Alessandra Brena

 

Alessandra Brena is a versatile Italian driver whose career has taken in single-seaters, touring cars and even rallying, in both petrol and electric vehicles. 

She began competing as a senior in Italy in 2011, at the age of fifteen. This followed seven years in a kart.

She drove in Formula Abarth, mainly concentrating on the Italian championship for the junior single-seater. Her best finish seems to have been eleventh, at Misano. Unfortunately, she was unable to complete the season, due to an injury sustained during a race. She also drove in two European championship events, also at Misano. 

In 2012, she drove in the Green Scout Cup for alternative-fuel vehicles, in a Kia. She won at least one race. This was the first of two seasons with alternative fuels; the second one led to a race win and a championship win in the Kia.

As well as hybrids, she raced more traditional internal-combustion cars, including a Ginetta G50 and a Lamborghini Gallardo, which she used in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo. She was thirteenth in the championship. She ended the year named as Italy’s best woman driver, still in her teens.

She raced the Ginetta again in a couple of rounds of the 2014 European GT4 Challenge for the Scuderia Giudici team, having impressed team owner Gianni Giudici. She was thirteenth and fifteenth at Misano, having performed well in qualifying alongside co-driver Walter Conforti. She was the youngest driver in the championship.

It was time to diversify in 2015. She did some rounds of the Germanol Adria Race Cup in a Renault Twingo, as well as entering some Italian rallies in a Peugeot 208. Her best result in the Renault seems to have been a fifth place. She won the Coupe des Dames in the Rally Due Valli, and was 28th overall. 

In 2016, she rallied the Peugeot in the Franciacorta Rally Show, and was 32nd overall. A guest appearance in the Italian Clio Cup at the end of the season led to a fourth-place finish.

Buoyed by her small success, a full-time return to the circuits in 2017 took the form of the Italian TCS Touring Car Championship. She was third overall, winning twice. 

Her career hit a fallow patch after that. She attempted to qualify for the W Series in 2019 but was eliminated from the first selection event. Later in the year, she went back to alternative power for the Mille Miglia Green, driving a Mercedes EQC. Since then, she has done some drifting but no actual racing.

(Image from formulapassion.it)

Bridget Burgess

 

Bridget Burgess is an Australian stock car driver who lives and competes in the USA. 

The Burgess family moved to the States in 2008, when Bridget was seven. Both of her parents were involved in off-road racing and drifting and she grew up working on cars.

She raced in the Lucas Oil Off-Road series from the age of 16, alongside her mother Sarah, before switching to stock cars in 2019. Sarah Burgess remains integral to her daughter’s racing efforts, acting as car entrant and crew chief. The team, BMI Racing, is family-based, with Bridget’s father Adam spotting for her. Sarah is often Bridget’s chief (or only) mechanic during races too.

In her first year, she did two rounds of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series at Meridian and Roseville. Both times, she made her way up from the back of the grid. She was eleventh at Roseville and twelfth at Meridian. This was in spite of her car being an unreliable rented machine.

In 2020, she attempted to run in the ARCA Menards West series, although her season was curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic. She did not finish the first round at Las Vegas due to a broken rear gear. In the end, she managed nine races, with a best finish of seventh at Las Vegas.  

She did all rounds of the West series in 2021, driving a Chevrolet entered by her mother. The nine races yielded another two top-tens: eighth at Sonoma and ninth at Colorado.

The BMI team registered for a full season in the West series in 2022 and Bridget had a reliable but slightly inconsistent year. Things started to get going in the fourth round at Portland, where she was seventh, the first of four top-ten finishes. She was seventh in the championship. A single main ARCA series outing at Phoenix led to a 23rd place.

(Image copyright Meg Oliphant/ARCA)

Kirsti Airikkala

 

Kirsti Airikkala rallied in Finland from 1968 and throughout most of the 1970s. She was twice runner-up in the Finnish ladies’ championship.

