Ayla Ågren

Following a decade in karting across Europe and Scandinavia, Ågren moved to the United States to forge a professional career – first testing with the Skip Barber Racing School and then competing in their Summer Series, scoring four podiums and finishing eighth overall.^[4] In 2013, she moved into F1600, immediately proving competitive and winning the championship at her second attempt with a last-lap pass for victory in the final round at Watkins Glen.^[5] The success saw her move onto the Road to Indy schedule, promoted within Team Pelfrey.^[6] Whilst initially competitive, her first season in U.S. F2000 proved to be her only full campaign as the funding began to dry up. She managed a fourth place at Road America in 2016 having moved to John Cummiskey Racing, but a move back to Team Pelfrey in 2017 led to a half-season campaign with her final appearance at Iowa ending in an eighth-place finish.^[7][8]

Having spent a year out of racing, Ågren applied for the W Series, a European-based Formula Regional championship solely for women, in 2019. She failed to qualify for the inaugural season, and eventually landed a job as the IndyCar safety car driver having given up on finding a race seat.^[9][10] She would again attempt to qualify for the W Series in 2020, and successfully made the 20-car grid on her second attempt before the season was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[11][12][13] The Norwegian eventually got to compete in the championship in 2021, but only scored points in two races and finished 17th in the standings – Ågren additionally missed the Spa race having been involved in a multi-car pile-up in qualifying.^[14] Ågren returned to the series as a reserve driver in 2022, being called up to race in Singapore after Tereza Bábíčková suffered a back injury.^[15] During this time, Ågren also worked as a spotter for the short-lived Paretta Autosport IndyCar team.^[16]