Elisabeth Halliday (born December 14, 1978) is an American

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

, race-car driver and commentator. She was born in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and currently lives in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

. Before becoming a full-time equestrian, Halliday was the most successful female driver in the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

with six victories. Halliday has stated that her ambition is to become the first woman to win the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

race and to earn a spot on the

United States Equestrian Team The United States Equestrian Team (USET) refers to the American national teams in Olympic and non-Olympic disciplines of horse sport. US Equestrian, the governing body of horse sport in the United States, selects, trains and funds the teams. The O ...

. Halliday was scheduled to make her Olympic debut in equestrian at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, but was withdrawn with less than a month to go following a minor injury to her horse.

Career

Racing

Halliday first started racing at age 16 in a 1967 Datsun 510 that she shared with her father, Don, who was a

Sports Car Club of America The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional r ...

instructor and vintage racer. When she attended the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

, she was involved in low-level motor clubs and the Vintage Auto Association. In 2001, Halliday raced in the

Kumho BMW Championship The Kumho BMW Championship is a single make racing series based in the UK. Exclusively for BMWs, the championship is run by the BMW Racing Drivers Club in conjunction with the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC). The championship is a BARC reg ...

series for Mosely Motorsport in the M3 E30, and was named "Driver of the Season" in 2002. A year later, Halliday recorded one win and broke the class lap record at

Croft Croft may refer to: Occupations * Croft (land), a small area of land, often with a crofter's dwelling * Crofting, small-scale food production * Bleachfield, an open space used for the bleaching of fabric, also called a croft Locations In the Uni ...

, earning her "Driver of the Day" honors. In 2003, Halliday became the first woman to win a British GT Championship round. In 2005, Halliday made her

debut in the LMP2 class, and was leading the class until she was forced to retire eleven hours into the race due to engine problems. A year later, she finished fourth in the class. After her contract with Team Modena was terminated, Halliday raced for the

Noël Del Bello Noël del Bello (born 25 December 1942 in Nantua Nantua (; Arpitan: ''Nantuat'') is a commune in and subprefecture of the Ain département in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 3,454. The co ...

Racing Team in a Courage-AER LC75, which she shared with

Romain Iannetta Romain Iannetta (born 27 November 1979 in Villecresnes) is a French racing driver who last competed in the GT4 European Series, driving the No. 77 Audi R8 (Type 4S), Audi R8 LMS GT4 Evo for Full Motorsport. He also competes part-time in the NASCA ...

and

Vitaly Petrov Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov ( rus, Вита́лий Алекса́ндрович Петро́в, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈtrof; born 8 September 1984) is a Russian racing driver who drove in Formula One for Renault F1 ...

. However, the team was only able to finish 198 laps at the

2007 24 Hours of Le Mans The 75th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''75e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a 24-hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars, which took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans, France, from 16 to 17 June 200 ...

, and finished 38th. In parallel, Halliday competed at the LMP2 class of the

for Intersport Racing, finishing sixth in 2005 and vice-champion in 2006. She collected three class wins in each season, most notably at the 2005 Petit Le Mans and the

2006 12 Hours of Sebring The 2006 12 Hours of Sebring was the 54th running of this event, and took place on March 18, 2006. The race was sponsored by Mobil 1 and was the opening race of the 2006 American Le Mans Series season run by IMSA. This race marked the first ti ...

, where she finished second overall. Halliday had a two-year hiatus from racing to be a commentator for

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

covering the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as an expert judge at

Speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...

's '' GT Academy'' series. She also covered the

American Le Mans The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

series for

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

throughout 2007, as well as for

Motors TV Motorsport.tv was a pan-European digital television channel dedicated to motorsport. It ceased broadcasting in late September 2018 to concentrate on web-streaming only. Launched in 2000 as Motors TV, it broadcast an extensive range of nationa ...

during their Le Mans broadcasts. Halliday has also served as a mentor and judge in the

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

series '' The Race''. In 2012, Halliday made her return to racing in the Lotus Cup UK series at

Silverstone Circuit Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Towcester, Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix. The 1950 ...

for John Danby Racing, and finished the race second after starting in last place. At the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2015 24 Hours of Le Mans The 83rd 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 83e 24 Heures du Mans) was an 24-hour automobile endurance event for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 10 to 14 June 2015 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, close ...

, she worked as a pit-lane reporter for the

television network.

Equestrianism

Halliday first rode horses when she was eight years old, and went to England as a pupil of

William Fox-Pitt William Speed Lane Fox-Pitt (born 2 January 1969) is an English equestrian who competes in eventing. His career highlights include winning three Olympic medals in the team event, with silver in 2004 and 2012, and bronze in 2008. At the World ...

. Halliday is an eventer. She was a member of the Fallbrook Pony Club and the Southern California Show Jumping team, which finished third in the National Pony Club Championships. Her hopes of qualifying for the United States equestrian team for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

were dashed when her horse got eliminated in a jumping event. In May 2021, Halliday-Sharp and her ride Deniro Z got named to the U.S. eventing team for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. She was withdrawn shortly before the Olympics after Deniro Z got sidelined through injury.

Motorsports career results

Rolex Sports Car Series

Grand Touring

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) Bold – Pole Position. (Overall Finish/Class Finish).

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Equestrian career results

CCI5* results

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Halliday, Liz 1978 births Living people American female racing drivers American expatriate sportspeople in England American female equestrians 24 Hours of Spa drivers European Le Mans Series drivers American Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA GT Championship drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers British GT Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers 21st-century American women Racing drivers from San Diego University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Equestrians at the 2023 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in equestrian