1994 Mercedes-Benz DTM

I’m celebrating 25 years of motor racing, and I say this without counting the years I spent karting. It’s difficult to count those years toward my career as it was just something I did as a very young girl. During my motor racing years I have had the opportunity of driving many types of vehicle, from Formula Ford, to GT Cars, to DTM, later those big Mercedes trucks I raced in the Truck World Championship and lastly Paris-Dakar rally cars—quite a varied list to choose one from.

Initially, like most women, it was a little difficult to get started in motor racing, which I eventually got to do with a Formula Ford. You see, there were not too many women in my day doing what I dearly wanted to do, and that was to become a professional racing driver. Yes, there were Lella Lombardi and Davina Gallica, but you could count on one hand those who had already done something at the top of the sport. Nowadays, I think it’s easier for a female to “make it” in motor sport. I had a very deep desire to struggle and fight for what I wanted to do, not a bad quality for a good racing driver. Of course, my hero driver was a man—Ayrton Senna, who was the best, later Michael Schumacher became my number one.