Female Drivers in Touring Cars: Canada

Stephanie Ruys de Perez

Female drivers have been a regular fixture in the Canadian Touring Car Championship during the past few years. Canada has produced a number of other women racers such as Monique Proulx, but it is the CTCC that seems to be their favoured destination at the moment.

Demi Chalkias - Canadian driver who competes in the Pirelli GT Sprint championship. She won the GT4 class of the series in 2018, driving a BMW E36. She has also competed in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in the same car, winning races at Mosport, Shannonville and Calabogie. In 2020, she won a CASC-run GT3 series in the BMW, as well as racing in the Nissan Micra Cup. The year after, she won some races in the Canadian Touring Car Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Mercedes-AMG chose her as part of a three-woman team for an endurance race at Buttonwillow in the USA, alongside Cherie Storms and Nicole Havrda. In 2023, she raced a Mercedes with some success in the SCCC GT4 championship. In 2024, she moved into the GT4 America series, driving a Mercedes. She was third at Virginia, then started from pole in the second race, although she did not finish. For 2025, she switched to the Radical Academy in Canada, competing in the one-make Radical Cup. She is from a motorsport background but did not initially try to race herself. She dropped out of a medical degree to work in the automotive world, having been a triathlete earlier in her career.

Crystel Charest - raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2016 and 2017. Her car was a Mini Cooper run by Octane Racing both times. Her best result came in 2016: a fourth place at Trois-Rivieres. Previously, and alongside her CTCC events, she raced the Mini in the Super Production Challenge in Canada. She was a career-best sixth in the 2017 championship, after an eleventh place in 2016 and twelfth in 2015. She only managed one appearance in the series in 2018, at Trois-Rivieres. She did not finish the first race and could not start the second. In 2022, she reappeared in the Mini for the Canadian Super Production Challenge Series. Crystel has been working as a dentist in Quebec since 1992.

Marie-France Gagné – raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2014. She drove a Mini Cooper in the Touring class. It was her first season in the series, and she acquitted herself well, with a best finish of sixth, and tenth in the 22-driver Touring class. She was competing with her husband, Éric Lacouture, as a team-mate. They are both dentists.

Nathalie Hénault – raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2014, after several years of regional and club competition. She was racing in the Super class, and her car was a Subaru WRX. Right from the first round, she was on the pace, finishing eighth. Her best finishes were a pair of third places, both at Calabogie. She was fifth in the championship, and probably would have been higher without a string of DNFs near the end of the season. A second season of the CTCC ended quite similarly in 2015; Nathalie was more consistent, and had a better finishing record, and was fifth again, with a best finish of fifth at Shannonville. Her car was the Impreza. She raced in the Subaru in at least some rounds of the GT Challenge in 2016. In 2017, she was third in the Super Touring class of the CTCC, driving the Impreza. She scored two seconds and two third places.

Marie-Soleil Labelle - races in the Nissan Micra Cup in Canada. 2020 was her first season of competition and she is the championship’s youngest ever entrant, aged 16. Her best result so far has been fifteenth at Calabogie at the end of August. She was 21st in the championship. In 2021, she was 23rd overall in the Nissan championship, eleventh in the Micra class. This improved to third overall in 2022, with three third places. She moved up to the Sentra one-make championship in 2023. She did the Sentra series in both Canada and the US in 2024. Before switching to cars, she raced karts in Canada up to international level. She intended to race single-seaters and was on a development deal to race a Formula Renault in Europe in 2021, taking part in the Ultimate Cup.

Nicole Martin-Favreau - Quebecois driver who raced in Canada in the 1960s and possibly into the early 1970s. She mostly raced in the sedan categories, often against Francois Favreau, whom she married in 1966. Her cars included a Lotus Cortina and a Shelby Mustang which she used in Production Sports races in 1965. The Cortina was probably her most successful car and she raced it from 1966 onwards. Among her results were a fourth and fifth place at Mont-Tremblant in the 1967 Quebec Group B Sedan series. She started an all-female racing team in 1968, in the Quebec Formula B single-seater championship, although details of this are hard to find.

