Fabienne Wohlwend

Fabienne Wohlwend
Wohlwend in 2019
Nationality	Liechtensteiner
Born	(1997-11-07) 7 November 1997 (age 27) Vaduz, Liechtenstein[1]
W Series
Racing licence	FIA Silver
Years active	2019, 2021–2022
Teams	Hitech Grand Prix Double R Racing[a][b]
Starts	21
Wins	0
Podiums	3
Poles	1
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	6th in 2019, 2021
Previous series
2016 2017 2017 2018–2020 2019–2024 2022–2024 2023	Formula 4 Italy Audi Sport TT Cup Ferrari Challenge Europe – Coppa Shell Ferrari Challenge Europe – Trofeo Pirelli VLN Series / Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie Indian Racing League ADAC GT4 Germany
Championship titles
2018	Ferrari Challenge – Finali Mondiali (TP Am)

Fabienne Wohlwend (born 7 November 1997) is a racing driver from Liechtenstein who competed in the W Series.^[2]

Wohlwend entered car racing in 2016, having been successful in junior karting in Liechtenstein and Switzerland. She debuted in the Italian F4 Championship with Aragón Racing, before a mid-season switch to DR Formula.^[3][4] She failed to qualify for the final at the first round in Misano (the series ran a unique format for said round after 41 cars entered a circuit with a capacity of 36) and, after the qualifying race system was abandoned, did not score any points during the course of the season - her best finish being an 11th place in the final race of the season at Monza.^[5] Being the only woman competing in that championship, she won the Women's Trophy class uncontested.^[6]

She moved into touring cars for 2017, successfully applying for the Audi Sport TT Cup.^[1] Her best result of 8th came in her first race in the category at the Hockenheimring, and the Liechtensteiner finished the season 11th in the standings.^[7]

Wohlwend twinned her application to the Audi Sport TT Cup with a partial campaign in the Ferrari Challenge European Championship. Contesting six races in the amateur-level Coppa Shell class, she scored two pole positions, four podiums and a race win at Imola – in the process becoming the first woman to win a race outright for the Ferrari marque.^[8] Wohlwend also competed in the Ferrari Challenge season-ending Finali Mondiali at Mugello, finishing 3rd in the Coppa Shell class having benefitted from a controversial pass on Manuela Gostner.^[9]

With the demise of the Audi TT Cup, Wohlwend remained in the Ferrari Challenge – however made the step up to the Am class of the Trofeo Pirelli division.^[10] In a season plagued with inconsistency, she won three of the fourteen races – one at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and both races at the Misano World Circuit – and finished second in the championship to Briton Chris Froggatt.^[11] She returned to the Finali Mondiali event for 2018, winning the Am class of the Trofeo Pirelli race.^[12]

For 2019, Wohlwend again competed in the Trofeo Pirelli division of Ferrari Challenge, this time as a Pro driver. This campaign consisted of the Valencia, Imola and Mugello events as the others clashed with her W Series campaign; she scored a best result of 4th in the World Final.^[13] She returned in 2020 for a planned full campaign, scoring pole position in the first race at Imola before suffering a fuel pump failure on the final lap.^[14] In a reduced field due to the coronavirus, she maintained consistent appearances on the podium but race wins proved elusive – and eventually missed three races in two events due to mechanical problems.^[15] She finally scored a win in the penultimate race of the season at Misano before following it up with a 2nd place in the Finali Mondiali – her third Finali podium in four attempts.^[16]

In 2019 she returned to open-wheel racing, having qualified for the W Series – a Formula Regional championship solely for women.^[17] Competing against mostly professional drivers for the first time, she finished 6th and 7th in the opening rounds at Hockenheim and Zolder, having qualified on the front row in the former.^[18] At the third round at Misano, she claimed the second-ever pole position for a Liechtensteiner in FIA-sanctioned open-wheel racing, a result which she converted into a podium finish.^[19] She finished fourth ahead of a hard-charging Emma Kimiläinen at the Norisring, but ended the Assen race down in 15th after breaking her front wing whilst trying to pass Gosia Rdest.^[20] The final race at Brands Hatch resulted in a 5th-place finish on the tail of series champion Jamie Chadwick, but second place for Kimiläinen meant Wohlwend dropped to 6th in the standings.^[21]

She was scheduled to return to the championship in 2020 before it was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[22] She contested the series’ replacement eSports league, finishing 11th in the standings with two podiums having missed three events due to real-world Ferrari Challenge commitments. ^[23]

She continued to compete in the W Series on its return in 2021 as a Formula One support series. In the opening race of the season in Austria, she finished third after starting from 9th position.^[24] Having struggled to a solitary point in the second event at the Red Bull Ring, she started on the front row in Silverstone and led most of the race before being overtaken by Alice Powell in the closing stages.^[25] She collided with Ayla Ågren on the opening lap in Budapest, breaking her front wing and becoming the only non-finisher. Wohlwend was involved in the six-car qualifying pile-up at Spa-Francorchamps, but fought back to 7th in the race.^[26] She again crashed in qualifying at Zandvoort, but only recovered to 16th. The final event of the season in Austin, her first outside of Europe, netted her a 9th and a DNF, leaving her 6th in the standings.^[27]