One of her first cars was an Isuzu Bellett, which she used in her first attempt at the 1000 Lakes Rally in 1968.  Her navigator for her early rallies was multiple Finnish ladies’ champion Eeva Heinonen. They were 24th in the 1000 Lakes, having already scored a 21st place in the Itaralli that year. Both Kirsti and her more famous husband, Pentti Airikkala, drove Isuzu cars at the time.

Her second 1000 Lakes Rally was in 1969, driving a Renault Gordini with Ulla Mäkelä. She drove in the event four more times, in 1971, 1972, 1975 and 1976. In 1970 she took time out from rallying to have her son, Niko Airikkala.

Her best result was a 24th place in 1972 and she also won her class in 1975, both times driving Opel cars with Tarja Takanen. Her 1972 car was a Kadett, which was updated to an Ascona in 1975.

She also scored a class win in the Arctic Rally in 1972, and was a career-best 18th overall in a European championship event, driving an Opel Kadett. In Finnish rallies, she bettered this, also in 1972, finishing fourteenth overall in the Tott-Porrassalmi Rally.

Her most frequent navigator was Tarja Tarkanen, but she also had Ritva Rossi sitting beside her at different times. For the 1976 Mantta 200-ajo Rally, she was co-driven by Marianne Avomeri, another Finnish woman better known as a driver with a famous partner, like Kirsti herself. She would later marry Markku Alen.

In 1974, she also tried her hand at co-driving, partnering Jill Robinson in the 1000 Lakes Rally, in an Alfa Romeo. 

Kirsti never competed outside Finland, but she did settle in England with Pentti after her retirement. She stayed in the UK after her divorce from Pentti.

From a rallying family, Kirsti’s younger brother is Timo Jouhki.

(Image copyright LAT Images)

Jenny Birrell (Nadin)

 

Jennifer Birrell raced sports and saloon cars in the 1960s and 1970s, competing in the fore-runner of the BTCC and the Sebring 12 Hours.

As Jenny Nadin, she started motorsport through rally navigation, chiefly for Pat Moss. She sat beside Pat for a season with Ford, driving a Cortina GT, in 1963. Their best results together were a seventh place in the RAC Rally and sixth in the Acropolis. She and Pat had met in showjumping competitions, both of them having an equestrian background.

Not long after, she took the wheel in rallies herself, encouraged by Pat’s husband, Erik Carlsson. She started out with a Mini in the British championship, then branched out. Her international outings included a run in the RAC Rally in 1966, driving a Hillman Imp, and a trip to the 1967 Monte in a Ford. 

Rallying brought her into contact with racer, journalist and event organiser Nick Brittan, who became her manager. In 1967, he persuaded her to enter the British Formula Vee championship, which was making its UK debut that year. She surprised everyone by putting her car on pole and then winning at Silverstone. Nick Brittan had overtaken her on the line and led for most of the race, but a late spin put her ahead. 

There were accusations at the time that the Volkswagen team had orchestrated Jenny’s win for publicity. Formula Vee had launched a week after Formula Ford and a first win for a woman was a valuable talking point. Some claimed that Nick had planned to pull over and let Jenny through. Others claimed that both of the official Volkswagen cars had illegally-tuned engines. No wrong-doing was discovered and the win stood.

Still, she was second in the 1967 Formula Vee Championship in her first season of racing, weathering a crash at Silverstone and scoring more podium finishes. She continued to race in the series in 1968, but she did not do as well and had two rather serious crashes, at Mallory and Thruxton.

By 1970, she had married Scottish driver Graham Birrell and was racing a Ford Escort as Jenny Birrell. She won at least one race at a club meeting at Croft and made her British Saloon Car Championship (the precursor to the BTCC) debut. Her first race was in the wet at Silverstone in 1971 and she finished tenth, despite a puncture at the start.

