Ronja Assmann

Ronja Assmann is a Swiss driver who mainly races saloons in Germany and has competed in the Nurburgring 24 Hours as part of the all-female “Girls Only” team.

She often races a Renault Clio in Germany, driving for her family team, usually with her father, Winfried.

She began her motorsport career in 2012, at the age of 17, in a KTM X-Bow, driving in the rookie championship of the X-Bow Battle series. She was 18th overall after four races. These were her first legitimate races, although she had been learning and training in a Volkswagen Polo for a year beforehand, until she was old enough for a senior license. Unusually, she did not come through karting and jumped straight into cars. 

In 2013, she acquired the Clio, and used it in the Bohemia Clio Cup, with a best finish of eleventh, at Most. She was 20th overall and fourth in the Junior rankings, as well as becoming the championship’s youngest ever female driver.

Back in Germany, she competed in some rounds of the German Touring Car Cup, in the 2000cc and under class. She normally ran well compared to the other Clios in her races, and her best finish was eleventh overall, at Lausitz. 

In 2014, she continued to race in the same series, and used the Clio to begin with. Later, she changed it for a Porsche GT3 Cup, which gave her better results, averaging about tenth. She did not complete the season. The Porsche was run by Flying Horse Racing, her family’s team. She sampled several different championships in it, including the Porsche Sports Cup and the P9 Endurance series.

Elsewhere, she was part of the dmsj–youngster-Team for the Rundstrecken Challenge (RCN), at the Nürburgring. In a Vauxhall Astra, she achieved one win in the Junior class. During the season, she also drove the Clio and a Honda Civic in the RCN.

The dmsj team retained her services in 2015, and she competed in the VLN, in the Astra. She was twelfth in the OPC Astra Cup class of the VLN, as part of a team of three. She finished the Nürburgring 24 Hours on her first attempt, and was fourth in the Cup1 class, with Winfried and two Flying Horse team-mates. They were 61st overall. 

It was back to the RCN for the 2016 season, in the Flying Horse Porsche. She did two races in the series, as well as a decent run in the Porsche Super Sports Cup, finishing eighth in the main championship and fourth in the Endurance class. During the winter season, she travelled to the Netherlands for the Winter Endurance Championship, and was second overall in a race at Zandvoort. 

In 2017, she did her first races in the Porsche Carrera Cup, making two guest appearances at the Lausitzring. She was driving for the Cito Pretiosa team in its debut year. 

She was also fourth in the Cup 3 class of the Nürburgring 24 Hours, driving a Porsche Cayman. This was run by Arkenau team and shared with her father, Kai Riemer and Peter Scharmach. 

She did not race much in 2018, but did some training and planned to return in 2019, which she did. Ronja became part of the “Girls Only” WS team for the VLN and the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Girls Only was led by Carrie Schreiner and driving duties were shared between her, Ronja and Jasmin Preisig. The car was a Volkswagen Golf GTi, run by an all-female engineering and management team.

The Nürburgring 24 Hours was meant to be their showcase event and in a way, it was. The Golf suffered problems and had to retreat to its garage for a full engine replacement, but the team got it back on track. The car took the finish but was not classified.

The VLN was a mixed bag of outcomes. They were second in the SP3T class in the first race, although they were only 79th overall. The second race in April was abandoned due to snow, then they did not enter the third. Ronja joined another team for the ninth round, driving a Porsche Cayman alongside her father. They were eighth in the Cup 3 class.

As well as the VLN, she raced a Porsche 911 in the Porsche Super Sports Cup in Germany.

The 911 came out for the 2020 VLN, competing in the SP7 class for cars up to 4000cc. Her regular team-mate was Karl Pflanz and they were twelfth in their class championship after a part-season, missing the first round. Their best class finish was third in Round 5, held in August.

(Image copyright Ronja Assmann)

Josefina Vigo

Josefina Vigo races touring cars, mainly competing in Argentina’s Top Race series where she is one of its most prolific female drivers. 

Although she is known for racing saloons, her first senior events and the first few years of her career were spent in sportscars. Between 2012 and 2015, she raced in GT2000 in Argentina straight out of karting, driving an ADA prototype for Jonas Lodeiro’s team. She was on the pace, or very near to it, straight away, finishing fourth in her first race at La Plata.

