Introducing the FIA World Rally Championship’s Female Driver Development Finalists
The FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) recently announced a line-up of 15 women who are all driver development finalists.
The championship’s new initiative will see all entrants attend a three-day training camp in Poland to compete for the 2025 Junior FIA WRC prize.
Following the training camp, only three drivers will be chosen to compete for the place in the Junior WRC, which will be decided by a panel of judges in October. The winner will be offered a place in next year’s Junior WRC and will be behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta Rally3.
But just exactly who is competing? We have listed all the drivers and everything you need to know about them…
Hanna Lisette Aabna – Estonia
Hanna currently competes in numerous rally races within Estonia including the Parish Public Rally and the South-Estonian People’s Rally.
Lyssia Baudet – Belgium
Lyssia is part of the RACB National Team and is competing across numerous rally championships, including the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup. Last time behind the wheel, Lyssia finished in seventh place and was the second highest-placing all-female team.
Emma Chalvin – France
Emma is already making waves within the French rally circuit - in 2022, she was Championne de France de Rallycross. This year, Emma has been competing in ADAC Rallye Stemweder Berg which is taking place across Europe.
Ann Felke – Germany
Ann is part of MSC Oberehe. She’s making great strides this year with rally starts under her belt and a victory at ROLAND RALLYE.
Joanna Hassoun – Lebanon
Lebanese driver Joanna has achieved a promising start in her career so far. Earlier this year she achieved a first in RC4/R3 class during the 9th Spring Rally.
Mako Hirakawa – Japan
Mako has had a great year so far. In June she won the ACK Rally (RH-3 class), and she is also competing in the JAF Japanese Rally Championship.
Hannah Jakobsson – Sweden
This year, Hannah is competing in a Ford Fiesta R5 across Sweden. With multiple top-10 finishes, Hannah is establishing herself as a strong competitor.
Suvi Jyrkiäinen – Finland
Suvi has a successful background in the Finnish Track Racing Championship, having taken a few podium finishes. Suvi completed her first rally in 2019.
Luz Marina – Spain
The 18-year-old already has some successes under her belt. Earlier this year she had a hugely successful weekend during the 48th Rallye City of Telde where she placed P1 and P2 in the respective races.
Nuria Pons – Spain
Nuria has experience primarily in national championships, taking two stage wins in 2023. That year, Nuria became the Division II Balearic Islands Autocross Champion.
Aoife Raftery – Ireland
As the first female Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver, Aoife competes in the FIA Junior European Rally Championship. She’s currently eighth overall in the standings.
Claire Schönborn – Germany
Claire works in motorsport engineering, with a vehicle systems engineering degree.
In 2022, Claire and compatriot Marcel Hellberg won the car slalom in the FIA Motorsport Games. This month, she began her rallying career.
Madelyn Tabor – USA
Madelyn made her rallying debut at 18-years-old. She races a Subaru Impreza RS in the American Rally Association (NA4WD class) with co-driver Sophia McKee.
Alexandra Teslovan – Romania
At just 13, Alexandra entered the motorsport world. Now 18, she has been competing in the Romanian National Rally Championship.
Dorka Zagyva – Hungary
Dorka is off the back of a stage win in the Peugeot 208 category of Rally Hungary, part of the FIA European Rally Championship. Recently, she competed in the WHB Győr Rally.
We cannot wait to watch these females develop as drivers and we are looking forward to covering their careers and their upcoming training camp across our Females in Motorsport social channels.
This is such an exciting step for women in rally racing! I love seeing programs like this give new talent a real chance. Speaking of making things look natural, I recently learned you can remove object from photo with prompt and it works surprisingly well.
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