourth in the Rally Masters championship, with two fifth places in the Ireco and M3Racing rallies. The Rally Masters series was her most effective hunting ground in 2019 also; she won the Mecinka Rally Masters event and was third in the Sobotka Rally Masters. 

Maria de Graca Moura Relvas - the first Portuguese female driver to win a rally outright. She came first in the 1965 Grande Rali do Benfica, driving a Mini Cooper S. The same year, she competed on Madeira. The Mini was built in 1963 and she used it during the 1964 and 1965 seasons. Other details of her career are proving elusive, but it looks as if she was already in her 40s when she started rallying the Mini.

Kirsty Nelson - has been rallying in New Zealand since 2006. That year, she won her first rally, the Clubmans Rally of Rotorua, and entered her first WRC event, the Rally of New Zealand. She was 16. In 2007, she continued to rally in New Zealand in a Subaru Impreza, with a best finish of ninth. She moved up to the full championship in 2008 and also started competing internationally, in Malaysia. This continued in 2009. She tried to win funded WRC drives in 2009 as part of the FIA’s Pirelli Star Driver competition, but could not win the final round in Malaysia. She does not appear to have competed since then.

Tiina Tikkinen - winner of the 1994 Naista SM-Kesoil Rally in Finland, driving a Ford Escort RS 2000. In the late 1980s, she rallied a Lancia Delta Integrale in Finland, entering the 1988 and 1989 1000 Lakes Rallies. Like many Finnish drivers of the time, she occasionally competed in the Soviet Union, entering the 1989 Old Toomas Rally in Estonia. Before acquiring the Lancia, she used another Ford Escort in Finnish events in 1987.

Donatella Tominz - winner of the Yu Rally in 1973, driving a Fiat 124 SS. The same year, she was tenth in the Rally San Martino di Castrozza. In 1972, she had been ninth in the same event, and sixth in the Elba Rally, driving the same car. She was Italian and European Ladies’ Champion in 1973. This was at least her third European ladies’ title. She had been rallying since the beginning of the 1970s and her first major international rally seems to have been the 1970 Rally Costa del Sol, in which she was eighth in a Porsche 911. She also entered the 1971 Sanremo-Sestriere event, which she retired from whilst driving the Porsche. Her regular co-driver was Gabriella Mamolo, also known as “Squaw”. They finished in the top ten of several of some of the later runnings of the Paris-St. Raphaël women’s rally.

Angela Vilariño – versatile Spanish driver of Basque origin. She began her motorsport career in hillclimbs, in 2003, when she was 18. Between then and 2007, she competed up to European level, and had some excellent finishes. After a break, when she became a mother, she returned to hillclimbs, and also did some circuit racing in the VdeV Endurance Championship, driving a Norma. She had another year in the championship in 2009, and did her first rallies in 2010, as well as more hillclimbs. Her first rally cars were a Suzuki Swift and a Subaru Impreza, and in her third-ever rally, the San Sebastian Rally, she was fourth overall. In 2011, she concentrated on rallysprints in the Basque country, and won four of them, in the Impreza. She won the championship, but only after an appeal against being excluded from the final round. For the next couple of seasons, she went back to hillclimbs. In 2014, she became the first female driver to win the Spanish championship. In 2015, she returned to rallying, contesting the Spanish Tarmac championship in an Opel Adam, for the works Opel team. Her best result was 16th, in the Comunidad de Madrid Rally, and she had three more top twenty finishes. She was 24th in the championship, and won the Ladies' trophy. She won the Coupe des Dames in the 2016 European Hillclimb Championship.

