Taru Rinne

Taru Rinne
Rinne at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix
Nationality	Finnish
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1987 – 1991 First race 1988 125cc French Grand Prix Last race 1990 125cc Australian Grand Prix Championships 0 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 22 0 0 0 0 25

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. ^[1]

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 ^[2] :

"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. ^[3] In 1988 she got her first points ^[3] , as a first female ever. In 1989 she qualified second with her Honda bike for the 125cc class GP at Hockenheim and managed to lead the race for a while. She eventually finished seventh in the race ^[4] and 17th overall for the season. ^[3]

This was to remain her best ever result, as she got into a bad accident at Paul Ricard during practice in 1991, breaking both her ancles. ^[5] 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. ^[1]

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 -	CZE 20	RSM -	POR -				2	0	—
1988	125cc	Honda	ESP -	NAT -	GER -	AUT -	NED -	BEL -	YUG -	FRA 14	GBR -	SWE 25	CZE -				3	2	37th
1989	125cc	Honda	JPN -	AUS -	ESP 15	NAT 19	GER 7	AUT -	NED 8	BEL -	FRA -	GBR -	SWE 15	CZE 12			7	23	17th
1990	125cc	Honda	JPN 26	ESP -	NAT -	GER -	AUT -	YUG -	NED 23	BEL -	FRA -	GBR -	SWE -	CZE 21	HUN 16	AUS 19	5	0	—
1991	125cc	Honda	JPN -	AUS -	ESP DNQ	ITA DNQ	GER DNQ	AUT DNQ	EUR DNQ	NED -	FRA -	GBR -	RSM -	CZE -	MAL -		0	0	—

References

1. Salmi, Riitta. "Mitä kuuluu Taru Rinne?". Turun Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
2. Fischer, Norman (November 16, 2017). "Häkkinen: Einer meiner härtesten Gegner war ein Mädchen!" [Häkkinen: One of my toughest opponents was a girl!]. www.motorsport-total.com (in German). Motorsport Total.com. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
3. "Taru Rinne career statistics at MotoGP.com". Archived from the original on 2020-04-26. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
4. "A Selection of Gossip from issue 119". BikeSportNews. Retrieved 2007-01-22.^{[ dead link ]}
5. Asali, Arantza (23 August 2025). "Have we forgotten Taru Rinne? The frustrating legacy of a woman on two wheels". femalesinmotorsport.com. Retrieved 2 November 2025.

External links

• Photographs of Taru Rinne