Later, she drove in America for the first time. She was part of the all-female Ring Free Oil Team for the 1971 Sebring 12 Hours, with Rosemary Smith and Janet Guthrie, driving a Chevron B16. Jenny practiced in the car but did not actually race. Rosemary and Janet did not finish. 

For 1973, she was competing in the Castrol Production Saloon championship, driving a Simca Rallye. It was in this car that she made her next BSCC appearance in 1974, finishing eighth at Mallory. Later in the season, she did several more races in a Chrysler Avenger, earning a ninth place at Ingliston.

In 1975, she joined another all-female team and finished the Spa 24 Hours in a Triumph Dolomite, with Christine Beckers and Marianne Hoepfner. They were 24th, eighth in class. The car was sponsored by “Butch Tailor”, a Belgian menswear fashion brand. Back in the UK, she was team-mate to Bernard Unett for the BSCC, driving an Avenger. The pair often battled for class honours. Jenny’s best overall finish was fifth, at Oulton Park. The Halesfield Motors team also ran Jenny in that year’s Avon Tour of Britain, with another Avenger.

Rallies then became the focus of her career. She had been competing in British and Irish events on and off alongside her circuit-based activities, but she rallied more intensively later.

She was still entered British rallies between 1973 and 1974, using a Simca. In 1977, she was sponsored by Century Oils and drove a Triumph TR7 in the British championship. Her best finish was a 28th place in the Burmah Rally.

After a lengthy break from the stages, she reappeared for the 1983 Ulster Rally in a Talbot Sunbeam, co-driven by Gabriel Konig. She was 47th. Another Talbot, a Samba, was her preferred car for a season in Ireland in 1984, taking in events in both Eire and Northern Ireland, as well as the Manx Rally. Later, she switched to a Peugeot 205 and scored her best result of the season, a thirteenth place in the Killarney Rally of the Lakes.

The 205 took her through another season in the UK in 1985, and also her first trip to Turkey. She was third in the Rothmans Bravo Rally. This in turn led to a part-season in the 1986 Turkish championship, which yielded a fifth place in that year’s Bravo event.

For the next two seasons, she took part in the Maestro Challenge in the UK, driving an MG Maestro. After that, her career begins to wind down; she drove a 205 on the 1990 Ardennes Rally and then had a final run in the Manx Rally in 1992, driving a Lancia Delta Integrale.

The later part of her competition career coincided with a successful period in motorsport administration, working for the British Touring Car Championship and the National Formula Ford series, among others.

(Image from racingteamvee.com)

Doriane Pin

 

Doriane Pin is a French driver who races sportscars in Europe. She was one of the finalists in the FIA’s official Girls on Track - Rising Stars programme.

She began her senior career in 2020, racing in the Clio Cup in France. Her best finish in the Clio was a ninth place at Paul Ricard and she was fourteenth overall, but second in the Junior standings. This was combined with her Rising Stars assessments, in which the leading young female drivers competed for membership of the Ferrari Academy. Doriane finished second to Maya Weug.

She had intended to compete in French F4 in 2021 and was also one of the finalists for the Elf Winfield Scholarship. As a prize for being the best of the girls there, she tested an F4 car, but the Iron Dames all-female GT team signed her up and her focus became sportscars. She had already tested the team’s Ferrari as part of her Girls on Track assessments; the Iron Dames team works closely with Girls on Track.

Before this new phase of her career could get under way, she tried ice racing at the Andros Trophy, finishing fifth in an invitation race at Andorra. She was driving an Enedis electric prototype.

Back with petrol power, her first race as an Iron Dame was meant to be in April, but she sat out the first round of the Le Mans Cup. She made her debut in the team’s Ferrari 488 in July, at Paul Ricard, finishing third in the GT3 class. Her co-drivers for the season were Sarah Bovy and Manuela Gostner. This was one of six podium finishes for the team, who finished second at Monza and third at both Le Mans and Spa. Doriane was fifth in the GT3 drivers’ standings.

She also joined Iron Dame Sarah Bovy in a Ferrari for two rounds of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. They were sixth at Catalunya and Paul Ricard.