From eighth overall in 2012 to fifth in 2013, Josefina made rapid progress in the ADA, powered by either a Ford or Honda production engine. She scored her first podium, a second place at La Plata, and only finished outside the top ten once. The following year, she drove a Honda-engined car for Jotam Racing and doubled her podium tally with thirds at La Plata and her home track of Olavarria. 

Her first Top Race car in 2015 was a Chevrolet Cruze, and she was 21st in the championship after completing the second half of the season. Her best finish was seventh at Rio Hondo. Switching from a prototype to a touring car was a steep learning curve. 

Josefina described 2015 as a learning year, and hoped to be more competitive in 2016. 2016 turned out to be an up and down season in the Cruze; she was disqualified from the first round, then managed a sixth place a few weeks later at her lucky circuit of Rio Hondo. She was 20th in the championship. 

In 2017, she drove a Mercedes for ABH Sport, having moved from the SDE Competitcion team that had run her for two seasons. She had a similar midfield year and her best finish came at San Juan, where she was ninth. She was also tenth twice, but this was countered by four non-finishes, including one that put her out of the next race. Budget was also a problem.

She switched back to a Chevrolet for the 2018 Top Race season, with another new team in the shape of Olivieri Racing.  She did not manage a top-ten finish. This was another inconsistent season not helped by missing some races. The last event of the season ended in an ankle injury that had still not healed by the time the 2019 season came around, forcing her out of the first round.

For 2019, she continued to race a Chevrolet in Top Race, returning for the second round where she was eleventh. It was not one of her best seasons, with too many DNFs and disqualifications for her to make an impact on the leaderboard, although she did earn a fourth place late in the season at Concordia. She was also seventh at Buenos Aires.

Prior to her senior debut in 2012, she raced karts, and was Sudam Atlantic champion in 2011.

(Image copyright Prensa Pro)

Naomi Ran Zhang

Naomi Ran Zhang is a Chinese driver who has been active since at least 2009 and is currently racing GTs in Asia.

Her Chinese name is Ran Zhang, but she uses the Western name Naomi.

She has been showing her versatility since her first year, when she raced in the Clio Cup and Asian GT Masters. Driving a Ferrari 360 Modena in the GT Masters, she won Class B, with one victory.

The following year, she tried single-seaters, in the form of Asian Formula Renault, but was not as fast, and only finished 17th at the end of the season. Her best finishes were two eighth places, at Zhuhai.

In 2011, she kept her options open, with guest appearances in the China GT Challenge, in the Ferrari, and the Volkswagen Scirocco-R Cup. However, her main focus was Formula Pilota in China. She was 24th overall after a part-season, one of four women who entered that year.

From 2012, she concentrated on the Audi R8 LMS Cup in China. In 2013, she got into the top ten once - a ninth place at Ordos. She was 20th overall, after finishing 25th in 2012.

A break from motorsport followed.

More recently, she has been active in the Blancpain Endurance Series. Her first race in the Blancpain championship was in a Mercedes AMG GT4 run by Craft-Bamboo Racing, shared with Diana Rosario. They were fourth and sixth at Ningbo in 2018.

She raced in Europe for the first time that year, taking the wheel of a familiar Audi R8 LMS Cup car at the Nurburgring. A large number of Asian LMS Cup drivers came over for the two races, in which Naomi was twelfth and thirteenth.

In 2019, she joined up with the iRace team, sharing a similar Mercedes with Alan Yeo at Sepang and finishing fifth in the GT4 class twice.

At the age of 35, she also returned to single-seater racing in 2019, driving for KRC in the Asian Formula Renault series. She was tenth and ninth in the Pro class in her two races at Zhuhai in March.

(Image from www.gt-world-challenge-asia.com)

Irina Sidorkova

Irina Sidorkova is a title-winning junior touring car driver from Russia who has recently moved into single-seater competition.

She first raced at a Moscow rally show in 2015, when she was just eleven. This was the beginning of her involvement with the Volkswagen Academy which supported the saloon part of her career. Prior to this, she raced karts in Russia, Estonia and Finland. She won a championship in Estonia in 2012.

Her early interest seemed to be in rallying; she was a junior in the Rally section of the VW Academy and drove a Polo in a Finnish rally, where she was 22nd overall. This was before she even hit her teens.

She then gravitated towards the circuits and raced a Volkswagen Polo in the Russian national junior touring car championship. In 2017, she won two of her eight races, at Fort Grozny and Nizhny Novgorod. She also scored two second places at Smolensk. This took her to second place in the National Junior class of the Russian Circuit Racing series. On ice, she won in St Petersburg, taking home the Ice Circuit Racing Cup.

