Mercedes mourns rally driver and pioneer Ewy Rosqvist (94)

Swedish rally driver Ewy Rosqvist has passed away on July 4^th, at the age of 94. Rosqvist – born Ewy Jönsson – was a trail-blazer, as one of the first woman able to beat the men in post-war rallying. She became famous as a Mercedes works driver.

Rosqvist was the only girl in a family counting five children. Born in Ystad, South Sweden, Ewy became a veterinary assistant. She got a knack for driving fast on the dirt roads connecting the farms she had to visit.

Speed was of essence, as the veterinary assitants had to transport frozen bull semen in a thermos flask, with a temperature in the flask that should not exceed -5 degrees Celsius. Rosqvist was good, and even started timing her drives. As she stated in her autobiography ‘Journey through Hell’, “I was usually back one-and-half to two hours earlier than my colleagues.” This is also the premise of the 2008 Swedish film ‘Rallybrudar’, based loosely on the life of Ewy Rosqvist.

Factory driver

Ewy Jönsson became Ewy Rosqvist when she married Yngve Rosqvist, and both went rallying together. Ewy was the co-driver at first, then started driving on her own. With success, and in 1960, Volvo signed her as a factory driver. Only for Mercedes to snatch her away two years later. In 1959, she won the European Women’s Cup in a Volvo, beating another famous and ferocious female rally driver: Stirling Moss’ sister Pat Moss.

Argentinian succes

Mercedes took Ewy Rosqvist and her co-driver Ursula Wirth on board for a 1962 rally campaign and offered the pair a Mercedes 220 SE. The duo would win the fast Argentinian Touring Car Grand Prix at the end of the year. Rosqvist set fastest times on all of the stages. She won, three hours ahead of the 250 men that had entered the rally. In 1963, Rosqvist won the Women’s Cup in the Monte Carlo rally, a class win at the Nürburgring 6 Hours and third in the Argentinian Touring Car Grand Prix.

Monte Carlo

1964 brought Rosqvist a career-best in the Monte Carlo rally: fifth overall and first in class in the +2500 cc category. She would do even better in the Spa-Sofia-Liège marathon, finishing third. Rosqvist, by now partnered by Eva-Maria Falk, ended her career in 1964, with another fine third in the Argentinian Touring Car Grand Prix. She married Mercedes motorsport director Baron Alexander von Korff, and remained associated to the Mercedes brand.

Mercedes Classic director Marcus Breitschwert said: “She has done a lot for motorsport – and at the same time she shaped the image of women in motorsport, especially as an overall winner against the strongest of her time.”