Rahel Frey

Rahel Frey is a Swiss racing driver who mostly served as Audi driver in different championships in recent years, but also she was driving for other manufacturers.

Earlier in a career, she spent six seasons in different formula competitions from 2004 to 2009 plus one season in GT racing with Matech Competition's Ford GT. In 2010, she was a part of the all-female crew at 24 Hours of Le Mans together with Natacha Gachnang and Cyndie Alleman.

Rahel Frey

Early days were full of action

As a girl, Rahel was very active and she tried out many sports but also ballet. Her father is a former racing driver, so Frey as a teenager started to compete in karting after she got go-kart as a birthday present.

She was thrilled with racing so it wasn’t a surprise when Rahel gave up her dream to become a helicopter pilot in the Swiss army and decided to become a professional driver. But before going into the real racing world, Rahel Frey had to finish a school as that was a condition set by her parents.

Rahel Frey, Audi racing driver

Good results at the national level

Frey progressed through the national levels of racing before she entered an international scene. Her talent was spotted by many after Rahel regularly was at the top half of the standings. In 2004, she got a call for testing in Swiss Formula Renault 2.0.

After she was impressive in tests, he debuted in Formula Renault and took third place in her first race while in his second start managed to take a win. She was fourth overall that year while in 2005 Rahel finished third in the Swiss Formula Renault.

Frey has competed in Formula Renault and German Formula 3

Ups and downs in Formula 3

In 2006, Rahel Frey moved up to the Formula Renault Eurocup, racing for Jenzer Motorsport. He stayed with the same team in 2007 but moved to the International Formula Master in 2007. She was unlucky that year as the mechanical failures of her car didn’t allow her to show all that she has. At the end of the year, she got a call from DTM Audi to make tests what helped her to earn a contract with Volkswagen.

The following year Rahel Frey competed in German Formula 3 but failed to impress. Later she told that 2008 was probably her worst season but the things improved in 2009. After she moved from Van Amersfoort Racing's Volkswagen to Jo Zeller Racing's Mercedes, the results improved. She won the race at Nurburgring and finished seventh in the points.

Swiss racing ladies before the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Member of all-female team at 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours

Rahel will remember the year of 2010 after her debut in 24 Hours of Le Mans. She drove for Matech Competition as a member of the all-female crew in the #61 Ford GT1, sharing a seat with Natacha Gachnang and Cyndie Allemann. Unfortunately, the Swiss girls were forced to retire after 59 laps.

For the same team, Rahel has competed as a guest in the FIA GT1 World Championship and Le Mans Series. At the end of the year, Frey passed the test with DTM Audi and earned a drive in the popular German touring cars racing series.

Rahel Frey spent two seasons with DTM Audi teams

Two years with Audi in DTM

Her rookie year in DTM was one to forget. Driving the #15 Audi A4 DTM for Team Phoenix, Frey failed to score a single point, with 12th place at Oschersleben as her best result. Anyway, she picked up some experience and improved in 2012.

Driving the #17 Audi A5 DTM for Team Abt, she scored her first points at Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia where she took seventh position. At the end of the season, Frey was 19th in the final standings among 22 drivers.

Rachel Frey presents Audi R8 LMS at Geneva Motor Show

Best days in her racing career arrived with Audi R8 LMS

Rahel left DTM before the start of 2013 but remained with Audi and Abt Racing. She switched to ADAC GT Masters and finished 19th overall after she has collected 27 points out of 15 races.Her co-drivers were Marku Winkelhock (2 rounds) and Christopher Haase (6 rounds). She also joined Team WRT in the Blancpain Endurance Series, competed in the endurance races at Nurburgring Nordschleife and competed in Audi R8 LMS Cup China where she scored one win and was 4th overall.

In 2014, Frey still was committed to the duties with Audi. In China, she managed to improve and to take 3rd position in the championship while in ADAC GT Masters the results still weren’t as good. Driving for YACO Racing together with Philip Geipel, Rachel earned only four points.

Rahel Frey and Philip Geipel

Maiden ADAC GT victory in 2015

The season of 2015 brought a huge improvement in ADAC GT Masters for Frey. She stayed in the #16 YACO Racing Audi, sharing a car with Philip Geipel. Rahel scored 92 points, won her first race (Hockenheimring), had three podium finishes and at the end of the year she was 10th overall. Driving in Audi Cup in China she was again among the front-runners, finishing fifth in the points.

In 2016, she had a similar schedule and similar results. She and Philip Geipel won one race in the ADAC GT Masters, at Zandvoort, and she finished ninth in the points. In the Audi R8 LMS Cup China, she was fourth. In the next two ADAC GT seasons, in 2017 and 2018, Rahel's results weren't good and she finished at the back of the classification.

Rahel Frey in 2017

A part of the all-female crew in the European Le Mans Series

In 2019, the main competition for Rahel was the European La Mans Series, in which she was driving a Ferari 488 GTE for Kessel Rccing, forming an all-female crew together with Michelle Gatting and Manuela Gostner.  They scored two podiums over the season, finishing fourth in the GTE class at the end of the season. They also participated at 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing ninth in the GTE Am class.

In the same year, Rahel also competed with Audi in the one-make R8 LMS Cup but also in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia. At 24 Hours of Nurburgring, she won SP8 class with Giti Tire's Audi R8 LMS.

Photo: adac-motorsport.de rahelfrey.ch gettyimages.com speed-magazine.de fourtitude.com sport-auto.ch