In 2018, she updated her second place to a championship with three wins in the early part of the season, at Fort Grozny and Smolensk. Three further podium positions kept her ahead of her Polo team-mate, Pavel Kuzminov.

Late in the season, she was entered into the Assen rounds of the SMP Formula 4 championship. This was her first experience of single-seaters and she finished all three races in thirteenth place.

At the beginning of 2019, she was announced as one of SMP’s drivers in the Spanish Formula 4 championship, in a car run by the DriveX team. She was still not yet sixteen. Her first meeting with the series at Navarra resulted in her first top ten, an eighth place. She later finished sixth at Motorland in Spain. Overall, it was a tough learning year and she waas 19th overall. She did slightly better in the SMP F4 series, finishing sixth.

Her management expressed hopes that she will represent Russia in the W Series in 2020, a wish that was granted during the second round of driver selections. The 2020 W Series was cancelled due to coronavirus but Irina took her place in 2021. As preparation, she entered the F3 Asian Championship, driving a Formula Regional car for the first time. She was not among the front-runners and had a best finish of twelfth at Yas Marina.

Her W Series season was very inconsistent and she had to miss three races due to issues with her visa. She impressed many with a second place in the second round at the Red Bull Ring, but could not build up any momentum. She did manage a fourth at the Hungaroring, but was then thirteenth at Zandvoort and was unable to travel for the US rounds. She was ninth in the championship. As a "W Series Academy" team driver, her place in the series is protected. Alongside Nerea Marti, she also undertook an FIA F3 test at the end of the season, but no times were published.

Russian drivers were barred from participation in most major motorsport championships in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. Irina was quietly dropped by W Series, although she was still listed as one of their drivers. She announced that she was taking up body-building, but did return to the Russian Circuit Racing Series. She drove a Subaru BRZ in the Super Production class and was sixth in the championship, with two wins.

She raced a BR03 in the Russian national endurance series in 2023, after making her sportscar debut at the end of 2022 in an Audi RS3 TCR. A deal to run a Ferrari 458 fell through. She did not do a full season but she was fourth in the season-ending Sochi 6 Hours, sharing with Kirill Ladygin.

Driving a Mercedes AMG GT4 solo, she was fourth in the GT4 section of the 2024 Russian Circuit Racing Championship. Her best finishes were four third places. 

Her second season in the Mercedes was a great one. She won the GT4 section of the Russian Circuit Racing Championship outright, with victories at Moscow and Kazan and five additional podium places. She also won an exhibition F4 race, held mid-season at Moscow, for the leading drivers in GT4 and some invited extras.

(Image copyright SMP Racing)

Lorna Snow

Lorna (right) with her co-driver Juliet Slatter in 1952

Lorna Doone Snow rallied in Britain and Europe in the 1950s. She was more known for her flamboyant style and social antics, but she was a very capable driver.

Her name first appears in connection with cars in 1941, when she was caught speeding in Wandsworth and fined 20s. She is reported by the Norwood News to have said “the time when traffic policemen frightened me is past,” suggesting that this was not her first misdemeanour.

Like many of motorsport’s more colourful characters, her background is rather unclear. Born in 1914, by 1942 she was the landlady of Ye Olde Six Bells pub at Billingshurst. While in this post, she fell foul of traffic police again when she was fined for “failing to immobilise her car during a blackout”.

By 1949, she was part of London society, appearing at a prizegiving for the Feathers Association.

Later, she was sometimes referred to as Lady Lorna Doone Snow (she did not have a real title) and she put her pub past behind her, if not her love of driving fast.

Her first big event seems to have been the 1951 Daily Express Rally, a long-distance trial, which she entered in a Jaguar XK120. Daily Express journalist Basil Cardew, who often championed female rally drivers, reported that she filled the washer bottles with brandy to provide “a stimulating odour”. Her car was also equipped with a makeup kit under its jaguar-skin seats.

In July that year, she set the ladies’ Fastest Time of the Day in the Ramsgate Speed Trials, also in the Jaguar. She was second in the Ladies’ class of the Brighton Speed Trials, behind Eleanor Allard.

In 1952, she is recorded as coming second in the Ladies' class of the Daily Express Rally, driving a Jaguar. She did her first overseas events this year, taking the Jaguar to the Tulip Rally with a G Meijer as her co-driver. She returned to this event in the same car the following year, finishing 103rd with “Mrs Tozzi”. Earlier in the year, she had entered the Monte Carlo Rally; her result is not forthcoming but it was reported in Motor Sport that her car’s luggage rack failed to stop when she did.