Lindsay Rice - raced in the CTCC in 2017. She scored two fifth places in the GT Sport class at Mosport, but the rest of her part-season was affected by a string of DNFs and a non-start. She had attempted to make her CTCC debut at Trois-Rivieres in 2016, but was unable to start. Her usual car is a Porsche 911, which she also used in club racing in 2016. She was more successful there. As well as racing the Porsche, she did some Nissan Micra Cup races in 2016, at Mosport. In 2018, she drove a different car, an Audi RS3 LMS, but only entered one race at Mosport, finishing sixth. She completed most of the 2019 championship in the Audi, finishing fifth in the TCR class with five top-tens, the best of these being a fifth at Calabogie. Lindsay does not have a motorsport background and did not start competing until she was in her mid-twenties.

Stephanie Ruys de Perez – raced saloons in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1972, she was fourteenth in the Sanair Trans-Am race, in a Mini Cooper. She is best known for racing for the Comstock team, one of the first commercially sponsored racing teams. She also raced a Sunbeam Imp in 1966. Among her other cars was a Chevrolet Camaro. More detailed information about her career is not forthcoming, although she was quite famous at the time, appearing on TV adverts.

Ashley Sahakian - raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2017. This was her rookie year in the series. She drove a Ford Mustang and was fourth in the GT Sport class, two places below her team-mate and brother, Chris Sahakian. Ashley’s best finish was third, at Mirabel. She made some more appearances in the Mustang in 2018, earning a best finish of seventh at Mirabel. Prior to the CTCC, she did part-seasons in the Nissan Micra Cup in 2015 and 2016. She was not among the front-runners but did improve in her second year. As well as motor racing, she plays football and is a former model.

(Image copyright Getty Images)

Andrea Robertson

Andrea (left) with her Robertson Racing team-mates at Le Mans in 2011

Andrea Robertson is an American driver who raced at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2011, driving a Ford GT-R MkVIII. Between 2007 and 2011, she also raced in the American Le Mans Series.

She had been a motorsport fan from a young age and was a regular at her local drag strip, where Shirley Muldowney was among the drivers she watched.

Her career path was based around aviation. She worked as an air traffic controller and met David Robertson, a pilot. They were a couple for many years before they married in 2004.

In 2007, Andrea entered three rounds of the American Le Mans Series in a Robertson Racing Panoz Esperante. Her only finish was a 23rd place at Laguna Seca. Her usual team-mates were her husband David and David Murry. The couple teamed up with Arie Luyendyk Jr for the Sebring 12 Hours but the car’s engine failed after 64 laps.

This was both Robertsons’ first foray into international-level sportscar racing. Andrea had won two local SCCA championships for Ford cars (Spec Racer) between 1999 and 2003, but had never done anything above SCCA level. They ran a team with no official manufacturer assistance. Dick Barbour did provide some help in the early stages.

In 2008, the team went back to Ford power and were now equipped with a GT-R. The car had been developed by Kevin Doran and worked on by the Robertson team themselves. They took on eight rounds. Their best finish was 19th at Detroit, although their finishing record was much improved with only three non-finishes. They were rather down on pace, but improving slowly.

In 2009 and 2010, the same team continued to drive in the ALMS, still in the Ford. 2009 started with their best Sebring run ever. The Robertsons and Murry were fourteenth overall and seventh in class. They were then eleventh at St Petersburg. The Road America race was also a good showing for them; they were 15th and within five laps of the winners. At the end of the season, Andrea did her first overseas race, entering the Okayama round of the Asian Le Mans Series in Japan.

2010 was a slightly shorter season but the team continued to put in solid results. The best of these was a 22nd place in the Sebring 12 Hours.

In 2011, Andrea drove at Le Mans, and was third in the GTE Am class. Andrea and David’s finish was a first for a husband and wife team and proved popular. They were 26th overall.

The team also entered the American Le Mans Series, and was 20th in the GT class after six races.

The Ford GT was retired after the 2011 season. Andrea also retired from driving duties. Between then and 2016, the team ran cars for other drivers in the ALMS and in local championships.

(Image from crash.net)

Marie-Luise Kozmian (Kozmianowa)

Marie-Luise Kozmian is the anglicised name of Maria-Ludwika Kozmianowa, who raced a Bugatti T37 and other cars in central and eastern Europe in the 1930s. She is occasionally also called Maria von Kozmian.

