| Christine Beckers | |
| Birth Date: | 4 December 1943 |
| Birth Place: | Uccle, Belgium |
| Years Active: | 1966–1979 |
| Titles: | Belgian Women's Drivers' Champion |
| Title Years: | 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972 and 1974 |
Christine Beckers (known professionally by the mononym Christine; born 4 December 1943 in Uccle) is a Belgian former racing driver who had success in multiple disciplines: circuit (in touring cars and prototypes), rallying, rally raid, hillclimbing, autoslalom, and NASCAR.
She made her debut in 1966 in rallying at the wheel of an NSU and drove for the German brand for two years. In 1967 she participated in 29 events including the 24 Hours of Spa with Marie-Claude Beaumont, and won her first title as Belgian Drivers' Champion.
In 1968, after several successes in an NSU Prinz and a few races in single-seater Formula Vee, she was contracted by Alfa Romeo Benelux as a works driver.[1] In 37 events, both on circuits and rallying, she regularly won her class in an Alfa Romeo GTV. The highlight of her season was winning the overall ranking at the Houyet hillclimb race driving the Alfa Romeo GTA SA of Team Lucien Bianchi.
She competed in the 24 Hours of Spa eleven times, contesting her last official race on a circuit in July 1980. She also entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times between 1973 and 1977, and particularly distinguished herself in 1974, supported by the French Marie Laurent and Belgian Yvette Fontaine, winning the 2-liter class in a Chevron.[2] In 1976, she joined the prestigious Inaltéra team, with Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Beltoise, in a team with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Jean Rondeau. In the 1977 24 Hours of Le Mans, together with Lella Lombardi (the only woman to have scored a point in the Formula One World Championship), she obtained the best female ranking in the competition to date (11th overall), despite a series of spins following an electrical failure at more than on the Mulsanne Straight. In the middle of the night, she repaired the Inaltéra alone, costing her more than two hours of downtime, both on the track and in the pits.
In addition, she participated in three editions of the Paris–Dakar Rally, in 1979, 1980 and 1982, and was the first woman to do so.[3]
In 1977 Beckers and Lombardi were invited by NASCAR to drive in the Firecracker 400 at the Daytona International Speedway.[4] [5] She also took part in two editions of the 24 Hours of Daytona at the same circuit, driving an Inaltera and a BMW M3.
In 2024 the 80-year-old Beckers is planning to set a Guinness World Record by becoming the oldest person to drive a Formula One car. On 21 July, she intends to drive a 1980s-era Arrows A8 around Belgium's Circuit Zolder.[6]
She was engaged to French driver Roger Dubos, but he died during the 1973 edition of the 24 Hours of Spa in a crash with the German Hans-Peter Joisten.[7]
Trained as a journalist, she returned to this profession after her retirement from competition, notably in automobile magazines. She also rides motorcycles, flies, paraglides, and drives ATVs. She made several desert crossings with her second husband, Louis Schmitz. Together, they sponsored Thierry Boutsen in Formula 1, before adopting, with the help of Boutsen and Ayrton Senna, two children from Brazil.
In 2014 Beckers published an autobiography, French: La course ou la vie: Itinéraire d'une femme rapide (Race or Life: Itinerary of a Fast Woman).[8]