She took a “fastest lady” award in the speed test section of the 1953 RAC Rally, held at Silverstone, but retired between the circuit and Castle Combe.

The Scottish Rally was the scene of a more dramatic incident, recounted in Sheila van Damm’s autobiography. Lorna managed to collide with another competitor, damaging one side of her Jaguar. Sheila van Damm was soon on the scene and once she had ascertained that Lorna was uninjured and her car still mobile, demanded that she move it so that the rest of the field could continue. Lorna dropped her ladylike image for a moment and told Sheila to go away in rather coarser terms. She restarted and even made the time control in time.

It is not clear in how many Monte Carlo rallies she participated, but she was definitely part of a three-woman team in 1954 with Diana, Duchess of Newcastle and Reina Whittelle, who had partnered her in the 1951 Daily Express event. They were classified 267th in a Sunbeam Talbot. She reappears in the principality in 1958, this time as a driver, in a Morris. She does not appear to have finished.  

In 1962, she hosted a party for lady drivers who had competed on the Monte, including Pat Moss-Carlsson, who had won that year’s Coupe des Dames in a Mini, Tish Ozanne, another 1962 finisher, and Kay Petre. The occasion was covered by the Daily Express and Lorna took great delight in telling the reporter that she had subjected all of her guests to a makeover, including matching curly hairstyles. Sheila van Damm, a good friend, was not spared this treatment.

The Hastings & St Leonards Observer talks of her entry in the Concours d’Elegance of the 1954 MCC Rally, which suggests she took part in the rally itself. In her own typical style, she would co-ordinate her outfits to her cars, particularly for concours events. One of her Jaguars was dark blue and white and she had a special outfit made to match it. Not content with jaguar seats in her rally car, she sometimes accessorised with a jaguar-skin coat or hat.

In 1958, she appears on the entry list of the Scottish Rally, driving a Jaguar Coupe.

Lorna also raced on the circuits occasionally. She was the winner of a 1955 Ladies’ Handicap at Goodwood in the Jaguar, ahead of Hazel Dunham and Jean Bloxam. She raced again at Goodwood in 1957.

As the 1950s gave way to the 1960s, she competed less, although she remained a semi-regular presence in the gossip columns, masterminding the social debuts and subsequent marriages of her two sons. She is still referred to as a rally driver, but she also appears to be working in the fashion industry.

She was involved in the creation of the "Golden Healey" show car, providing its fur seats.

Lorna died in 1998, shortly after marrying George Wheatley. She married several times during her life but chose to use the surname she shared with her first husband, Francis Snow, whom she married in 1934. Her family name was Turpie and Doone was her middle name.

Sheila van Damm sums her up in her autobiography, No Excuses:

“Flamboyant, even theatrical, she added a splash of colour to the rally world, although it was a mistake to underrate her ability as a driver. No-one took her seriously - least of all herself, for she has a wicked sense of humour.”

(Thanks to members of TNF, particularly Bill.)

(Image copyright Shutterstock)

Sharon Scolari

Sharon Scolari is a Swiss driver who races in the Formula 3 Regional European Championship.

Most of her racing career has been in the Lotus Cup in Europe.

She began her career in Legends in Italy, in 2011. As there is no legal petrol-powered motorsport in Switzerland and Sharon is an Italian speaker, this was a logical choice. She was fifteen years old, and won the Rookie class. Legends would be her racing home for three seasons. Her best finish in the overall championship was fourth.

Between 2014 and 2017, she raced a Lotus Elise, initially in the Italian Lotus championship. She was fifth overall. After a year’s break, she stepped up to the European Cup, and was thirteenth overall, third in the Open class. Her best results were three seconds and a third, and she secured her first class win in the last round at Le Mans. This was the end product of a difficult learning year that began with a non-classified finish at Hockenheim, through a first top-ten at Paul Ricard, a penalty at Brands Hatch for an incorrect start behind a safety car and her first class victory in the last race of the season.

In 2017, she raced in the Lotus Cup again, and was ninth, second in the Open class. She came close to an Open class championship, winning nine times, but had to settle for second behind David Harvey.