Stephanie Zorn - long-term presence in German rallying, usually in rallysprints. She did her first major rallies in 1998, in a Seat Cupra, although she did not finish either of them. Her first Rally Deutschland came in 1999, and she was 32nd, tenth in class, in the Cupra. A break from rallying then followed, but she was back in 2007, this time in a Renault Clio. After that, she concentrated almost exclusively on rallysprints until 2013, and was fifth in the 2008 Heidelbergring Rallysprint. She is a regular top-ten finisher, and was ninth in the Rosenhof event in 2011 and 2012, and seventh in the Fontane Rallye in 2012. In 2013, she entered more stage rallies again, and her best result was seventh, in the Rallye Stade. She secured five more top-twenty finishes. In 2014, she repeated her fifth place in the Heidelbergring event, still in a Clio. Later in the season, she bettered it, with a fourth place in the Holsten Rally. This was one of seven top-ten finishes she had that year. In 2015, she won her first event outright: the Holsten Rally, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6. She was also second in the Rallye Atlantis, in the Clio, and third in the Heidelberg Rallyesprint. She just missed out on another win in 2016, finishing second in the Rally Sonderjylland in Denmark, driving a Clio. She also scored five class wins, all in the Clio. The Clio was her favoured car again in 2017. Her best finish was fourth, in the Aller-Weser Rally. This was one of six top-ten finishes that year. Another busy year in 2018 included another win in the Heidelberg Rallysprint, plus three third places and a multitude of class wins. There were no more wins in 2019, but Stephanie continued to be highly competitive, especially in sprint rallies. She scored two fifth places in the Heidelberg and Fischereihafen Rallysprints and was ninth in the Stormau asphalt rally. The Heidelberg event was her best again in 2020; she was third in a new Citroen DS3 R3T. This was one of five top-ten finishes. She continued to rally the DS3 in 2021 and this year, did better in full stage rallies. Without an entry into the Heidelberg Rallysprint, her best event was the Buten und Binnen Rally, in which she was fourteenth. In 2022, she was back to winning, taking the Heidelberg Rallysprint again. She was also second in the Stuvenborner and Hanseaten Rallysprints, and third in the Fischereihafen Sprint and Stormarn Rallye. Most of 2023 was spent in a Renault Clio RS, with a best finish of ninth in the Rosenhof Rallye. She was back on the podium in 2024, finishing second in the Heidbergring Rallysprint. In 2025, she had a lot of problems with her Clio, but still managed three top-ten finihses in German rallies. Away from rallying, she competes in equestrian sport.

(Image from http://www.classicmotor.se/)

The women of NASCAR

Tammy Jo Kirk and crew

Female drivers have been a feature of NASCAR and its associated series since 1949. A few pioneering drivers achieved success early on, but the NASCAR route has proved a challenging one for most of the women who have tried it. Below are short profiles of some of the ladies of NASCAR. Sara Christian, Louise Smith, Shawna Robinson, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Kat Teasdale, Diane Teel, Deborah Renshaw, Robin McCall, Hila Paulson Sweet and Patty Moise have their own profiles. Drivers who started their careers after 2000 can be found here. Although it is not part of the NASCAR family, the ARCA stock car series is included here, due to its similarity of machinery and venues.

Sherry Blakley - attempted to qualify for the Charlotte 250 round of the NASCAR Busch Series in 1994, but did not make the grid. Prior to this, she started 29 Goody’s Dash series races between 1991 and 1994, with a best championship finish of eighth in 1993, with two top-five finishes. She had been racing Late Models since at least 1988. During her career she was always adept at finding sponsorship, including Ramses condoms in 1994. Their publicity campaign involved promoting safe sex and giving out condoms at races and it was banned by NASCAR. Sherry retired a couple of years later and worked in a car dealership. She died in 2011, aged 48.

Ann Chester - one of NASCAR’s early female drivers, who took part in two Grand National races in 1950. She drove a Plymouth at the Vernon and Hamburg rounds, but did not finish either of them. The Plymouth’s engine failed at Vernon, and she crashed out of the Hamburg race. The Hamburg event was special, in that it was one of a handful of times that three women have raced in a top-level NASCAR event.

