In the early 1960s, at a time when the Swedish actors Anita Ekberg and Mai Zetterling and the singer Monica Zetterlund were winning international attention, their compatriot Ewy Rosqvist brought a similar blond glamour to motor sport. Rosqvist, who has died aged 94, was the winner of the European women’s rally championship in 1959 and 1961.
In 1962, she and her co-driver Ursula Wirth confounded sceptics when they finished first of 257 entrants in the Gran Premio Argentina for touring cars, a challenging six-day event in which they covered 2,891 miles of rough, unprotected roads in their Mercedes saloon at an average speed of just under 80mph, finishing with an overall time three hours faster than their nearest challenger.
