Charlotte in 2015
Charlotte was the 2013 French Ladies’ Champion. She has been active as a driver since 2011, when she was twenty. Normally a tarmac specialist, she can and does compete on both surfaces.
Her first car was a Peugeot 207 RC R3T, which she used in mostly gravel rallies. Her best finish was 16th, in the Rally Antibes Côte d’Azur. This was not her only top-twenty finish: she was 19th in the Rallye National des 10,000 Virages, the National event that ran alongside the Tour de Corse. She was competing in the Volant Peugeot one-make championship, and was fourteenth at the end of the season.
For most of 2012, she used the same car, staying in the same championship for part of the year. Early in the season, she bettered her best result to fifteenth, in the Rallye National Terre Ouest Provence, a gravel rally. She did one rally in a S2000-spec 207, the Rallye du Var, and was 42nd, eighth in the French Amateur class. Just before, she did the Haut Pays-Niçois Rally in a 206, trying different cars, but keeping with the Peugeot marque. She was 47th. Two of her three Volant Peugeot rallies ended in mechanical failure, so she was out of the running in that championship, but she did manage her first points in the French Amateur championship this year.
She did two more events in S2000 207 in 2013: the Rallye Régional du Médoc, in which she was 44th, and the Rallye Régional Limousin Lac de Vassivière, which she did not finish, after an alternator problem. Most of the season was spent in a 208 VTi R2, including the Alsace Rallye de France, a WRC round. She was 47th overall, and won the Coupe des Dames. She also tried out an Opel Adam in the Rallye Régional de la Croisette, and was 48th. This year, she picked up a few points in the French Tarmac championship, and won her Ladies’ Championship, ahead of Charlotte Berton, her closest rival.
Her 2014 season began badly, with two crashes in her first two rallies. However, she was soon back on track, driving the 208, and managed a 17th place on her favourite event, the Rally Antibes Côte d’Azur. She was also 25th in the Critérium des Cévennes, with an eighth place in the Tarmac standings, the same as in the Antibes event. Although she finished higher in the Tarmac standings than Charlotte Berton, she could not catch her for the Ladies' award, as Charlotte had one more Ladies’ class win than her. She was thirteenth in the French Tarmac championship, and fifteenth in the Amateur competition.
In 2015, she pushed her international career further, entering three rounds of the World Championship: Corsica, Portugal and Monte Carlo. The best of these for her was Portugal, where she was 57th overall and tenth in the JWRC class. Corsica was a disaster, ending in a crash. The Monte fell somewhere in the middle; she finished, in 61stplace, just behind her countrywoman, Laure Jaussaud. This was not as good an overall position for her, but she did get into the JWRC and WRC3 top ten for the first time. For most of the season, she drove a Citroen DS3, in both WRC and French rallies, although she did have some outings in a Peugeot 207 and 208. Her best French rally was probably the Antibes event, in which she won the Coupe des Dames, and was twelfth in the French tarmac championship. She was 22nd overall. For this event, she used the S2000-spec 207. Driving the Citroen, she equalled her 22nd place in the Vaison-la-Romaine Rally. Despite two class wins, she could not catch Sophie Laurent for the Coupe des Dames. She was tenth in the Amateur Trophy, and 21st in the French Tarmac championship.
Charlotte is also active as a co-driver, and started her career in the navigator’s seat in 2009.
(Image from www.charlottedalmasso.com)