Tammy Jo Kirk - took part in NASCAR Craftsman Truck and regional events in the 1990s. She first came to prominence when she won the 1994 Snowball Derby in Florida, a NASCAR All Pro Series race. By 1996, she had moved up to the Busch Series, and won two pole positions. She was seventh overall. In 1997 and 1998, she drove in Craftsman Trucks, with a best finish of eleventh at Portland in 1997. Her sponsorship ended at the end of 1998, and she did not race again in NASCAR until 2003, when she returned to the Busch Series for Jay Robinson Racing. Her best finish was 21st, and she was not retained for the 2004 season. As well as NASCAR, she took part in some sportscar races, most notably the 1994 Daytona 24 Hours. She was 34th in a Porsche 911 with David Murry, Angelo Cilli and Anthony Lazzaro. Initially, she raced motorcycles on short tracks.

Teri MacDonald (Cadieux) - raced in a number of NASCAR and associated series between 1998 and 2005. During this time, she had part-seasons in ARCA and Craftsman Trucks, plus a single full season in CASCAR in 2001. Her best year in Trucks was 2002, with four races. Her CASCAR season yielded two top-ten finishes. In between, she drove in various ASA events, with rather a lot of non-finishes, but one top-twenty finish. Previously, she was involved in long-circuit racing in the USA and Canada, achieving some success at National level and earning awards as the highest-ranked woman driver in Canada. She retired in 2006 after the birth of her son, and now works in various motorsport-related fields.

Ethel Flock Mobley - early NASCAR racer and contemporary of Sara Christian. She began racing cars in “Powderpuff Derby” events for women drivers in the late 1940s. Her career began in earnest in 1949, when she entered and finished two NASCAR races, with a best finish of eleventh. In the other race, at Langhorn, she could only manage 44th. In addition to this, she took part in approximately 100 other races in the early 1950s, usually in the NASCAR Modified category. Her local track was the Atlanta Speedway, built by her brother, Bob Flock, and she normally competed there. She died in 1984.

Christi Passmore - has raced on and off in the ARCA series since 2002. In 2003 and 2004, she undertook major campaigns in this series, finishing eighth both times, driving a Ford. In 2004, she scored her only podium finish. In 2005, she only did thirteen races, which was not enough to mount any sort of challenge, and this dropped to one guest appearance in 2006. After that, she returned to ASCS events. This was how she began her career in 1998, based around the Knoxville track and its 410 Sprint series. She does not appear to have raced since 2010.

Arlene Pittman - started racing stock cars in 1985, aged fifteen. She worked her way up the local racing ladder, winning a championship in 1999. She started taking her racing more seriously after that, and began racing trucks in 2000. In 2002, she competed in both Truck races and the car-based NASCAR Goody’s Dash series. She was fifteenth in Goody’s Dash, out of 68 drivers. She retired from racing in 2003 after a serious accident during a Goody’s Dash event, although she did attempt to return, entering one more race after her crash. Now, she manages her own track and works extensively in motorsport PR.

FiFi Scott - took part in two Winston Cup races in 1955, at Phoenix and Tucson. She went out with a puncture before half-distance in the first race, but was classified in thirteenth place in the second. Her car was a Hudson, which she had previously used in Late Model races in 1954 and 1955, on the East Coast. Her best finish was twelfth, in the 1955 Walnut Creek race, driving a self-entered car.

Kelly Sutton – raced in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series between 2003 and 2007, following a long career in club stock car racing and the NASCAR Goody’s Dash series, which included overall race wins at junior and senior level. Her first Truck season only consisted of four races, with a best finish of 19^th, at Homestead. In 2004, she expanded her programme to 19 races, and broke into the top twenty once, at Mansfield. This season was marred by accidents and mechanical problems. 2005 was a better year, with three top-twenty finishes, including a fifteenth place at Charlotte. Despite a shorter season in 2006, with fewer good finishes, she still managed to lead her first lap, at Kansas, although she crashed out later. In her final year of Trucks, she only took part in three races, and was 20^th at Milwaukee. Since then, she has not raced. Throughout her career, she has raced for her family team, Sutton Racing. She is notable for being the only NASCAR driver who competed actively with MS.

Bonnie West - possibly the first woman to win a NASCAR-sanctioned Late Model race in 1975. She won a feature race at Langley Speedway, Virginia in June. She was the biggest female rival to Diane Teel and the two squared up in a match race together at Langley in 1977. Both were regulars at Langley, although they often competed in different divisions. Bonnie’s career ended abruptly in 1977 when she was convicted of car theft, alongside her husband, and jailed for five years.

