25 replies to this topic

[crooky369]

Flicking through the IndyCar entry list has reminded me there is a few women in motorsports competing in top series. But what I struggled to find was a recent article or discussion on who the best female drivers are.

 

The obvious one has to be Danica Patrick doing full seasons in the ever competitive NASCAR. 24th in a championship doesn't sound great but ahead of Tony Stewart and Trevor Bayne is nothing to be ashamed of. Then there's Simona de Silvestro in Formula E again a full season drive. Seems to be struggling a bit against Robin Frijns without a point on the board so far but if she can deliver on her 2013 IndyCar season she could do well.

 

Other than a few IndyCar one off's like Pippa Mann and Katherine Legge I'm struggling to think of anyone who really stands out. Maybe someone with a better all round knowledge especially of the junior series can share their best picks?

[messy]

Best ever for me is Michele Mouton, one of the leading lights in rallying's Group B era, could have been champion. A strong personality and a strong driver, a good ambassador who should have opened the floodgates but for some reason didn't.

Simona De Silvestro and Danica Patrick both proved they could mix it in Indycar too. I'm not a Danica fan. I think she's a bit up her own a**e and has had a lot of opportunities open up for her because of her marketability rather than ability yet you could never really describe her as humble. But she won an Indycar race. She finished 7th (I think) in the championship. De Silvestro probably should have stayed in Indycar because she was ok to a good think with PKV and hasn't impressed in Formula E, but she's good. Katharine Legge deserves a mention on her career she's made for herself in America. She's not going to be a champion anywhere, but she's got a great career.

In GT racing there's Jamie Chadwick and Christina Neilsen both good young drivers with a lot of potential.

[Marklar]

Mouton is probably the best woman ever in motor sport.

 

Currently I would pick out de Silvestro. And Patrick wasnt bad either in IndyCar at least.

 

Alice Powell and especially Beitske Visser were not bad so far in junior series either.

 

There is a girl in karting, Sophia Flörsch, who will compete this year in Formula 4. From what I saw in karting and last year in the Ginetta Cup she is very talented, I mean really promising. Unfortunately she is lacking of funding. But it will be interesting to see how her career will pan out.

[DampMongoose]

Lyn St James won Daytona 24 twice and Sebring.

[Marklar]

And Kleinschmidt won the Rallye Dakar.

[crooky369]

Mouton is probably the best woman ever in motor sport.

 

Currently I would pick out de Silvestro. And Patrick wasnt bad either in IndyCar at least.

 

Alice Powell and especially Beitske Visser were not bad so far in junior series either.

 

There is a girl in karting, Sophia Flörsch, who will compete this year in Formula 4. From what I saw in karting and last year in the Ginetta Cup she is very talented, I mean really promising. Unfortunately she is lacking of funding. But it will be interesting to see how her career will pan out.

 

Ah yes Sophia Flörsch saw her win a Ginetta race at Thruxton last year. Must have been the first time I'd seen a woman win a race live.

[Kev00]

Mouton is probably the best woman ever in motor sport.

Currently I would pick out de Silvestro. And Patrick wasnt bad either in IndyCar at least.

Alice Powell and especially Beitske Visser were not bad so far in junior series either.

There is a girl in karting, Sophia Flörsch, who will compete this year in Formula 4. From what I saw in karting and last year in the Ginetta Cup she is very talented, I mean really promising. Unfortunately she is lacking of funding. But it will be interesting to see how her career will pan out.

Was about to mention Sophia Floersch. I remember being amazed at this 14 year old German girl racing in Ginetta juniors. Get the feeling she will be winning races and fighting for titles in junior formulas. Never got the impression she was short of cash though, racing GT's at 14 and I think she has already done quite a lot of single seater racing. If she is not already backed by Audi, BMW or Merc then I don't think it is long before she is.

[SimeonSasparella]

Thought I'd add a driver which is probably not yet fully known by the international public, Michela Cerruti is a really good GT driver, she's a regular frontrunner in national Italian GT.

Also did a bit of open wheelers (AutoGp and Euro F3) winning a couple of races I believe

Now she's racing in VLN, where she's also won some races.

 

On the other hand, Vicky Piria is one of the weakest (imho) but the best looking 

Edited by SimeonSasparella, 06 March 2016 - 21:50.

[Risil]

Didn't Cerruti drive for Jarno Trulli's deeply unimpressive Formula E team?

[Kev00]

Thought I'd add a driver which is probably not yet known by the international public, Michela Cerruti is a really good GT driver, she's a regular frontrunner in national Italian GT.

On the other hand, Vicky Piria is one of the weakest but the best looking

Cerruti has done quite a lot in single seaters and really not that bad. It was only when she raced in FE that I realised she was a woman!

