Desiré Wilson

Desiré Wilson, Cathy Muller and Lyn St. James' Spice SE90C at the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours

Desiré Randall Wilson (born November 26, 1953 in Brakpan ) is a former South African racing driver. She is the only woman who has ever won an official race with a Formula 1 racing car (in the British Aurora AFX Formula 1 series ).

The beginning of the career

At the end of the 1960s Desiré Wilson began her racing career in the South African midget car series (miniature racing cars). In 1973 she switched to the South African Formula Vee championship. After finishing fourth overall in the first year and runner-up the following year, Wilson moved to the South African Formula Ford , which it won in both 1975 and 1976.

1977 followed a commitment in the European Formula Ford. With two victories it finished third overall. 1978 Wilson competed sporadically in races in Formula Atlantic , Formula Ford and the British Prototype Championship.

In Formula 1

In 1978 Desiré Wilson competed with a Formula 1 car for the first time in the British Aurora AFX Formula 1 Series , a racing series that used older F1 cars. At the wheel of an Ensign N175 - Cosworth , Wilson finished tenth overall. The following year she finished seventh overall at the wheel of a Tyrrell 008 Cosworth and also finished ninth in the traditional Race of Champions, which is not part of the world championship .

1980 it reached at the wheel of Theodore - Wolf sixth place overall and won the race in Brands Hatch . Three months after her victory, Wilson was registered for an official Formula 1 Grand Prix for the first time on the same circuit. For the private Brands Hatch Racing team, however, she was unable to qualify for the race at the wheel of a Williams FW07 - Cosworth .

The following year Wilson was signed for the South African Grand Prix by Tyrrell . In practice she finished 16th, in the race she collided with her teammate Eddie Cheever of all people . Due to a dispute between FISA and FOCA, the race was boycotted by the FISA teams and subsequently not counted towards the World Cup.

In the cart series

1982 Wilson first became active in Indianapolis . At the wheel of an Eagle from the Theodore Racing team , however, she missed qualification. The following year she was signed by Wysard Motors . With a March 83C Cosworth she only achieved three championship points in Cleveland and was released before the end of the season.

In 1986 she tried a comeback in the CART series, which failed after three races due to poor results.

Other races

After finishing her international single-posto career, Desiré Wilson remained actively involved in motor racing until 1997. Until then, she had made a number of sporadic appearances in various racing series. For example, she competed in the World Endurance Championship for sports cars , the IMSA series, the British Formula 3000 and the British Thundersports Championship.

Between 1999 and 2002 Wilson took part in the Goodwood Festival of Speed , a race for vintage racing cars .

statistics

Results in the cart series

season	team	automobile	run	Starts	Victories	T Indy	R Indy	Points	position
1982	Theodore Racing	Eagle 81 -Cosworth	1	-	-	DNQ	-	-
1983	Wysard Motors	March 83C -Cosworth	9	8th	-	DNQ	-	3	28.
1986	Schaefer Machinists Union	March 86C -Cosworth	3	3	-	-	-	-
total			13	11	-	-	-	3	-

T Indy = Training Indianapolis, R Indy = Race Indianapolis, DNQ = Not Qualified

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1982	Grid racing	Grid Plaza S1	Alain de Cadenet	Emilio de Villota	failure	Engine failure
1983	Obermaier Racing	Porsche 956	Axel Plankenhorn	Jürgen Lässig	Rank 7
1991	Euro Racing	Spice SE90C	Cathy Muller	Lyn St. James	failure	accident

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1982	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 512 BB / LM	Janet Guthrie	Bonnie Henn	failure	malfunction

Web links

Commons : Desiré Wilson  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biography with images on Forix.com (Engl.)