Taru Rinne

Taru Rinne (born 27 August 1968 in Turku) is a Finnish former professional motorcycle racer. She was the first woman to achieve points in Grand Prix motorcycle racing.

Career

Karting Rinne started her racing career in karting, competing against future Formula One drivers Mika Häkkinen, Mika Salo and Jyrki Järvilehto on multiple occasions. She won the Finnish Karting Championship in the 85cc class in 1979, ahead of Häkkinen. In 1980, she finished second behind Salo and ahead of Häkkinen who was fourth. She battled with Häkkinen again in 1981, and this time finished second in the series with Häkkinen becoming the champion. The next year Rinne won the series again and Häkkinen had to settle with second place. In 1983, she also finished first in the championship but was disqualified from the last race due to illegal fuel. Thus the title went to Häkkinen. She was also given a personal one-year ban from racing, which eventually ended her promising career in karting.

Häkkinen has later commented on Rinne: "I used to race go-karts in Finland, and my toughest opponent was a girl," he explains. Häkkinen was ten or eleven years old at the time and was regularly beaten by her. "She really went full throttle," he says, still impressed. "Sometimes I couldn't understand how great this driver was. She had a fantastic racing line and incredible talent."

Road Racing Despite her success on four wheels, Rinne decided to switch to motorcycles and debuted in the Road Racing World Championship, now known as MotoGP, in 1987. In 1988 she got her first points, and 17th overall for the season. While recovering from the accident, she got a letter from Bernie Ecclestone, who at the time decided which riders are allowed to compete in the series. The letter said that she is not qualified to compete next season. This ended her career at top-level and Rinne later said that the letter was the biggest disappointment of her life.

Motorcycle Grand Prix Results Points system from 1969 to 1987: Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points 15 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 Points system from 1988 to 1992: Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Points 20 17 15 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Starts Points Rank 1987 125cc MBA ESP- GER- NAT- AUT- NED- FRA- GBR- SWE- CZE20 RSM- POR- 2 0 — 1988 125cc Honda ESP- NAT- GER- AUT- NED- BEL- YUG- FRA14 GBR- SWE25 CZE- 3 2 37th 1989 125cc Honda JPN- AUS- ESP15 NAT19 GER7 AUT- NED8 BEL- FRA- GBR- SWE15 CZE12 7 23 17th 1990 125cc Honda JPN26 ESP- NAT- GER- AUT- YUG- NED23 BEL- FRA- GBR- SWE- CZE21 HUN16 AUS19 5 0 — 1991 125cc Honda JPN- AUS- ESPDNQ ITADNQ GERDNQ AUTDNQ EURDNQ NED- FRA- GBR- RSM- CZE- MAL- 0 0 —