Late in the season, she joined another Iron Dames driver, champion Michelle Gatting, in the Ferrari Challenge. Doriane scored two sixth places at Mugello.

Before her Ferrari guest drive, she tested an FIA Formula 3 car at Magny-Cours, alongside Maya Weug.

She stayed an Iron Dame in 2022, taking up the seat vacated by Michelle Gatting in the Ferrari Challenge. It was soon clear that she was the driver to beat, taking two wins from two pole positions in the first two races at Portimao. She won four of the six races, finishing third in another and fourth in another, both at Paul Ricard. Her dominance led to a win.

As the season went on, she played a bigger part in the main Iron Dames team. In July, she helped Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting to a class win in the ELMS LMGTE Drivers Trophy at Portimao, after a second at Spa. 

She remained part of the Iron Dames setup in 2023, although she raced for Prema in the LMP2 class in the WEC. She shared her car with ex-F1 driver Daniil Kvyat for most of the year, and they were ninth in their class. Mirko Bortolotti joined them for Le Mans, but a crash during Kvyat's night stint put them out at about one-third distance. Theyhad run as high as second in LMP2. Their best finish was a second in class at Sebring, at the beginning of the season.

She joined the Iron Dames in their Lamborghini Huracan for three rounds of the IMSA championship, beginning at Daytona. In what was a learning year, their best finish together was twelfth at Petit Le Mans. They also competed together as a four at the Spa 24 Hours, but did not finish. 

At the end of the season, Doriane made a surprising move back to single-seaters, with Prema. She did the Sepang rounds of the F4 Southeast Asia series, winning one race and scoring podium finishes in three more. She was linked to a Prema seat in the all-female F1 Academy for 2024 and the rumours were true; she became Mercedes' supported driver. After a win in the first race at Jeddah, she looked like a strong bet for the title, but a disqualification for post-race speeding dropped her to ninth in Race 2. She was then injured during her parallel campaign in FRECA for the Iron Dames, pulling out of the second Spa race, then the Zandvoort and Hungary rounds when she became ill. 

Although she did not miss any F1 Academy races, she was off the pace somewhat mid-season. She recovered and scored two more wins, at Zandvoort and Abu Dhabi, finishing second in the championship to Abbi Pulling. 

Her FRECA season was not as successful. This was the first time she had driven a single-seater at this level in competition and her best finish was only a fourteenth place at Paul Ricard. She was 27th in the championship.

As part of her continuing relationship with Iron Dames, she joined their sportscar team for the Daytona 24 Hours and two rounds of the World Endurance Championship, driving a Lamborghini Huracan. She and her team-mates Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey were sixth in the GTD class at Daytona, 25th overall. In the WEC, she did the Qatar and Imola rounds, finishing 23rd overall and eighth in class at Qatar, as part of a three-driver team.

She continued as a Mercedes junior in F1 Acadamy in 2025, making the championship her main focus. She and Maya Weug were the frontrunners from the beginning and were close for the entire season. Going into the final round at Las Vegas, either could have won; they both had three wins each. In the end, Doriane claimed her fourth win in Race 1, and as Maya had been taken out on the green flag lap, she only had to finish reasonably well in Race 2 to claim the title. She was fifth and finished the year as champion.

Formula Regional was also still on her calendar, although she had to work around the F1 Academy season. Prema ran her in some rounds of the Middle East series in the 2025 early winter season, but it was a tough challenge and her best finishes were two 16th places in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Her part-season in FRECA panned out similarly, with 17th spots at Paul Ricard and the Hungaroring its highlights. She was 30th overall.

(Image copyright Girls on Track)

Kaori Okamoto

 

Kaori Okamoto is a Japanese driver and former actress who raced touring cars both in Japan and internationally in the 1980s and 1990s. 

She was strongly associated with Toyota cars, and often drove for the TOMS team from the very beginning of her career.