She was born in 1892 as Maria Komorowska and married Andrzej Kozmian, an engineer. She was a wealthy landowner in what is now Poland.

Her first racing car seems to have been an Austro-Daimler.

The first major outing for this car may have been the Rajd Pan (Women’s Rally) in 1930. She was the winner of the fourth edition of this event, held that year, as well as one other running of the rally. This was a city-to-city road rally; the 1930 route passed through Warsaw, Zakopane and Wisla then back to Warsaw, some 1150km.

Many sources describe her as winning the 1930 Lwow (Lemburg) Grand Prix, but contemporary results do not support this. Other sources call it a race for touring cars. Motor Sport magazine reports that she won the class for “dominant type cars”, run over 15 laps (45km). “dominant type” cars were “the models on which the manufacturer was concentrating”, which suggests it was a production car class. There were additional races for Sports and Racing cars.  

The next big event for her was the 1931 Baltic Cup, in which she won the Touring class. The event was held in Poland and was a 7km time trial.  

Some time after this she acquired a new car, a Bugatti T37. This car could run in Voiturette races and she used it in two editions of her home Grand Prix, at Lwow. She was sixth in the voiturette race at the 1933 event and was an entrant for the 1934 race, which did not go ahead.

During her career, Marie-Luise travelled around central Europe to compete. In 1933, she travelled to Hradec Kralove in what is now the Czech Republic for a street race. She was second in the 1500cc class.

In 1934, she took the Bugatti to Switzerland for the Berne Grand Prix, run to Voiturette regulations. This race supported the Swiss Grand Prix. She was tenth overall, behind the French driver Anne Itier.

The same year, she took part in the Klausen hillclimb, also in Switzerland. She was second in the 1500cc class, behind “Johnny” Lurani’s Maserati.

Hillclimbs were said to be her best events, although results are not often forthcoming. A series of pictures show her racing the Bugatti up the Semmering pass in Austria, but it is not known which year she entered. She did set a new ladies’ record on that course in 1933 and was third in the 1500cc Sports class, but she may have driven there more than once. She is meant to have raced until 1937.

She died in 1955.

Valeria Carballo

Valeria Carballo (Valeria Vanessa Carballo Berroteran) is a Venezuelan driver who raced single-seaters in Europe for several seasons.

Initially, Valeria was based in Italy. She made her debut in Italian Formula Renault in 2011, driving for Team Costa Rica. After a difficult year with a string of DNFs in the middle, she was seventeenth in the championship, with a best finish of eighth, at Misano. This was one of two top-ten finishes that year, the other being a ninth at Monza. Team Costa Rica fielded five drivers over the season and only one, James Adams, was Costa Rican.

Whilst in Italy, she also raced in Formula Abarth, in the Italian and European series. She did not enter enough races to make any impact. All of her Formula Abarth outings were as part of Team Costa Rica.

In 2012, she tackled the European F3 Open championship, after a couple of races in the winter series, at Paul Ricard. Her finishes in the Trophy itself were not overly impressive, apart from one seventh at Monza, but she did quite well in the Cup class, earning many top-ten finishes. She was a team-mate to Tatiana Calderon at Emilio de Villota Motorsport, although they were racing in separate classes.

Her second season in Euro F3 started with the Winter Series, in which she scored one seventh place. In the series proper, she was part of the Campos team. It was a better season for her, or more consistent than before, with five top-ten finishes, the best being seventh, at Portimao. This was enough for twelfth overall. She was the highest-placed of the three Campos drivers, above Artur Janosz in thirteenth and Denis Nagulin in 19th.

Valeria’s career ended in 2014. Like several other Venezuelan racing drivers, she had been sponsored by PDVSA, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company. Pastor Maldonado was the highest-profile of these, and Milka Duno was among their number. At the end of 2013, PDVSA suspended its motorsport sponsorship programme and stopped paying all drivers competing abroad. This was due to certain individuals using the sponsorship programme to obtain large quantities of foreign currency. It is not known whether Valeria was one of these drivers.

