A seat for the fastest driver
In short
1
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In motorsport, women and men compete in the same cars, in the same races, under the same rules.
2
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In 2014 Emma Kimiläinen became the first woman in STCC for 15 years, driving
3
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In 2018 Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky won an STCC race for PWR, the first woman ever to do so.
Most sports split the field in two. Motorsport does not. The car does not know who is driving it, and the stopwatch does not care. That is why we have always picked our drivers the same way: the seat goes to the person who can make the car go fastest.
Why does gender not decide a seat?
In a race car, the same regulations and the same tyres apply to everyone, and the clock measures everyone the same way. A woman and a man line up next to each other and the result is published within the hour. Few arenas are as fair in principle.
In practice, far fewer women reach the grid. The road into motorsport is long and expensive, and talent that never gets a seat never shows what it can do. We have chosen to give that talent a seat, because a fast driver is a fast driver.
Emma, 2014
When Emma Kimiläinen joined PWR in 2014, she became the first woman to race in STCC in 15 years. She stood on the podium within her first five races. In 2016 she was part of a three-car line-up that took four wins and eleven podiums for the team.
The car does not know who is driving it, and the stopwatch does not care.
Mikaela, 2018
Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky joined in 2017. A year later she won an STCC race, the first woman to do so in the history of the series. She raced for PWR through 2021, side by side with our champion Robert Dahlgren.
Klara, and a team built for both
When we founded CE Dealer Team with Volvo CE in 2022, we started with one female and one male driver. Klara Andersson raced every season. In 2023 at Höljes she made history, as the first woman to take a podium in World Rallycross.
Three drivers, three firsts. Each of them got the seat because she was fast, and then proved it in public.
What it says about how we work
The same rule runs through everything we build. Pick people on what they can do, give them real responsibility, and let the results speak. It is how we choose drivers, and it is how we choose engineers and project leads too.
Questions
Do women and men race against each other in motorsport?
Yes. In most championships they race in the same cars, in the same races, under the same rules.
Who was the first woman to win an STCC race?
Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky, for PWR, in 2018.
How does PWR choose its drivers?
On speed and on what they bring to the team. Gender has never been the reason a driver got a seat with us.
How we can help
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E-PWR
Advanced engineering in propulsion, energy systems and production technology. Small skunkworks teams, assembled per project.