Rhea Sautter races historic saloons and sportscars, mainly in Europe.
She has been competing in historics since 2010, having grown up in a historic racing family with several cars at their disposal. Her father Stefan Sautter also races, and they sometimes compete together.
Her main car is a turquoise 1961 Jaguar E-Type, which has been run by Gotcha Racing and also her family team. She raced often in the Historic Touring & GT category, and was seen in action at the Nürburgring’s Oldtimer Grand Prix.
After a solid start in the car, she paired up with British racer Andy Newall in 2015 and formed a strong team capable of top-three finishes. One of their highlights was a pole position in the 2017 Jaguar Challenge at the Spa 6 Hours, which led to a second place in a field of 33 cars. They repeated this finish in 2018 and perhaps could have won, had Rhea herself not helped to change a condenser on winner Marcus de Oeynhausen’s car. She has said in interviews that the Spa 6 Hours is her favourite event.
Since 2015, the Sautter E-Type has been a regular entrant in the Masters Gentlemen Drivers Pre-’66 GT series, racing at Zandvoort, Brands Hatch, Estoril and Imola.
In 2015, she raced in Australia for the first time, taking part in the Phillip Island Historic Touring Car Championship. Her car was a Ford Mustang and she was eleventh overall. On her next visit to Australia, she took her E-Type to the Phillip Island Classic and finished 25th overall, driving solo. She has continued to make trips Down Under in both the Jaguar and an Austin A30, which she raced in 2017. As well as Phillip Island, she has raced at Winton for the Goldfields Cup, driving the Jaguar in 2019.
She raced the A30 in the UK in 2018, including runs in the Jack Sears Memorial Trophy at Goodwood and the HRDC race at Silverstone.
As of 2021, Rhea is still racing the E-Type with Andy Newall. The pair were tenth in the Jaguar Classic Challenge at Thruxton in June.
Image copyright Balz Schreier