Isabell Rustad

Isabell Rustad is a Norwegian racing driver who made history in 2024 as the first woman to win the GT3 class in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Scandinavia, and followed up with a barrier-breaking rookie campaign in the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia that cemented her place as the most successful woman in the series’ 20-year history.

EARLY YEARS

The details of Rustad’s early life remain largely private—no birthdate, family background, or childhood stories have made their way into the public record. What we do know is that she hails from Harestua, Norway, a small community that would later rally behind her as the only Norwegian driver on the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia grid. Before she was making headlines in Porsches, Rustad cut her teeth in karting and GT5 competition, piloting a Peugeot 206 GTI in the Norwegian championship. It was there she earned her first notable distinction: becoming the youngest woman to win a race in the Norwegian Championship—a preview of the history-making trajectory that would define her career.

OTHER INTERESTS

Beyond the cockpit, Rustad keeps her personal life decidedly under wraps. No hobbies, side hustles, or off-track passions have surfaced in interviews or profiles. Whether she’s a bookworm, an adrenaline junkie in other arenas, or someone who simply lives and breathes racing, we can only guess. What’s clear is that when she’s not racing, she’s working to get back to racing—a single-minded focus that’s served her well.

EARLY SUCCESS

Rustad’s transition from karting and GT5 into the Porsche ecosystem began in earnest in 2022, though specifics from that season remain sparse. By 2023, she was juggling two teams—HTB Racing and Fragus Motorsport—across multiple classes in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Scandinavia. With HTB Racing, she logged two races in the GT4 Clubsport category, nabbing two podiums in a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. She finished 16th overall with HTB in the main championship standings with 37 points, but it was her move to Fragus Motorsport that proved transformative. There, she notched 4th overall with 185 points, racking up two wins across 18 races and adding another six podiums in 14 additional starts. It was a busy, scrappy year—splitting time between teams, figuring out equipment, and proving she belonged. The payoff came in 2024.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2023: 4th overall, Porsche Sprint Challenge Scandinavia (Fragus Motorsport), 185 points; 16th overall with HTB Racing, 37 points; 2 podiums in GT4 Clubsport class (HTB Racing).
• 2024: 1st overall, Porsche Sprint Challenge Scandinavia GT3 class, 234 points (Fragus Motorsport); first woman to win the GT3 class; 4 wins, 11 podiums, 2 poles, 2 fastest laps in 12 races driving a Porsche 991 Cup II.
• 2025: 6th overall, Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia; Rookie of the Year; 12 races, best finish 4th at Mantorp Park finale; became most successful woman in series’ 20-year history.

INSPIRATIONS

Rustad hasn’t publicly shared who or what lights her competitive fire. No childhood heroes, no poster on the bedroom wall, no mentor who pulled her aside and told her she could do this. Maybe she’s keeping those cards close, or maybe she’s simply too busy writing her own playbook to look back. Either way, her trajectory suggests she’s inspired less by emulation and more by a stubborn refusal to accept limitations—especially the ones the sport has historically placed on women.

REPUTATION

Within the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia paddock, Rustad has earned respect for her systematic progress and unflappable work ethic. Her 2025 rookie campaign was the stuff of quiet excellence: no poles, no wins, but a steady march up the results sheets that culminated in a 4th-place finish at the Mantorp Park finale—her best result of the year and the exclamation point on a Rookie of the Year season. “It’s incredibly nice to end the season by achieving the goals I had set for myself before the season,” she said after Mantorp. “A top-five position during the season has been my biggest sporting goal this year. The fact that I managed it during the final weekend shows that we have worked systematically and well throughout the season.” That methodical approach has made her the most successful woman in the series’ two-decade history, a record that speaks volumes in a championship where her teammate Daniel Ros won the 2025 title and William Siverholm finished second—both driving for Fragus Motorsport alongside her. At the mid-season Karlskoga round, she qualified 8th and 7th, finishing 10th and 7th—including a pass on Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, because why not add a little royal scalp to the résumé? Her home race at Rudskogen Motorsenter in September drew enthusiastic support from Norwegian fans, a rare moment of national pride in a series where she’s the lone representative. Fragus Motorsport has been her anchor, and she’s effusive about the team: “I am so incredibly grateful to be able to drive for Fragus Motorsport. They have enormous expertise and the ability to make the whole team a big family.” The media tone around Rustad is overwhelmingly positive—she’s seen as a driver who delivers on her promises, learns fast, and doesn’t waste anyone’s time with excuses. At Mantorp, when a poor start in race two scuttled her results, she didn’t mince words: “There was little grip on the asphalt at the start of race two which meant that I didn’t get enough traction in the car from the start.” At Karlskoga, she diagnosed her own mistakes with surgical precision: “I let off the clutch too quickly at the start and got too much wheelspin, and in the heat of the battle on the first lap I was a little off the track… That small detail is very important for aerodynamics and the car had a lot of understeer for the rest of the race.” She’s a driver who knows what went wrong, owns it, and moves on—a quality that wins over teams and skeptics alike.

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

As of late 2025, Rustad is hustling to secure the budget for a 2026 return to the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia with Fragus Motorsport. In a sport where talent and funding don’t always align, she’s chasing the former while scrambling for the latter—a familiar dance for drivers who’ve proven they belong but still need to convince the checkbooks. Her goal is simple: keep the momentum, build on the rookie success, and push deeper into the top five. Whether that happens depends on the unglamorous realities of sponsorship and budget, but if 2025 proved anything, it’s that Rustad knows how to make the most of her opportunities. She’s not chasing headlines or hype—just the next lap, the next season, and the next chance to prove that history-making isn’t a fluke.

References:

Racers Behind the Helmet – Mantorp Park Report
DriverDB – Isabell Rustad Profile
Racers Behind the Helmet – Karlskoga Report
Lbrador – Collaboration Post
Legacy DriverDB – Isabell Rustad
Racers Behind the Helmet – Debut Post