(Image from http://www.euroformulaopen.net)

Katie Milner

Katie Milner won the Junior Saloon Car Championship in 2016. She now races Ginettas.

She first raced in the Junior Saloon Car Championship in 2015, driving a Citroen Saxo. This was her first season of circuit racing full-stop. She was ninth in the championship. Her best finish was fourth, at Croft, and she had two other top-five positions at Croft and Oulton Park.

Prior to her season in the JSCC, she was a successful autograss racer for four seasons between 2012 and 2015, with five junior titles. Autograss takes place on a short, oval grass track. Other saloon racers including Alice Hughes have used it as a training ground. Her first JSCC campaign overlapped with her last autograss title.

She also tried out the Ginetta Junior series at Brands Hatch during the 2015-2016 off-season. This was a challenge for her and she only had a highest finish of eleventh.

In 2016, she raced in the JSCC for a final season before she turned seventeen. The disappointments of the Ginetta winter series were forgotten. It was a dramatic year; she was one of the leading drivers, with seven wins, but her championship title was only awarded after appeals. She was excluded for technical reasons at Knockhill, but was reinstated, and crowned the winner.

In 2017, she raced in the Ginetta GT5 Championship, as a senior. It was a somewhat inconsistent season, but she managed two fourth places and one fifth at Rockingham.

At the end of the season, she won the BWRDC Ladies' Race at the Walter Hayes Trophy on handicap, having finished second on scratch to Sarah Moore in another Ginetta.

She was ninth overall in her second season of GT5 racing. driving the same car. Her best finish was a fifth place at Thruxton.

Most of 2019 was spent in the Ginetta, in the same championship. Her season looked to be a more consistent one at the start, but the big grids and competitive nature of the series meant that she got caught up in several bumps not of her making, dropping her down the order. Her best finish was a fifth place again, this time at Snetterton, and she scored two pole positions at Thruxton.

Mid-season, she teamed up with Alice Hughes for the Citroen C1 Challenge, racing as Team Merlin International supported by Motorsport Woman. The two Yorkshire women finished second in their first three-hour race at Croft, leading the race at one point. They were joined by Jem Hepworth and Sami Bowler for the C1 24 Hours at Silverstone, running as Team Motorsport Woman, and finished fifth.

Katie was due to contest the British GT championship as an official driver for McLaren in 2020, but coronavirus meant that the programme was shelved. She raced in 2021, having been retained as a McLaren development driver. Her partner for the Rocket RJN 570S was Harry Hayek of Australia. 

It was a challenging year for both drivers. Katie was not on terms with the leading GT4 cars and had a best finish of fourth in class at Snetterton. Her finishing record was good and she faced some obstacles from other cars, but the Milner/Hayek pair was not as quick as the other McLaren development team and she may not be retained by the team for 2022.

In addition to British GTs, she raced in the USA for the first time in 2021, finishing sixth in a guest appearance at Circuit of the Americas, the sixth round of the Pure McLaren GT Series.

Katie is the daughter of rally driver Johnny Milner.

(Image copyright LAT)

Female Saloon Racers from Thailand

Tachapan Vijittranon

Thai female drivers have made significant inroads into their national saloon racing scene in recent years. Most are active in the Thailand Super Series. A manufacturer-supported women-only one-make series for the Toyota Vios provides a way in for a few. Thai racers Nattanid Leewatanavalagul and Tachapan Vijittranon are now competing abroad too.

Tanchanok Charoensukhawatana - has won the Toyota Vios Lady Cup in Thailand at least twice. She has been one of its leading drivers for several years. In 2019, she moved into the main Vios Cup, earning at least one sixth place. For 2020, she competed in the more powerful Altis Cup on the Gazoo Racing bill. This was a smart move; she won the championship with four out of five wins. In 2024, she may have returned to the Lady Cup, which now uses the Altis. She began racing in 2013 in the Lotus Greater China series and became the first woman to earn a pole position at the Macau street circuit in a mixed race. She later raced in the Lotus Asia Cup alongside her father, Nattavude, in 2014. It appears that she raced a Toyota Yaris in the Super Eco class of the Thailand Super Series at some point, but language barriers mean that details of this are not clear. She has also raced a Toyota GT86 in Japan.