Martha Wideman - raced stock cars in the USA in the 1970s. She competed in one round of the USAC Stock Car Series in 1976, finishing 20th at Texas World Speedway in a 1974 Dodge Charger. She was meant to race at Mid-America Raceways the following month, but did not start. She had been driving in short-oval stock car races on her own account since 1972, having been active for some years previously racing her husband’s car under his license, as women were not allowed and the “powder puff derby” events for women no longer challenged her. IMCA allowed her to race and she did eventually earn a NASCAR license, although she never took part in a NASCAR race.   

(Image copyright Fox News)

Open Wheel Racing in the USA

Arlene Hiss

Since the 1970s, several women have reached the highest ranks of single-seater competition in the USA, in Indycar and its descendants, the Indy Racing League and Champ Car. The best-known, including Danica Patrick, Lyn St. James, Katherine Legge, Cheryl Glass, Hanna Zellers, Mishael Abbott and Janet Guthrie, have their own profiles.

Below are some short profiles of some of the lesser-known female faces on the US open-wheel scene.

Annette Blenkarn – drove in Indy Lights and Fran-Am in 2004 after many years in karts and Midget cars. She does not appear to have raced single-seaters after that, but has done some more karting, with success. She later ran her own graphics company in the automotive industry, and now runs a business consultancy.

Veronica McCann - signed up for the IRL Pro Series in 2006. Her only race result was an eleventh at Chicago. Despite testing a Champ Car and a Formula BMW, she was not able to compete any further. Since then, she has returned to Sprintcar racing in her native Australia, where she was very successful as a junior, winning a number of regional championships. She also competed as a senior between 2002 and 2005.

Sarah McCune - scored one pole position in the Infiniti Pro Series in 2005, although she retired from the race itself, at Chicagoland. She previously raced in Midgets and Sprintcars in the States, winning many regional championships as a junior and senior. After her Infiniti experience, she set her sights on a NASCAR drive and has done several tests. However, problems with funding have kept her out of the major series.

(Image copyright Marc Sproule)

The Andros Trophée Féminin - "Ice Girls"

The ladies’ category of the Andros Trophy ice-racing championship began in the 2001-2002 season. Subtitled “Ice Girls”, it was constituted of women who had answered advertisements in the French press and online, looking for aspiring female racing drivers. The successful recruits were from a number of backgrounds, from models and TV presenters to some who had a little motorsport experience already.

The Trophée used the same 600cc buggies as the Sprint Car class. Each “Ice Girl” was paired with a more experienced male “professional”, who acted as both her team-mate and mentor. The field of competitors was large and the driving standards were variable, but competition was fierce. The first champion in 2002 was Veronique Dufour, who went on to considerable success in rallycross as Veronique Patier.

The Trophée was dropped before the 2009-2010 season, although many Ice Girl alumni continued to compete in the main championship.

In 2014-2015, the womens' series was revived, now simply called the "Trophée Féminin". About twelve regular drivers, plus guests, raced Sprintcar buggies in the usual Andros heats/finals format. The male "professionals" were not used. A good proportion of the field came from the French womens' autocross championship (Sprint Girls), including the winner, Marine Mercier. The Trophée was not run again for the 2016-17 season.

The list of winners is as follows:

2002 Veronique Dufour

2003 Emilie Petit
2004 Aurelia Marti
2005 Margot Laffite
2006 Marlène Broggi
2007 Audrey Roche
2008 Anne-Sophie Lemonnier
2009 Marie-Pierre Cripia (“Mlle Josiane”, a radio personality)
2015 Marine Mercier
2016 Clémentine Lhoste

At first, the competition was limited to those with no ice-racing experience, but this rule seems to have been relaxed, as several drivers have had multiple seasons in the series. Many of the “Ice Girls” have made appearances in the main draw of the championship, and some, such as Justine Monnier and Margot Laffite, have been successful.

Below are some of the drivers who competed as “Ice Girls”, or in the main Andros Trophy.
Marlène Broggi has her own profile here.
Margot Laffite has her own profile here.

