Christine Beckers

Christine Beckers was born on the 4th of December 1943 in Brussels, Belgium. She had been interested in Motorsports since she was a child. After completing her studies at university in 1966 she got her first car that was a NSU Prinz which she drove in rallies in France and Belgium, including the Twelve Hours of Huy. In 1967 Christine teamed up with Marie-Claude Beaumont and together they completed her first Spa 24 Hours endurance race in a NSU 1000 TTS, making them the first female finishers. She was noticed by the officials for Alfa Romeo Benelux and, still only twenty five year old, was offered a works contract for her 1968 season, beginning a long and prosperous relationship.

During this first year as a professional works racing driver she was able to race on tracks and hill climbs all over Europe but she still made time for rallying in her old NSU and won the Coupe des Dames in that year’s Tulip Rally. She mainly drove the Alfa GTA and GTV in Belgium rallies, the Rallye Espana and the Criterium des Cevannes. She also won the De La Reine-Huet hillclimb out-and-out and won her class in the De La Roche hillclimb.

1969 saw more success for Christine when she collected twenty class wins in various series and was in ninth place overall in a Touring Car race at Monza. She later won the Benelux Cup at Zandvoort whilst driving the smaller GTAJ. She won the d'Houyet hillclimb outright and came second at de Marche. This year she had an outstanding win in the Ostend event. She still entered many rallies, including the Tulip, Monte Carlo and Routes du Nord events, together with ventures in the South African-based Springbok Series too at Cape Town. In 1970 she made history at the Nurburgring by becoming the first woman to mount the podium in an ETCC race, after coming third in the 2000 GTAm with Teodoro Zeccoli and came ninth in the overall standings after an outstanding season.

1971 saw Christine branch out again. For the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally of 1971 she switched to the Alfa rally squad in the super-quick Giulia, but failed to finish. In addition to her Alfa activities, she drove a Porsche 911 to eighth place on the Tour de France. It was a particularly successful year in 1972 for Christine, with two outright wins at Dijon. Her new challenge was sports cars, and the following season, she raced a Chevron B21 at the Le Mans Four Hours, where she won her class. Her first attempt at the Le Mans 24 Hours was a stormy introduction. She and Bob Wollek were sharing the Chevron, but Christine crashed early in the race and was injured. However, by the end of the season she had bounced back, with a second place on the Paris-St. Raphael women's rally. She was also running the racing school at Albi in France. In 1973 she stayed with the Chevron and finished well in the Le Mans Four Hours, coming seventh. Christine's second Le Mans was disappointing as the Chevron's fuel injection failed early in the race and she did not get to drive.

1974 brought many disappointments early in the season through car unreliability and she had to retire three times but eventually the Chevron came through at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Piloted by Christine, Marie Lourent and Yvette Fontaine, it won the 2000cc class after leading for much of the way. The all-female team were 17th overall. A win on the last running of the Paris-St. Raphael Rally with Biche also brought some welcome relief. She stuck to racing a Triumph Dolomite in 1975 at home in Belgium yet still managed to earn the Belgian national racing crown. After a break she returned to Le Mans as part of the Inaltera-Ford team. She and her team-mate earned a worthy 21st overall, third in their class. Her performance was enough to secure her a works seat for the next season. Paired with lady Grand Prix driver and sport scar ace Lella Lombardi, Christine drove hard to a strong eleventh place overall in 1977. The pair had previously driven the car at the Daytona 24 Hours and finished 47th, despite a lengthy stop after an accident. In 1977 Christine entered her first and only NASCAR event, it was the Firecracker 400 at the Daytona International Speedway, and she drove a #93 Ford for the Junie Donlavey team. She ranked at130, started at 37 and finished at 37 after having to retire due to break failure. She returned to touring cars for Alfa, finishing second place at Mugello, Seltweg and Spa. She was one of three women to enter the race, the others being Janet Guthrie and Lella Lombardi. It was the first time that three women had competed together in a NASCAR race since1949.

Always looking for new challenges Christine in 1979 it was the Paris-Dakar Rally, which she completed on her first attempt, winning the Coupe des Dames. She was driving a Toyota and finished 41st overall. In 1980, she won the Dakar Coupe des Dames again, coming seventh in a Range Rover. In 1983, she was 28th in another Toyota. Driving a Range Rover she had her fourth and final attempt at the Dakar in which she finished fifth overall, the first woman to the Senegalese capital. Finally, after this success she retired to raise her two adopted children and to work as a Formula One journalist but coming out of retirement occasionally to race in classic events. She had competed in three continents and been both race and rally champion in her own country.

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