Written by: Johan Laubscher
The Audi brand has a strong connection with women racing drivers during its history. The opportunity of having women drivers compete for the brand has always been promoted by Audi and women have always formed part of the Audi squad. Some of the well known and legendary Audi women racing drivers are listed below:
Michèle Mouton
This French lady was probably the most famous of Audi’s women drivers, Michèle Mouton was part of the star-studded driver lineup in the 1980s World Rally Championship. Her co-driver was Fabrizia Pons, forming an all-women team. She joined Audi in 1981 driving the legendary Audi quattro rally cars. She was the first women to win an FIA sanctioned world motorsport event. Misfortune robbed her of the 1982 World Rally Championship title, eventually finishing runner up in the title chase. She retired at the end of the Group B era and went on to be a co-founder of the annual Race of Champions (ROC) event.
Paola de Martini
Paola started her racing career as a young Italian lady at the age of 20 and quickly moved through the ranks of rallying. She suffered a large accident in 1985 and when she returned in 1986 she was behind the wheel of an Audi. She drove various Audi cars in many European Rallys and championship, including the WRC from 1988. Some of the Audis that she drove includes the Audi 80, 90, S2 and Coupe. 1992 was the last time she drove an Audi.
Tamara Vidali
Tamara, an Italian lady who worked her way through the local Italian championships where she finally joined the Italian Super Touring Championship. After a good showing in 1994 she was contracted by Audi for the 1995-1997 German Super Touring Championship. She represented the Audi brand in Super Touring many times outside of Germany in single events in Italy, Australia, Spain and South Africa. She moved away from the Audi brand after Super Touring came to an end but did return in 2006. She competed in the 2006 Audi Sport Italia championship with Audi Sport Italia in a RS4 scoring many race victories. She also competed once in the 2006 Russian Touring Car Championship for Team Sport-Garage in an S2000 Audi A4 STCC B7.
Vanina Ickx
Vanina Ickx, the daughter of the legendary six time Belgian Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx. Her career with Audi started in 2006 in the German DTM championship driving for the Futurecom TME team. She competed in both the 2006 and 2007 seasons for the TME team driving two year old cars each time. In 2006 she drove a 2004 A4 DTM R11 and in 2007 she drove a 2005 Audi A4 DTM R12. She struggled for results and moved on from Audi back into her first love of Sport car racing where she has shown many positive performances.
Katherine Legge
A British driver who had shown great promise as a single-seater driver was given the opportunity of joining the Audi DTM squad in 2008. She replaced Vanina Ickx at the Futurecom TME team for the 2008 season in a 2006 Audi A4 DTM R12 plus. Strong performances saw her get promoted to the ABT team for 2009 and the Rosberg Team for 2010, both seasons she was behind the wheel of a 2008 Audi A4 DTM R14. 2010 was her last season driving for Audi.
Rahel Frey
A young Swiss driver who joined the Audi DTM squad in 2011. She was part of the Audi Sport Team Phoenix team alongside teammate and eventual 2011 DTM champion Martin Tomczyk. 2011 was a learning year for the young lady in the very competitive DTM championship with many strong performances showing her potential. She drove a 2008 Audi A4 DTM R14. The 2012 Audi driver lineups are yet to be announced, but it is strongly believed that Rahel will be at the wheel of one of the new Audi A5 DTM R17 cars.
Cyndie Allemann
Another young Swiss driver will be making her debut with the Audi brand in 2012. It will not be with a factory team but with the Japanese team, Hitotsuyama Racing. She will be competing with an Audi R8 LMS R16 in the highly competitive Japanese Super GT Championship. She has proven herself in single-seaters and GT racing and will be a strong driver during the 2012 Super GT season. She showed her potential during her first test with the R8 LMS.
There is a long legacy of women drivers competing with the Audi brand, many more other than the ones mentioned above have competed in local series around the world. Motorsport may be a male-dominated sport but there is an increase in women drivers around the world, showing that the girls can also race with the boys.There is a long legacy of women drivers competing with the Audi brand, many more other than the ones mentioned above have competed in local series around the world. Motorsport may be a male-dominated sport but there is an increase in women drivers around the world, showing that the girls can also race with the boys.
Photo credits:
Eric Gilbert from www.motorsport.com