[Victor_RO]

Didn't Cerruti drive for Jarno Trulli's deeply unimpressive Formula E team?

 

Wiki says first 4 races of the previous season. She's had two overall wins in VLN though if I remember correctly.

 

Fully agreed on Floersch and Chadwick, they're two to watch for the future, even if they might not make it to F1 they could make top-line sportscar drivers with the right backing. On the same line over in the States Ashley Freiberg is doing quite well and she has official BMW backing.

[Bloggsworth]

Desiree Wilson won World Championship sports car races, and a non-WDC F1 race.

[chunder27]

Ellen Lohr could hold her own in most things she raced.

 

Taru Linne was a damn good bike racer in the 80's

 

Pat Moss could pedal a rallycar very well. But Michele and Louise probably get more recognition, especially Michele who was superb.

 

And for me, the best lady drivers I have seen are the girls who compete in a formula most of you will know nothing about, it is a full contact short oval formula racing in the UK called Ministocks.

 

Most of the top drivers in the past few years have been young lasses, and not only do they win, they also have moved a step ahead of ANY female racing drivers in ANY categories as they think of themselves as nothing more than race drivers competing with other ones that happen to be males. Theya re not lady drivers, females, no pinks cars or special female friendly sponsors.
 

In my mind that moves them ahead of just about any female race drivers in the world, because in their eyes and most fans eyes they are simply race drivers.

[jonpollak]

Bia Figueredo beat F1,Indy and WSC drivers in an all star karting race a few years ago. Amazing considering she started 13th on the grid or something like that. One of the best performances by a woman I've seen since Danica at Indy 2005

Edited by jonpollak, 06 March 2016 - 22:19.

[Risil]

Over the years I've been very impressed by Indycar's Ana Beatriz too.

[Prost1997T]

Most of the top drivers in the past few years have been young lasses, and not only do they win, they also have moved a step ahead of ANY female racing drivers in ANY categories as they think of themselves as nothing more than race drivers competing with other ones that happen to be males. Theya re not lady drivers, females, no pinks cars or special female friendly sponsors.
 

 

Ayla Agren gets my vote (mainly for winning the 2014 F1600 championship, a Formula Ford style series). She said much the same thing "the car doesn't know I'm female".

[statman]

This girl Jamie Chadwick seems really promising. I believe she's only 16 years old and is driving GT4 with Aston. Won the championship I believe. Also saw her doing some stuff in Caterham racing. Talent.

 

btw, here's a list of female drivers:

 

https://www.driverdb...racing-drivers/

 

1630 female drivers

Edited by statman, 07 March 2016 - 10:15.

[ensign14]

This far down and nobody has mentioned Elizabeth Junek.  The only woman to lead a Grande Epreuve on merit. 

 

What would be interesting with a lot of the above drivers is how much advantage they derived from being smaller and lighter.  The Roberto Moreno Syndrome.  When there is less power available, being several inches shorter and stones lighter than the opposition is worth proportionately a lot more.  When you get to the top end that's less of a factor.  Still can be worth a fortune - I wonder how much Vettel's advantage over Webber came from the latter being human-sized - but Danica Patrick's best successes in Indycar came when the driver weight regs were different...

[Prost1997T]

 The FIA has illogical ballast rules: news at 11.

 

That doesn't mean all other series are stupid about driver and car weights. Otherwise this guy: http://indylights.co...vers/rc-enerson wouldn't be able to win because he is 5' 11 and 180lbs. Imagine the disadvantage on ovals if the ballast wasn't accounting for it - yet he scored the most points on ovals last year, so obviously weight wasn't an issue. Another example: http://www.usf2000.com/teams-drivers/current-drivers/jordan-lloyd he was fastest in series-sanctioned testing despite being on the high end of weight/height.

[Kalmake]

Patrick had a weight advantage. Her case was a driving force to create driver ballast regulation that they have now.

[chr1s]

This far down and nobody has mentioned Lella Lombardi either!

[SimeonSasparella]

I thought we were discussing contemporary drivers 

[maximilian]

Is Tatiana Calderon any good?  She seems to be mixing it up pretty well with the boys?

[Vettelari]

Across the pond there is a decent lady driving in the ARCA series by the name of Sarah Cornett-Ching. She ran full time in 2015 and finished with 5 top 10s and 7th in championship overall. ARCA would be to NASCAR as World Series of Renault is to F1 or thereabouts by my estimation. Possibly a little lower than WSR.

[Craven Morehead]

I'm a big fan of Michele Mouton, as I lived through that era. 

 

For me one of the greatest female Grand Prix drivers was a Czech lady by the name of Eliska Junkova; known throughout the English speaking world as Elizabeth Junek.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.../Eliška_Junková

Edited by Craven Morehead, 07 March 2016 - 15:10.

[milestone 11]

Legends champ twice, Carol Brown