Anastasia Gerasis arrived at Aldo Scribante Racetrack with a fairly modest goal: finish sixth and improve her technique.

By the end of the weekend, the Saheti matric learner had made motorsport history.

Gerasis finished third overall in Round 5 of the Investchem MSA4 Championship on 15 August, becoming the first female driver to stand on an overall MSA4 podium.

A breakthrough weekend

The result came from two races.

Gerasis started Race 1 from fifth and finished seventh. She then produced a stronger second race, climbing to fourth place.

Those combined results were enough to put her third overall for the day, behind championship leader Aqil Alibhai and Mikel Bezuidenhout. Alibhai won both races.

It was a considerably better result than Gerasis had expected. In the week leading up to the event, she had focused on her braking and how she rotated the car through corners, with sixth place as her personal target.

From her brother's go-kart to racing cars

Gerasis's route into motorsport began only four years ago.

In 2022, she asked to try her brother's go-kart. She went on to compete in the Tillotson T4 Series, finishing third in the championship in her first year before winning it in her second.

Karting then took her overseas, with racing experience in Spain, Italy, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Slovakia.

At the beginning of 2025, she made another big jump: from karts into racing cars. She entered Investchem MSA4 that year and is now in her second season of single-seater racing.

Just over a year later, she has an overall national-series podium to her name.

Motorsport and matric

Gerasis is pursuing her racing ambitions while completing matric at Saheti.

She also intends to continue her education and has a long-standing interest in engineering. Her racing ambitions include eventually competing in F1 Academy, the international all-female single-seater series designed to develop female racing talent.

Her longer-term goal, however, is to build a professional career competing in mixed racing fields.

Getting there presents another challenge. International motorsport is expensive, and Gerasis has said her management is seeking sponsorship to support the next stage of her career.

Two rounds remain

There is little time to dwell on the podium.

The Investchem MSA4 Championship heads to Killarney International Raceway in Cape Town on 19 September for Round 6, followed by the season finale at Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria on 17 October.

Gerasis will head into those final rounds having already achieved something no female driver in the series had done before.

The Bottom Line

Four years ago, Anastasia Gerasis was trying her brother's go-kart. Last year, she stepped into a racing car.

Now, while still completing matric, she has become the first female driver to finish on an overall Investchem MSA4 podium.

With two rounds remaining in the 2026 championship, third place at Aldo Scribante gives her something even more valuable than a milestone: another opportunity to see how far that progress can go.