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Two ladies in DTM

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There are two Ladies going to contest the 2006 DTM season: Vanina Ickx (Audi) and Susie Stoddart (Mercedes-Benz). Yet, the two newcomers aren’t the first women who want to give the male DTM aces a hard time.

The arguably most successful of their predecessors was Ellen Lohr, the only woman to have won a DTM race so far and who competed in DTM up to 1995. www.dtm.de looks back on the racing amazons in the DTM past.

The first woman to compete in a DTM race was Lella Lombardi. She contested the 1984 round at the Hockenheimring that was spilt into two parts and held as part of the German GP’s support programme. One year later, the next racing lady wanted to prove her skills in DTM. At the wheel of a Ford Escort RS Turbo, Beate Nodes contested the ‘Westfalenpokal’ race in Zolder, Belgium, but had to retire on lap 13. In 1986, 1987 and 1988, she contested numerous DTM rounds with a Ford Sierra XR4Ti and on 11th May, 1986, she clinched third place in the AVUS race, representing the best result of her DTM career.

On 21st September, 1986, Traudl Klink made a one-off DTM appearance in the ‘Supersprint’ at the Nürburgring. While Manuel Reuter secured his maiden DTM win, with a Ford Sierra, Ford Escort Turbo RS driver Klink had to retire with seven more laps to go.

In 1988, there were even two women battling it out in DTM: Annette Meeuvissen and Mercedes Stermitz – both racing a BMW M3. Stermitz contested just one DTM season, with her best result being a ninth place secured in the Wunstorf airport race, but Meeuvissen continued in DTM up to 1991. Her best result: eleventh position in the 1990 AVUS race, behind true DTM aces such as Hans-Joachim Stick, Altfried Heger, Johnny Cecotto, Kurt Thiim and Roland Asch. As a team, Stermitz/ Meeuvissen celebrated their career highlight: in a BMW M3 entered by the Linder Team, they finished seventh in then Spa-Francorchamps 24-Hour Race.

Ellen Lohr contested a massive 144 DTM races. Following three guest appearances with a BMW M3, in 1987, she returned in 1991 as Mercedes-Benz works driver, behind the wheel of a Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2. Her biggest triumph: Her win in the 1992 ‘Rennsport Festival’ at the Hockenheinring, on 24th May, representing the only win of a woman in the DTM history so far. When crossing the finish line after 38 laps, Lohr had prevailed against her brand-mates Bernd Schneider and Keke Rosberg.

It will be anything but easy for Vanina Ickx and Susie Stoddart deliver on the same level, in the 2006 season. Still, both drivers are very motivated and just can’t wait to battle it out with their male colleagues…