Adrienn Vogel

Adrienn Vogel is the 2020 European Ladies Rally Champion. She is from Hungary and began her motorsport career on circuits, before switching to rallying.

She first came to prominence in the 2012 Lotus Ladies' Cup, and all-female racing series held in Eastern Europe and based in Hungary. The cars were Elises. She was quite late getting started, turning 30 at the end of the year. The Lotus Cup was not her first experience of motorsport, but it was quite high-profile. During the same season, she also raced in a one-make series for the Suzuki Swift. She was not among the frontrunners and finished 16th in the championship.

In her second attempt at the Lotus championship in 2014, Adrienn was second overall after winning four races, at the Red Bull Ring and the Slovakiaring. Only a disastrous first round at Oschersleben prevented her from winning the title, which went to her fellow Hungarian, Adrienn Bende. The same year, she made a guest appearance in the Hungarian round of the Maserati Super Trofeo, sharing her car with Anita Toth. They were tenth in the first race after Adrienn worked her way up from 20th place.

As well as sportscar activities, she was still active in the Swift Cup, on and off. In 2013, she improved her championship position to thirteenth. She carried on with it after the demise of the Lotus Ladies' Cup, which folded due to disputes with the Hungarian motorsport federation. By 2016, she was one of the leading Swift drivers. She won one race and was second twice, finishing fourth in the championship.

She switched her allegiance from Suzuki to Kia in 2017, joining their Lotos one-make series on track. The Polish arm of the marque was happy to have an all-female two-car team, with Petra Krajnyak taking the second Picanto. Adrienn was ninth in the championnship.

She entered the KIA Platinum Cup in 2018, another one-make series for the Picanto, this time based in Poland. 

Her second season in the Platinum Cup ended with one of the best drives of her career. She had crashed out of the first race, at Monza, due to contact with another driver, and had to start at the back. After a good start, she battled her way up the grid and was only narrowly beaten to the win by Dawid Borek, who overtook her on the final straight. This was her third podium finish of the year and she was fifth in the championship.

At the same time as her circuit racing career developed, rallying was also part of her competition schedule. Her first rally as a driver was back in 2014, driving a Suzuki Ignis. Unfortunately, she got as far as the superspecial on the second day ofthe Szilveszter Rallye before her car's half-shaft broke. She had tried co-driving the year before, sitting beside Egon Burkus in a Lotus Exige.

As a Kia driver, she returned to this Christmas asphalt event in 2017 and finished seventh overall, just ahead of Petra Krajnyak. 

The Kia Picanto proved quite a decent rally car and Adrienn entered quite a lot of rallies in it in 2018, normally sprint events. Her best finish was probably her seventh place in the Magyarboly Kupa, from 23 finishers.

Rallying became her primary focus in 2019. As well as more home events in the Picanto, she did her first rallies outside Hungary, the Perger Muhlstein Rallye in Austria and the Platinum Janusz Kulig and Mariana Bublewicza Memorial Rally in Poland. For both of these events, she drove a Ford Fiesta. She was 35th and 38th respectively. She was also in the Fiesta for her first attempt at Rally Hungary, a European Championship round. This led to a 41st place finish, second in the ERC women's standings.

She began 2020 with a run in the Picanto in Croatia, finishing 24th in the Delta Snow Show. However, most of the year was spent in the Fiesta, taking on the European ERC3 championship. After a second warmup in the Rally Bohemia in Czechia, she and co-driver Anett Notheisz were ready for the first round of the ERC, the Rallye di Roma Capitale. They were fourth overall and the first female crew. Rally Hungary was part of the ERC that year and she was 31st, with another Ladies' award. Her third ERC Rally, the Canary Islands event, ended in electronic failure after the fourteenth stage, when she was lying 50th. In a year affected by the worldwide Covid 19 crisis, this was enough for seventh in the ERC3 championship and first in the Ladies' standings.

Domestic rallying still figured in her plans and her best overall result was an 18th place in the Nyiregyhaza Rally.  

The Hungarian championship was her main home in 2021, although she did find the time and budget for the ERC rounds in Rome and Barum in Czechia, as well as her home ERC event. Rally Hungary was the best of the three: she was 30th overall in the Fiesta. 