There was no specific "Ice Girls" race during the 2019-2020 season, but there was an all-female Invitation race held at Val Thorens. Rally co-driver (and girlfriend of Elite Pro driver Sebastien Loeb) Laurene Godey was the winner, from teenage racer Angelina Favario, TV host France Pierron and actress Alix Benezech.

Berenice Demoustier - drove in the Promotion and Elite classes of the Andros Trophy in the 2008-2009 season. Her car was a Renault Clio and her team-mate was Marlene Broggi. She reached at least one Elite final at Super-Besse and was third in the main Ladies’ standings. Her best overall finish was 18th at Lans en Vercors. She was 21st overall in the championship. She returned to Andros in 2009-2010, driving a Toyota Auris in the Elite class with Bertrand Balas. She was eighteenth overall. Driving for the same team, she was 19th in 2010-2011, and 25th in 2011-2012. In 2014, she won the Ladies' title again, and was 16th in the main Trophy, running in the Invitation class. She was driving a Mazda3, for the works Mazda team, sharing the car with Olivier Panis. The following season, she drove for the Sport Garage Sodema team with Franck Lagorce. Her car was a Dacia Lodgy. She won one race, at Val Thorens, and was fourth in the championship. After the 2015-2016 Trophy, she was tenth, behind her old rivals, Marlène Broggi and Margot Laffite. Driving an Audi A1 Quattro, she had a best finish of sixth, in the final round at St-Die. As well as this, she helped BAC Team WRT to the Team award. The team retained her for the 2016-17 season, and she was eighth this time. Her best finish, a third place, came at Alpe d'Huez. This helped Team WRT to the team prize. Her career in ice-racing began in the Trophée Féminin, in which she was third in 2008.

Eve-Marie Dyon - competitor in the Andros Trophy, in both the Féminin and Open classes. She drove in the Trophée Féminin in the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons, and although she was always near the front, she did not win the title. Her best result was third, in 2006. She returned to mixed Andros Trophy competition in 2007 and 2008. Her first mixed season was in the Promotion class. In 2008, she drove a Fiat Stilo for the Racing Passion team in the Elite class, and was 29th in the championship. Her best race result was third in Andorra. As well as ice-racing, Eve has driven in the Fun Cup, Formula Renault, Caterhams and Legends during the summer season.

Emilie Faure - entered the Andros Trophy during the 2015-2016 season, driving in the Elite Pro class. Her car was a Renault Clio. Despite being registered for the championship, she only competed in a couple of rounds, the best of these being an eleventh place at Alpe d'Huez. Previously, she has been active in rallying, seemingly as a co-driver, and she may also have competed in autocross or kart-cross.

Angelina Favario - races both single-seaters and saloons in France. 2019 was her first year of senior competition, aged 16. She spent her first season learning to handle a car, both on the track and on ice. Her first major competitive outing was the 2019-20 Andros Trophy, where she appeared in the Invitation women’s race at Val Thorens. She won one of the races and was second in another. Later, she came back for the Lans-en-Vercours Invitation races, finishing fourth in both against male drivers. She intended to compete in French Formula Renault in 2020 but the coronavirus crisis affected motorsport worldwide. She has signed for the 2021 French F4 championship, having made another guest appearance in the Invitation class at the 2021 Andros Trophy.

Elodie Gossuin - former beauty queen who has been competing the Andros Trophy since 2006, after two years of being one of the championship’s female “faces”. She spent one year in the Trophée Féminin, before moving to the Electric car class. For the 2005-06 season, she was 59th in the main championship. In 2009/10, she was eighth in the Trophée Electrique, and in 2010-11, she was fourteenth. 

Marie-Laure Lemonnier (Peu) - the elder sister of Anne-Sophie Lemonnier. Her career path is virtually identical to that of her sister and they started competing at the same time, in 2003. In 2010, her car was a Citroen C2, and she raced in Division 1A of the French championship. For most of their time on the track, neither sister consistently out-scores the other, except in ice-racing. Marie-Laure was the runner-up in the 2008 Andros Trophée Féminin. She seems to have not raced much after 2010, although she has done quite a lot of rally navigation, for her father, Hervé Knapick, and Xavier Lemonnier (a brother?), with at least one win.

