Inessa Tushkanova

Inessa Tushkanova is Ukrainian model and a rally driver, who competed occasionally in the European Rally Championship between 2012 and 2015, but she became widely known because she posed for Playboy in 2011.

Inessa Tushkanova started rallying in 2006

Inessa was born on July 17, 1987, in Dnepropetrovsk. She had the first contact with modeling at the age of 14, while she entered motorsport in 2006, driving Daewoo Sens in some club competitions. In 2007, she moved to the codriver's seat in the Subaru Impreza GT, participating in the Ukrainian championship with Ivan German. It's interesting that they didn't finish any race.

In 2008, Inessa bought her own Subaru Impreza STi N10, participating in national events only. Her best result was the second place overall in the Rally Chempionov in December. In 2009, she participated in only three events, once as a driver and two times as a co-driver for Stepan Mazur.

Playmate of the Year in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX

In 2010, Inessa moved to the cockpit of Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, which became her racing machine for the next couple of seasons. In 2011, she expanded her rallying activities across Baltic countries (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania), Poland and Russia. She scored some wins and podiums in the Russian Cup.

During 2011, Inessa was a front-page girl in the Russian, Ukrainian and Lithuanian issues of Playboy. She explained that nude photos would help her to attract sponsors and to boost an international rallying career. She continued to compete in the Russian, Lithuanian and Estonian events. She had her European Rally Championship debut in September 2012 at Rajd Polski in Poland. She finished 29th overall and 4th in Class 3.

Rallying in Finland and entering European Rally Championship

In 2013, Inessa recorded two participations in the Finnish Rally Championship, still driving the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. For the second part of the season, she entered the Russian Rally Cup with Volkswagen Polo.

In 2014, Inessa returned to the European Rally Championship, participating in three events. At Rally Liepaja, she was driving Lancer Evo X, finishing 32nd overall and 9th in the Production Cup. In other two events (Rally Estonia, Barum Czech Rally Zlin) she was back in the Lancer Evo IX but didn't finish any of those two rallies.

One more ERC season for Inessa in 2015

The similar program followed in 2015, again with three participations in the ERC events. She scored a ninth place in the ERC2 class and took maximum points in the ERC Ladies competition, as she was the only female driver. In other two ERC events, Circuit of Ireland and Rally Estonia, she crashed out.

In the 2016 season, Inessa ceased her international rally activities, appearing only in the Russian Rally Cup with Lada Kalina.

Photos: tushkanova.com, jalopnik.com,