Wohlwend returned to the championship in 2022 with the CortDAO commercial entrant. At the opening round in Miami she qualified 5th for both races despite crashing late in the session – in the first race she crashed into Abbie Eaton and she finished 11th in the second after a grid penalty for the incident with the Briton. After a ninth-place finish in Barcelona she finished 4th at Silverstone after passing Beitske Visser on the penultimate lap. She finished seventh at Circuit Paul Ricard after a spirited fight with team-mate Marta García and followed it up with sixth at the Hungaroring. The Liechtensteiner finished eighth in her first Asian race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit before the season was cut short due to financial issues; her worst W Series campaign ended with 32 points and 10th in the standings.^[28]

Wohlwend made her endurance racing debut in the VLN Series in 2019, contesting VLN5 in the V4 class. She did not finish the race after an incident at Schwedenkreuz.^[29] She returned to the championship in 2021 in the VT2 category, with her first race cancelled due to snowfall and her second resulting in a 4th in class, followed up by a podium in NLS3.^[30][31][32] She was picked up by WS Racing to contest the 2021 Nürburgring 24 Hours Qualifying Race in their Audi R8 GT4 alongside Carrie Schreiner, Célia Martin and Laura Kraihammer – a last-minute replacement for Pippa Mann and Christina Nielsen who had failed to obtain the correct licences in time.^[33] A class win followed, impressing the outfit – and they retained the Liechtensteiner but moved her to their VT2-class BMW 328i for the 24 Hour race after Mann and Nielsen met their licence requirements, where she finished 9th in class after less than half of the race was run under green flags due to torrential rain and fog.^[34][35]

Wohlwend returned to the NLS in 2022 with WS Racing's "Girls Only" GT4 squad. After not starting the first race of the season due to a practice crash for co-driver Nielsen, she took part in NLS3 before finishing her first full Nürburgring 24 Hours in 35th overall joined by Schreiner, Martin and Mann.^[36] She returned to the category in 2023 with the same team in an updated model M4, however her entry was disqualified from the first round after breaching the Nürburgring's noise restrictions.^[37] The "Girls Only" crew went on to win both Nürburgring 24 Hour Qualirennen heats in class that season, but finished behind their team car in the main event having suffered a broken rear axle from a crash in the night.^[38] Wohlwend and Martin contested two more NLS races in 2023, retiring from one with the Girls Only squad from a puncture and finishing on the podium in the SP10 class in the finale with a PROsport Racing Aston Martin.^[39] Wohlwend returned to the team for 2024, scoring her third class podium in another weather-truncated Nürburgring 24 Hours.^[40]

Wohlwend was announced as a late replacement for Aurelia Nobels for the Godspeed Kochi franchise in the inaugural Indian Racing League.^[41] Following the cancelled season-opener in Hyderabad, Wohlwend scored dual podiums in the first round at Irungattukottai and went on to help the Kochi team secure the teams' championship alongside Ruhaan Alva, Nikhil Bohra and Alister Yoong.^[42] The Liechtensteiner returned in 2023 to help defend the championship, but failed to finish any of her three races in a disrupted season due to Cyclone Michaung and ultimately finished 9th through co-driver Alva's results.^[43]

Wohlwend returned to the series in 2024, after Sourav Ganguly and the Shrachi Group bought out the Godspeed Kochi franchise and re-named it "Rarh Bengal Tigers" – retaining the existing four drivers.^[44]

Wohlwend joined her NLS Series co-driver Martin in the ADAC GT4 Germany series for 2023 with Aston Martin team PROsport Racing.^[45] Despite Wohlwend running inside the top ten in the first race at the Nürburgring before a puncture and qualifying inside the top fifteen for the second race at the Nürburgring, the pair ultimately scored just one points finish at the Sachsenring and ended the season 34th in the standings as their team-mates Hugo Sasse and Mike David Ortmann claimed the title.^[46]

Wohlwend has been nominated for Liechtenstein Sportswoman of the Year five times between 2018 and 2023.^[47]

During her early career, Wohlwend worked for the Vaduz branch of VP Bank in order to fund her racing.^[48][49][50] Since July 2023, Wohlwend is one of six Liechtenstein athletes to be employed by the Liechtenstein Olympic Committee.^[51] Wohlwend owns a Ferrari 488 Pista Piloti through her tenure as a Ferrari Challenge driver.^[52]

• * Season in progress.
• ‡ Standings based on entry points, not individual drivers.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Team	Car	Circuit	Pos.
2017	Coppa Shell	Octane126	Ferrari 488 Challenge	Mugello Circuit	3rd
2018	Trofeo Pirelli Am	Octane126	Ferrari 488 Challenge	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza	1st
2019	Trofeo Pirelli Pro	Octane126	Ferrari 488 Challenge	Mugello Circuit	4th
2020	Trofeo Pirelli Pro	Octane126	Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo	Misano World Circuit	2nd

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Ovr. Pos.	Class Pos.
20211	WS Racing	Nicolaj Kandborg Niklas Kry Tobias Wolf	BMW 328i (F30)	VT2	43	97th	9th
2022	WS Racing	Pippa Mann Célia Martin Carrie Schreiner	BMW M4 (F82) GT4	SP8T	139	35th	3rd
2023	WS Racing	Pippa Mann Célia Martin Beitske Visser	BMW M4 (G82) GT4	SP8T	135	81st	2nd
20241	WS Racing	Pippa Mann Carrie Schreiner Beitske Visser	BMW M4 (G82) GT4	SP8T	44	47th	3rd

• ^1 – Races were shortened due to inclement weather conditions.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

‡ Standings based on entry points, not individual drivers.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

• Profile at Driver Database