After racking up
more than 34 hours
behind the wheel,
covering 2,874 miles
of bumpy South
American terrain,
Ewy Rosqvist drove
into the history
books on Nov 4,
1962, when she
became the first
woman to win the
Touring Car Grand
Prix of Argentina.
During the early
Sixties, top
international female
athletes were still a
rarity, but Rosqvist
(right of picture) and
her Mercedes-Benz
co-driver, Ursula
Wirth, were hailed as
pioneers of female
motorsport
overnight, as photos
of the Swedish pair
were splashed across
newspapers around
the world.
Dominating the
race from start to
finish, the pair won
all six stages of the
gruelling 10-day trek
across Argentina,
finishing three hours
quicker than the
runner-up with a
record average speed
of 79mph – 3mph
faster than the
previous year’s
winner, Walter
Schock.
Of the 286 cars
that registered for
the exhausting
route, only 43 made
it to the finish, with
Rosqvist and Wirth
being the only one of
four registered
Mercedes vehicles to
complete the rally.
Rosqvist’s
achievement was all
the more
remarkable, given
that she had to deal
with the death of her
team-mate, Hermann
Kuhne, who suffered
a fatal accident
during the second
stage of the race.AKG-IMAGES/TT NEWS AGENCY
telegraph.co.uk/tws @WomensSport @TelegraphWomensSport
Moment in Time
Growing up on a
farm in Sweden,
Rosqvist’s journey
into motor racing
began in the
modest environs of
the southern
Swedish town of
Ystad. As the only
girl in a farming
family, she learned
to drive at a young
age after her father
bought her a
Mercedes-Benz
170S to help her
pursue a career as
a veterinary
assistant.
She clocked up
120 miles a day on
poorly built dirt
roads, speeding
from farm to farm
while honing her
driving skills.
By the time her
first two years of
vet practice were
over, she was
driving so perfectly
that she could
finish her rounds
two hours before
her colleagues.
Her racing career
took off following
her marriage in1954 to engineer
and racer Ynvge
Rosqvist, who
employed his wife
as a co-driver for
several rallies.
By 1959, she was
ready to race on
the international
stage and claimed
the first of three
consecutive
European Ladies’
Cup titles, along
with four Rally to
the Midnight Sun
wins as she quickly
established herself
as one of Europe’s
most prominent
racers.
Despite her
success behind the
wheel, Rosqvist
was still balancing
her competitive
racing with her
career as a vet in
1961, but her
breakthrough came
a year later when
she signed a
professional
contract with
Mercedes-Benz
ahead of competing
at the Argentina
Grand Prix.Before the event
was under way,
Rosqvist and
co-driver Wirth
were ridiculed as
women for entering
the iconic
long-distance race,
by the same
newspapers which
would be in
awe of their
unprecedented
triumph days later.
It was only when
the pair chalked up
victories on the
first two stages
that they began to
turn heads.
Their success was
the second in a row
in the event for
Mercedes-Benz, but
the pair would
finish third in the
1963 edition.
After retiring a
year later at the
age of 35, Rosqvist
remained involved
in the sport as an
ambassador for
Mercedes, her
dream as a female
rally driver well
and truly
accomplished.How speeding vet turned sneers to cheers
November 4, 1962
Ewy Rosqvist wins Touring Car
Grand Prix of Argentina
The Daily Telegraph Friday 16 August 2019^ *** 11
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