At home, she rallied both the Fiesta and a Peugeot 208. The Fiesta was the quicker of the two cars, and she earned a tenth place in the Kazincbarcika Rally in it. This was quickly followed up with 15th in the Nyiregyhaza Rally. Outside Hungary, her best result was an eleventh place in the Kulig and Bublewicza Memorial Rally, in Poland. The Peugeot, in Rally4 spec, came out for some Hungarian rallies early in the season.

She competed more extensively in Czechia in 2022, although the Fiesta wasn't the most reliable this year. Her only major finish was a 39th place in the Kowax Valasska Rally ValMez. Her only other finish in it was a 42nd place in the ADAC 3-Staedte-Rallye in Germany.

The Peugeot was her car for the Hungarian championship. Her top-twenty finish on the Therwoolin Zemplen Rally, a 17th place, helped her to fourth in the 2WD class. She was also fourth in the Hungarian one-make championship for the 208.

2023 was similar, although she was driving the 208 exclusively now. She earned top-twenty finishes in three Hungarian rallies: 19th in the Salgo Rallye and the Mecsek Rallye, and fourteenth in the WHB Gyor Rally. On her way to another fourth in the 2WD class, she picked up three class stage wins. Rally Hungary was more of a challenge, but she was still 33rd from 62 finishers. In the same car, she finished two Czech rallies, including a 40th place in the Barum Rallye Zlin.

After 2023, she stepped back from active competition, although she is still involved in driver training and media, as well as other winter sports. She has been voted Hungary's female driver of the year more than once.

(Image copyright Adrienn Vogel)

Francesca Pardini

Francesca (right) instructing at Yas Marina

Francesca Pardini is most famous for her successes in sports prototype racing in Italy in the early 2000s.

She was the Italian Prototype title-winner in 2001 and has been described as the first woman to win an Italian sportscar championship outright. Her car was a Lucchini-Alfa Romeo, one of the oldest in the field. She won four races that year, starting with the season opener at Vallelunga. Her others were at Misano, Magione and Binetto.

This came after a runner-up spot in the same championship in 2000, following race wins at Mugello and Misano. She repeated this in 2003, having won one race and scored five podium finishes.

At the same time as her winning Protoytpe campaign, she raced in the Italian Ferrari Challenge, doing four events. Her best finish was ninth in a sprint race at Mugello. She also did some rounds of the Clio Cup in Italy.

Her sportscar career developed in tandem with single-seaters. In 2000, when she was 19, she did four rounds of the Light category of Open Telefonica Nissan, at Monza and Ricardo Tormo in Spain. She was driving for the Doors Engineering team. Her best finish was eleventh at Monza.

At the time, her ambitions were high. There was talk of her moving to America at the end of 2003 for either sportscars or the Indy development ladder, but this did not happen.

She came to England to race in Formula Palmer Audi in 2004. This was step down from Formula Nissan, but she had been out of a single-seater for a few seasons. She was a regular fixture in the top ten from the start, coming in seventh and sixth at Brands Hatch in the first round. These were her best finishes in the eight races she did before pulling out, although she was never out of the top ten when she finished. Her season seems to have been ended by an accident at the Nurburgring. 

At some point in 2004, she returned to Italy for some Prototype races. Her low final position suggests she only took part in a few races. She did at least the Vallelunga round and appears to have finished seventh.

Her activities since 2004 are less clear. During 2005, she took part in at least one VW Fun Cup event as part of a Uniroyal-sponsored ladies’ team, driving with Fun Cup regular Sabine Dubois and touring car racer Valentina Albanese. This appears to have been a limited programme. 

In 2015, she moved to Abu Dhabi to take on an instructing job. Remaining in the Gulf region, she became the only female race instructor to work in Saudi Arabia and the only one to take on female pupils. She also works as the Formula 2 paddock manager for the Gulf-based races and is a qualified steward.

She is the daughter of Guido Pardini, who also raced in Prototypes in the early 1990s. At first, she was not encouraged by her parents and her mother tried to interest her in ballet. She describes having begun racing at 16, in 1997, going straight into cars without any karting experience.

(Image copyright Donna Moderna magazine)