She raced in the Formula Renault Northern European Cup in 2018, for a part-season, and managed a best finish of second at the Nurburgring. She was eleventh in the championship; her results were better in the second part of her season. The year was interrupted by a crash at Spa, which put her out of the second Spa race and the Hungaroring rounds. It does not seem to have deterred her in any way and she came back stronger. Her team, ScoRace, was run by her family and was described by an onlooker as “her and a mechanic”.

At the end of 2018, Sharon applied to take part in the all-female W Series and was selected for the first assessments in January 2019. She did not progress beyond the initial stages and expressed her frustration on social media, claiming that she had been one of the fastest drivers on the final “Race of Champions” test and had not gone through. She also claimed that participants were prevented from knowing or sharing the reasons for their rejection.

Not long after, she put her W Series woes behind her and signed up for the Formula Regional European Championship, which uses the same Tatuus Formula 3 car. Her ScoRace team was partnered by the Italian Viola Formula organisation.

It was a tough learning experience, but Sharon posted her first top-ten finish at Paul Ricard, the first round. Her best finish, sixth, was also achieved at Paul Ricard. A couple of races sat out due to car damage did not help, but she remained hopeful and determined. She was 18th overall.

Due to both the coronavirus crisis and funding problems, she was not able to race in 2020.

(Image copyright Sharon Scolari)

Women in Formula E

Thanks to the 2018 in-season test day that featured nine female drivers, Formula E has become somewhat associated with women racers. Carmen Jorda’s continuing association with the series, particularly the Nissan team, has helped this perception, even if her comments that Formula E cars are easier to drive for women than other single-seaters annoyed many.

The sad fact is that no female driver has competed in a Formula E race itself since 2016, when Simona de Silvestro picked up a few points for the Andretti team. This looked set to change at one point, with Tatiana Calderon impressing in the in-season rookie tests and Jamie Chadwick building up a strong relationship with the NIO team, but no new female drivers got on-track.

Another all-female test was held in 2024, moved to Jarama after flooding in Valencia. Abbi Pulling was the quickest, driving a Nissan.

2014-15 season

Simona de Silvestro (Andretti Autosport) - 27th (2 races)

Michela Cerruti (Trulli) - 29th (4 races)

Katherine Legge (Amlin Aguri) - 34th (2 races)

2015-16 season

Simona de Silvestro (Andretti Autosport) - 18th (10 races)

Test drivers:

Simona de Silvestro (Venturi 2018-19, official test driver)

Tatiana Calderon (completed 2019 rookie tests for Techeetah)

Jamie Chadwick (completed 2019 rookie tests for NIO)
Simona de Silvestro (Porsche 2019-20, official test driver)

Alice Powell (Envision Racing 2021-, official test driver)

2018 Ad-Diriyah “female drivers” test:

Simona de Silvestro (Venturi)

Tatiana Calderon (Techeetah)

Jamie Chadwick (NIO)

Carmen Jorda (Nissan eDAMS)

Carrie Schreiner (HWA)

Amna al-Qubaisi (Virgin)

Pippa Mann (Dragon)

Beitske Visser (BMW)

Katherine Legge (Mahindra)

2024 Women's Test, Jarama

Abbi Pulling (Nissan)

Jamie Chadwick (Jaguar TCS Racing)

Bianca Bustamante (McLaren)

Miki Koyama (Lola)

Lena Buhler (Mahindra)

Beitske Visser (DS Penske)

Ella Lloyd (McLaren)

Marta Garcia (Porsche)

Carrie Schreiner (Maserati)

Tatiana Calderon (Maserati)

Jessica Edgar (DS Penske)

Alice Powell (Envision)

Nerea Marti (Andretti)

Gabriela Jilkova (Porsche)

Chloe Chambers (Andretti)

Alisha Palmowski (Envision)

Simona de Silvestro (Kiro)

Lilou Wadoux (Jaguar TCS Racing)

2025 Women's Test, Valencia

1. Chloe Chambers (Mahindra)

2. Abbi Pulling (Nissan)

3. Bianca Bustamante (Cupra Kiro)

4. Alice Powell (Envision)

5. Ella Lloyd (Envision)

6. Jamie Chadwick (Jaguar)

7. Tatiana Calderon (Citroen)

8. Nerea Marti (Andretti)

9. Juju Noda (Jaguar)

10. Marta Garcia (Lola Yamaha Abt)

11. Gabriela Jilkova (Porsche)

12. Jessica Edgar (DS Penske)

13. Janina Schall (Porsche)

14. Lindsay Brewer (DS Penske)

(Image copyright Envision)