An unexpected victory in making history as the first female driver to finish on the overall podium in the Motorsport South Africa (MSA) 4 Series is what excited Saheti learner Anastasia Geraris the most.

The matric learner competed in the 2026 Investchem MSA4 Series Championship on August 15 at the Aldo Scribante Racetrack.

The racer is under Kokoro Performance, which is based in the United Kingdom and has been a part of it for a year.

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Anastasia acknowledged that the company is boosting her development as a driver.

In the week of the championship, Anastasia had set a personal goal of achieving sixth position and working on some of the different techniques that they were working on in the UK as a team.

They had decided to work on the braking technique and on the way that Anastasia rotates the car through a corner.

“With that, there came this incredible speed over the weekend, and our entire team found ourselves within the top five at all times throughout the whole weekend,” she said. “It was insane. We were not expecting such a good performance. Not just from myself, but from the team as a whole. So I think that’s what made it exciting.”

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Anastasia said this motivated her to take these small steps, and at the end of the race weekend, when she found out she was on the podium, she had a smile on her face and could feel the energy radiating.

“I could see how proud my dad was; my mom was going wild. She made an effort to come to the race because she had been overseas with my brother. So to see my mom on the pit wall at the end of the race really made me happy.”

Anastasia started racing four years ago in the Tillotson T4 Series in a go-kart. “I was bored after Covid-19, in 2022, and I wanted to bond with my dad and brother.” She then asked to drive her brother’s go-kart, and from the moment she started driving the kart, she knew there was something different about the sport.

“I had done many sports before, and I never felt that adrenaline and buzz that I got in a kart. So I raced Tillotson for two years. In my first year, I came third in a championship, which is a big milestone for me. In my second year, I actually won the championship. And it was something that I was very determined and motivated to do.”

With a supportive father behind her, Anastasia was able to race overseas, including in Spain, Italy, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Slovakia. For the young racer, the experience was more about learning as much as she could, considering she had joined the sport late. This became a big stepping stone in turning racing into a professional career.

In the beginning of 2025, Anastasia’s father allowed her to race in a car, moving from karts to cars.
She noted: “That was just a whole different story for me. From the moment I got into the car, there was a different spark in my eye; one could see that this was what I was destined to do.”

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She performed well in her rookie season as one of the top running girls in the series. By the end of that season, they were on pace, and this season they just turned that pace into performance.

Anastasia acknowledged the series and foundations backing them as a female in motorsport, including the F1 Academy and Iron Dames.

She admitted, however, that as a South African girl in motorsport, it is financially hard to get overseas. At the moment, her management is looking for sponsors so as to help take the pressure off her dad.

The support Anastasia received and continues to receive from her school, Saheti, ever since she took up motorsport, does not go unnoticed.

She thanked the head of academics and Dean of Matrics, Dr Daniela Pitt, as well as executive head Morag Rees. Anastasia said she looks up to Aqil Alibhai, who is currently leading the MSA4 Championship.

She also looks up to Isack Hadjar, who was her coach two years ago in the Champions of the Future Academy Programme. Her ultimate idol is Susie Wolff, managing director of the F1 Academy.

Anastasia is passionate about her education and motorsport.

“Yes, I can make it in racing, but I think as a child my whole goal was engineering and to get a degree. So I can go the racing route, but I still want to have my education to back me up.”

Her future goals include becoming a champion in whatever she races in. She would also like to make it to the F1 Academy, an all-girls series that boosts women’s careers.

Anastasia said: “In the end, I do want to race against boys. It’s been a big part of my career, racing in an equal and fair environment where I can dominate as a whole. The goal is to make a career out of this and get as far as possible. I just hope that I can make it to the top one day.”