Taru Rinne


Taru Rinne 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.

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 1988. With her Honda bike she qualified second for the 125cc class GP at Hockenheim in 1989 and managed to lead the race for a while. She eventually finished seventh bettering her earlier eighth place at Assen. This was to remain her best ever result, as she got into a bad accident at Paul Ricard. 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:
Position12345678910
Points1512108654321

Points system from 1988 to 1992:
Position123456789101112131415
Points201715131110987654321


YearClassBike1234567891011121314PointsRank
1987125ccMBAESP
-		GER
-		NAT
-		AUT
-		NED
-		FRA
-		GBR
-		SWE
-		CZE
20		RSM
-		POR
-		0—
1988125ccHondaESP
-		NAT
-		GER
-		AUT
-		NED
-		BEL
-		YUG
-		FRA
14		GBR
-		SWE
25		CZE
-		237th
1989125ccHondaJPN
-		AUS
-		ESP
15		NAT
19		GER
7		AUT
-		NED
8		BEL
-		FRA
-		GBR
-		SWE
15		CZE
12		2317th
1990125ccHondaJPN
26		ESP
-		NAT
-		GER
-		AUT
-		YUG
-		NED
23		BEL
-		FRA
-		GBR
-		SWE
-		CZE
21		HUN
16		AUS
19		0—
1991125ccHondaJPN
-		AUS
-		ESP
DNQ		ITA
DNQ		GER
DNQ		AUT
DNQ		EUR
DNQ		NED
-		FRA
-		GBR
-		RSM
-		CZE
-		MAL
-		0—