Yvette Fontaine (born 3 June 1946) is a Belgian former

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

Career

Born on 3 June 1946 in

Hasselt, Belgium Hasselt (, , ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. As of 1 August 2023, Hasselt had a total population of 80,846. The old ...

, Fontaine grew up with her parents near the

Zolder The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. History Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, a ...

race track and thus came into contact with motorsport at an early age. As a teenager, Fontaine attended events as a spectator whenever she could at the almost four-kilometer-long circuit. After experimenting with

karting Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...

, she took part in her first

car rally Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (sometimes called "rally racing" in United States), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed ...

in 1964 at the age of 18. In 1966, she began touring car racing and drove an Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Super 1600 in the Belgian championship. That same year, she contested her first

24 Hours of Spa The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by CrowdStrike. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and ...

, finishing 19th overall. In 1969 she switched from

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...

s to

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

s, when she received a contract with Ford Belgium. In both 1969 and 1970 she secured the top ranking in the Belgian Touring Car Championship, driving a Ford Escort 1300 GT (and, in 1969, a Ford Lotus Cortina for some races). She was the first woman to win this championship, and, , still the only one. Her greatest international success was second place in the 1975

. Her partner in the BMW 3.0 CSi was her compatriot Noël van Assche; the race was won by another BMW piloted by

Jean Xhenceval Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

Pierre Dieudonné file:1976-07-11 BMW-Luigi CSL von Stuck, Xhenceval, Dieudonné.jpg, BMW CSL (Stuck, Xhenceval and Dieudonné), Nürburgring 6h-Race 1973 Pierre Dieudonné (born 24 March 1947 in Brussels) is a Belgium, Belgian auto racing driver and motoring jour ...

and Hughes de Fierlant. Fontaine also competed in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

twice, with the all-female teams being successful both times. In the 1974 race she also won the class for sports cars up to 2 litres displacement, finishing 17th; in the 1975 race she finished eleventh overall. In 2016 she published her autobiography, ''Ma passion'', covering her twelve years as a racing driver.

Record

Le Mans

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fontaine, Yvette 1946 births Living people Sportspeople from Hasselt Belgian rally drivers Belgian racing drivers Belgian female racing drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers 21st-century memoirists Belgian memoirists Women memoirists