Her first season was in 1986, she drove a Toyota Corolla in the All-Japan Touring Car Championship. She was 23 years old and still acting at this point. Her car was sponsored by Wacoal, a Japanese bra manufacturer, and she initially shared with different European drivers. Eje Elgh and Beppe Gabbiani. Teaming up with Elgh again later in the season, she had her best finish alongside him, a twelfth place at Sugo. Her early experiences led to a decision to concentrate on motorsport and work only on Japanese TV projects.

By 1987, she was competing in the World Touring Car Championship for TOMS, in a Corolla, with Hideshi Matsuda. They did not finish the Spa 24 Hours, but were 30th in the Fuji 500km. For the Japanese championship, she was sponsored by Leyton House. Her co-driver was Hideshi Matsuda and they were eighth in their first race together at Sugo. This was their best finish in a disappointing season plagued by DNFs.

In 1988, she raced  a similar car in some European and Asia-Pacific championship events. A second attempt at the Spa 24 Hours led to another DNF, as did most of her entries in the All-Japan Championship, usually with Morio Nitta as her team-mate. 1989 was another indifferent year, with her best result an 18th place at Tsukuba.

The Spa 24 Hours became one of her favourite events and she was entered seven times between 1988 and 1994. For the first few editions, she drove a Corolla, and it was in this car that she scored her highest finish: twelfth in 1989. An MR2 in 1992 and 1993 was not quite as successful and only got her as high as 24th in 1992. Her final attempt was in a Carina and she did not finish. Her most frequent co-drivers were Keiichi Suzuki and Morio Nitta. 

Other than that, she mainly concentrated on the Japanese touring car championship, completing most of the season in 1990 and 1991, driving a Corolla for the TOMS/Fujitsu Ten team, and later the FET team. By this time, the Corolla was not the most competitive and could not get anywhere near the dominant Nissan Skylines. Her best result during this period was a fourteenth place in the 1991 Suzuka 500km. 1991 was her last season in the championship.

In 1991, she also entered the Dakar Rally, in a Toyota. She became the first Japanese woman to finish the event when she crossed the line in 49th place. A return to the dunes in 1992, in another Toyota Landcruiser, gave her a 71st spot.

A cancer scare caused her to turn away from motorsport in 1994. This was the second in a few years and she did require treatment this time.

For more information on Kaori: https://japanesenostalgiccar.com/motorsport-kaori-okamoto-actor-businesswoman-race-car-driver/

(Image copyright TOMS)

Olga Thibault

Olga Thibault was one of France’s most successful female rally drivers in the 1930s.

She was the winner of the 1935 Paris-St. Raphael Rally, driving a Peugeot. This was one of two events she won outright that year. The other was the Rallye de Berck-Plage, three months later. 

The Paris-St. Raphael was not her first win, either. She was the victor in the Circuit d’Endurance de Haute-Normandie, held in 1934. Eleven drivers finished the event without penalties.

Her career began in 1932, with that year’s Paris-St. Raphael as her first rally. Only a couple of months later, she was fourth overall in the Circuit d’Orleans, winning the 1100cc class. Her car was a Peugeot 301, whose marque she would stick with throughout her five-year career. From her first year in rallying, she was a popular figure in the newspapers, who were keen to promote her victories.

Among her favourite events was the Dieppe Rally, which she contested four times. Her best finish was eleventh in 1935. This was her best year all-round in motorsport: as well as her two wins, she was second in the Rallye du Touquet-Paris Plage and third in the rally held as part of the Fetes de Paris. This was won by Rene Le Begue.

The Berck-Plage event was another favourite, which she entered three times: in 1933, 1935 and 1936. It was her last major rally and she won its Coupe des Dames in 1936.

Olga competed almost exclusively in France, but she did cross the border into Belgium for the finish of the 1934 Liege-Rome-Liege Rally. She and her co-driver Rouxel were eleventh.

(Image copyright Marianne)