Pauline Dalmasso is a rally driver and co-driver who has been in the driving seat since 2018, although she has been navigating for slightly longer. Both she and her sister Charlotte have won the French ladies’ rally title.
Her first car was a Ford Fiesta R2T and she competed in National and Regional-level events in France, concentrating on asphalt rallies.
Her first three rallies ended in crashes but she managed a best finish of 29th in her first year, in the Rallye Terre de Lozere.
She added gravel rallies to her repertoire in 2019 and it proved a good move. She won the French ladies’ championship in 2019 with three event victories in the Antibes-Cote d’Azur, Criterium de Cevennes and Var rallies. However, a tarmac event was her best overall finish again; she was 25th in the Coeur de France Rally, driving a Peugeot 208 this time. Lucile Cypriano was the top female finisher, a couple of minutes ahead.
Her two ladies' wins in 2020 were not enough to keep her crown although she would have done better had she finished her third event, the Coeur de France Rally. The season was curtailed by the global coronavirus crisis. Her car was a 208 again.
She did a combination of gravel and tarmac rallies in 2021 and had a best finish of 23rd in the Antibes-Cote d'Azure Rally, from 57 finishers. In February, she did her first rally outside France, the Rally Ronde del Canavese in Italy, although she did not finish. This was one of ten events she did that year.
During the winter season, she competed in the G Series ice-racing championship in Andorra. She was driving a Renault Clio in the Challenge Clio Ice Trophy class and she was eleventh in the championship. She reached one A final in the third round, finishing seventh.
Her first rally of 2022 was in a new car, a Rally5-spec Renault Clio. It gave her a 32nd place in the Rallye Regional des Roches Brunes. For the Le Touquet Rally, she was back in the Peugeot. She announced that this would be her primary car for the season.
Her sister is French ladies’ champion, Charlotte Dalmasso. The pair competed together in 2016, with Pauline in the co-driver’s seat. Their best finish was a seventh place in the Rallye Regional de la Croisette.
(Image copyright Pauline Dalmasso)