Phattaraporn Chongkitkhemmathat - raced a Honda City in the Super Production class of the Thailand Super Series in 2016. She was fifth in Class C, with two third places. This appears to be her only season in the championship. Previously, she raced a Toyota Vios in a one-make series in 2015. That year, she took part in a six-hour enduro in the car at Bangsaen.  

Panicha Dokchan - Thai racer who competes in the Special AWD and Super Turbo series in her home country. She drives for the Luknut World Pumps team. She has been racing since at least 2017 and has contested the support races for the Buriram 6 Hours at least twice. In the Super Turbo championship, her car is a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8. She raced in the Division 1 class, although she did not contest all the rounds in 2018. In 2019, she did at least some rounds of Thai Touring Cars in a TCR-spec SEAT Cupra. She finished at least one race at Buriram in sixth place. In 2020, she did at least some Super Turbo races. Panicha sometimes uses the name “Elle”.

Yotha Pavinee - raced in the Super Eco class of the Thailand Super Series. She was sixth in the 2017 championship, driving a Honda Brio. Her best overall finish was a ninth place at Buriram. In 2018, she stayed with the Thai Super Series but moved into the Super Compact class, driving a Honda Jazz for Morseng Racing. She continued in the series in 2019. 

Tachapan Vijittranon (Ploy) - Thai driver who raced in the Finnish touring car championship in 2017. Her car was a Mini. She had a best finish of second at Parnu from the six rounds that she entered, and she was eleventh in the championship. This was her first foray into European competition, although she has been active in Thai racing since she was 14, in 2012. Her first car was a Honda Jazz. In 2016, she was picked up by a women’s motorsport initiative run by Mazda, and drove a Mazda2 in the Thailand Super Series. She was racing in the Super Compact class and averaged a fourth-place finish throughout the year. It was her second season with the car.

(Image from http://www.nationmultimedia.com)

Ruth Bowler

Ruth Bowler, affectionately known as Ruthie, has been a regular in Aussie Racing Cars since 2008. She started her 200th race in the series in 2016.

Driving a Ford Falcon, she was 25th in her debut season. The car was leased from the factory for part of the season. When the lease expired, Ruth bought a Yamaha-engined Ford Coupe, which she originally used for testing. This car and versions of it became her regular ride for the next ten years.

She was 19th in her first season driving the Ford, in 2009. This was the first year of a six-season partnership with Armstrong Motorsport. She did full seasons for the team until 2014. She was not the most competitive driver out there, but she had a decent finishing record. In 2013, she became Aussie Racing Cars’ most prolific female driver, having amassed more starts than Danielle Walton and Brooke Leech.

Her best season points-wise was 2012, when she was 14th overall.

In 2014, she had a part-season in Aussie Racing Cars with Armstrong Motorsport. She took part in four races for the team. This was her last year with them and she set up her own “Ruthie Racer” team for 2015. Her support crew at Symmons Plain, Australia’s Tasmanian track, was the all-female “Tassie’s Fastest Ladies”. They were local kart racers raising awareness of both breast cancer and women in motorsport.

A complete season in 2015 gave her a championship 20th place, with a best finish of eighteenth, at Highlands and Phillip Island.

She did not do quite as well in 2016, and sat out some of the mid-season races. Her best finish was 24th, and she was 28th in the championship. This was still enough to pick up a women’s championship at the Clipsal support race. She now had rivals for the ARC “fastest lady” crown, with Charlotte Poynting and Emma Clark improving.

Her overall finishes in 2017 were better, the best of these being a 15th place at Symmons Plain. A few DNFs mid-season meant that she was 30th on the leaderboard. The ARC had four regular female drivers that year, including Ruth.

Her season was cut short due to needing reconstructive surgery on her left leg. This was not the result of a racing accident, but a serious problem with the lymphatic system. The surgery meant that she was unable to walk for some time. When she returned to the track in February 2018, she had only been walking unaided for three weeks. Her intention was to complete as much of the season as possible and regain as much fitness as she can before she has the next round of operations on her leg. She managed the meetings at Baskerville and The Bend.

She now races the only original Ford Coupe in the series.

She did not race in 2019.

(Image copyright Girls Torque Motorsport)