Aurelia Marti - winner of the Andros Trophée Féminin in 2004. After that, she returned to the Andros Trophy’s main competition, first in a Vauxhall Tigra. She was 24th overall after some runs in finals. In 2005-2006, she was 25th, driving an Astra. In the 2006-2007 season, she remained with the Astra, and was 24th again, this time in the Elite class. She improved the next year and was 16th in a BMW 1-Series, and in 2008-2009, driving the same car, she was the best female driver in the Trophy, finishing thirteenth overall. Her best result was fourth, at Alpe d’Huez. As well as ice-racing, she competes on the French circuits, during the main season. In 2007, she raced in the Renault Clio Cup, and in 2008, the Peugeot Spider Cup. She returned to the Clio Cup for two races in 2009, but does not seem to have raced since then. She comes from Andorra.

Marine Mercier – winner of the Andros Trophée Féminin in 2015, driving a buggy. This was not her first Andros experience; in 2010, she was part of the Andros Academy, aged 16. Most of her motorsport experience comes from autocross in France (“Sprint-Car”), in which she started competing at just fifteen years old. For at least the first two seasons, she raced against men, including her elder brother. In recent years, she has been part of the “Sprint Girls” womens’ championship, from which most of the 2014-2015 “Ice Girls” came.

Justine Monnier (Chicherit) - winner of the inaugural Andros Trophée Féminin in 2001. She went on to be ice-racing’s leading woman driver, racing cars as diverse as a VW Beetle, Citroen C2, Fiat Stilo and Kia Rio. Her team-mate in 2005 was Margot Laffite, when they were both driving as the Fiat Ladies’ team. She was probably most successful in the Kia in 2006, regularly finishing third against such luminaries as Alain Prost and the multiple champion, Yvan Muller. As well as the Andros Trophy, Justine has raced in a number of summer-season series, including the Fun Cup. She dropped out of ice-racing in 2008 and concentrated on the Peugeot Spyder Cup in France, as well as television work. Since then, she had focused on media work, and taken some guest drives in the Chevrolet Cruze Cup in Germany, with one win. In 2016, she came out of retirement to race in the Mitjet Cup in France. She did two races at Magny-Cours, driving for Yvan Muller's team. The two are a couple. 

Emilie Petit - competitor in both the Féminin and Open sections of the Andros Trophy. She began in the Trophée Féminin, in at least the 2002-2003 season. The following season, she moved up to the mixed competition in an Opel Tigra. She was 27th overall. She remained in the Promotion class in 2004-2005, this time in a Citroen Xsara, and finished one place up, in 26th. Another switch of car, to an Alfa Romeo 147, gave her a 34th place in 2005-2006, still in Promotion. A drive in a Renault Clio in 2006-2007 gave her a 36th spot. She did not drive in the Trophy the following season, but made a comeback in 2008-2009. She was a more competitive 27th after a series of drives in the official Skoda Fabia. In 2009-2010, she drove a Fiat Grande Punto, but struggled to qualify sometimes. She was 29th the following year and did not race in 2011-2012. In 2014, she raced in the Italian ICE series in a works Mazda3, although she did not run in the Andros Trophy.

Audrey Roche (Sarrazin) - winner of the Andros Trophée Féminin in 2007. She returned in 2008 to the main championship, and drove a Kia Rio in several rounds, with a best overall finish of 21st at Alpe d’Huez. After 2008, she did not return to the ice. Her website now describes her as a rally driver, although her rally results have not been forthcoming. She seems to have done some sportscar racing in France since her Andros adventures. In 2012, she was named as one of the French driver coaches for an Abarth-sponsored TV racing talent show. In 2013, she appears to have had a baby.



L-R: Marlene Broggi, Emilie Petit, Aurelia Marti, Justine Monnier, Eve-Marie Dyon, Marguerite Laffite.

(Images copyright Sport Compact Car)