Although these women competed in different eras and came from different countries, they all had one thing in common: a pioneering spirit and a strong passion for racing. And they were trailblazers towards hitherto unknown territory in an undoubtedly challenging sport.
The storied list begins with the Roman Baroness Maria Antonietta d'Avanzo, who drove for Alfa Romeo in the early 20th century, and extends to Tatiana Calderón, who was appointed as a test driver for the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN Formula 1 team in 2018.
Below are some of the most significant female racing drivers in the brand's illustrious history of success.
Tatiana Calderón
Tatiana Calderón was born in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1993 and took her first steps in motorsport in 2005. She won the national championship in the EasyKart Pre-Junior series. And just three years later, she would become the first woman to win the Snap-On Stars Karting Divisional Championship (JICA Eastern Championship) in the USA.
In 2017, she was employed by the Sauber Formula 1 team as a development and test driver. A year later, Sauber changed her position from F1 development driver to F1 test driver for Alfa Romeo Racing, making her the first Latin American to drive in Formula 1.
The story of Tatiana Calderón is a more recent example, but her pioneering journey began more than 100 years ago, when Maria Antonietta d'Avanzo took the wheel of an Alfa racing car shortly after the end of the First World War.
Hellè Nice
Her real birth name was Mariette Hèlène Delangle. She was a model as well as an acrobat and dancer and was known by the stage name Hellè-Nice. Due to her outgoing personality, Nice was a close friend of the Rothschilds and the Bugattis. She raced in Europe and America and became one of the first drivers to advertise the brands of her sponsors on the bodywork of her racing car.
With her own 8C 2300 "Monza", she took part in the 1933 Italian Grand Prix in Monza, an unfortunately tragic race in which Campari, Borzacchini and Czaikowski lost their lives. In 1936, she won the Ladies Cup in Montecarlo and took part in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil, where she had a serious accident.
Odette Siko
In the 1930s, Alfa Romeo was able to assert itself among the major players in motorsport, which was certainly due not least to exceptional vehicles, but also to important drivers who became part of the legend as a result. These were the successful years of Nuvolari, Varzi, Caracciola and Sommer. The latter won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1932 at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300, but the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 SS driven by the fascinating Odette Siko came fourth overall and thus won the 2.0-liter category.
As a young Parisian, Siko quickly became one of the stars of the races, not least because of her elegance, which was evident both in the paddock and in her racing performances. She was often accompanied by another French racing driver whose fate also crossed the path of the Alfa Romeo brand on several occasions: Hellè Nice.
Anna Maria Peduzzi
The years of Scuderia Ferrari wrote a fundamental chapter in the history of Alfa Romeo. Among the drivers of the "prancing horse" was Anna Maria Peduzzi, born in Como, wife of racing driver Franco Comotti, who owed her nickname Marocchina or Moroccan Girl to her dark complexion.
After her debut aboard her own Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 Super Sport, which she had purchased from Ferrari herself, she usually drove alone in the races and only rarely together with her husband. In 1934, she won the 1500 class at the Mille Miglia and raced the Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta in the post-war period.
Maria Antonietta d'Avanzo
After the end of the First World War, Baroness Maria Antonietta d'Avanzo made her debut with Alfa Romeo. A pioneer of Italian motorsport, aviator and journalist, she finished third in the Alfa Romeo G1 on the Brescia circuit at the beginning of the 20th century and proved her skills in numerous competitions as a formidable opponent for the best drivers of the time, including the young Enzo Ferrari. The Baroness d'Avanzo took part in various races around the world in different cars until the 1940s.
Ada Pace ("Sayonara")
In the 1950s, another female racing driver achieved outstanding results at the wheel of several Alfa Romeos: Ada Pace, who was born in Turin. During her ten-year career, she won eleven national speed races, six in the Gran Turismo category and five in the Sport category.
The driver, who was virtually always registered in races under her pseudonym "Sayonara", achieved her most important successes with the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ, with which she even won the Trieste - Opicina race in 1958.
Maria Grazia Lombardi & Anna Cambiaghi
After Maria Teresa de Filippis in the 1950s, Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi was the second Italian woman ever to start in one of the 13 Formula 1 Grands Prix.
Between 1982 and 1984, she took part in the European Tourism Championship with the Alfa Romeo GTV6 2.5, together with Anna Cambiaghi, Giancarlo Naddeo, Giorgio Francia and Rinaldo Drovandi, and played her part in bringing home several titles.
Christine Beckers & Liane Engeman
The 1960s were definitely the years of the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA, whose results, victories and importance in the history of Alfa Romeo are well known. Less well known, however, are the events surrounding the ("oversupplied") Alfa Romeo GTA-SA, which was produced in quantities of 10 for Group 5 and equipped with two hydraulically operated centrifugal superchargers, increasing its power to 220 hp with a top speed of 240 km/h. Although this enabled it to achieve peak performance, "the GTA-SA" - as the historic test driver from Autodelta Teodoro Zeccoli explained - "would have had an unpredictable power boost that suddenly and without warningt suddenly and without notice, making the SA an unpredictable vehicle that was difficult to handle in corners or maneuvering situations." But there was someone who had this "bad-tempered" vehicle under control better than anyone else: the young Belgian driver Christine Beckers, who won in Houyet in 1968 and also achieved excellent results the following year: in Condroz, at the "Tre Ponti", in Herbeumont and in Zandvoort.
However, Beckers was not the only female driver to excel in the GTA. The fast Dutch racing driver Liane Engeman, who was later chosen as a model by Alfa Romeo, managed to stand out from the crowd in the Alfa Romeo 1300 Junior of the Toine Hezemans team.
Susanna "Susy" Raganelli
Probably the only woman ever to win a world championship on four wheels was Roman-born Susanna "Susy" Raganelli, who won the 1966 World Karting Championship in the 100 cc class, beating Leif Engstrom and the great Ronnie Peterson. She managed to link her name to Alfa Romeo for all time when she ended her career behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo GTA. And she was the first Italian buyer of one of only 12 examples of the legendary 1967 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale produced.
Tamara Vidali
When the recently created Alfa Corse factory racing team relaunched Alfa Romeo's racing activities, the era of Tamara Vidali, a racing driver who won the Italian Superturismo Championship (Group N) in 1992 at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo 33 1.7 Quadrifoglio Verde, began.
