Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky

Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky is a talented racing driver from Sweden who entered the world of professional racing in 2012 and currently competes in the TCR Scandinavia. She also has some experience in GT races and rallycross.

Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky

Born in the racing family

Not so many girls are interested in racing, but Mikaela was predestined for that. Her grandfather Freddy Kottulinsky was the only Swedish driver who won at the famous Paris – Dakar Rally and also was a member of the Audi team which developed Audi’s four-wheel drive system.

Mikaela’s mother Susanne won the European Rally Championship, her father Jerry Ahlin won the Junior Swedish Rally Championship, and her brother Fredrik is trying to find a way to the top in the international rallying.

Mikaela celebrates victory

Motorsport suddenly became important

Interestingly, she was completely uninterested in the motorsports until the age of 12. Mikaela’s world was all about gymnastics and dancing but then she inherited brother’s go-kart and the racing story has begun. Driving a karting quickly became her passion and soon she debuted in the local karting competitions.

She spent seven years racing and scored some notable results. Mikaela won in 2005 final of MKR. In 2009, she was 4th in the Swedish Championship in Rotax Max and was prepared for the move to the higher level.

Speedqueen from Sweden started a career in the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup

Starting a car racing career in the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup

In the second half of 2011, Mikaela was one of 12 girls involved in the FIA Women In Motorsport’s shootout to Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup. Ahlin-Kottulinsky was amazing during the testing at Oschersleben and took the 2nd place, earning a possibility to race in Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup in 2012.

Her rookie season in the series was hard and tough but Mikaela picked some valuable experience. The 13th place at Oschersleben was the best result scored by the Swedish hot prospect in 2012.

Mikaela’s progress was fast

During 2013 Ahlin-Kottulinsky combined her duties between Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup and Renault Clio Cup JTCC. For the first time, she scored a podium finish, taking the 2nd place at Nurburgring driving a Volkswagen. Mikaela finished 8th overall that year and announced that she is capable of achieving bigger things.

However, the results in Renault Clio Cup weren’t so good and Mikaela was 12th in the final standings, with the 6th place in the race at Kinnekulle as the highlight of the season.

Celebrating maiden triumph at Norisring

First woman on the top of the podium

Ahlin-Kottulinsky stayed in Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup in 2014 and confirmed that she has a lot of potential. For the first time in the history of the series, a woman driver won the race. Mikaela’s dream came true when she heard the Swedish anthem after winning the race at Norisring. She finished 9th in the Drivers’ championship.

Mikaela also gained some experience in rallycross, as a guest driver of JC Raceteknik, a team ran by her long time friend and also a mechanic, Joel Christofferson. In RX Lites she picked 27 points while in RallyX Sweden Ahlin-Kottulinsky collected 17 points out of three events before finishing 8th overall.

Ahlin-Kottulinsky was driving the #89 Audi in the Audi Sport TT Cup

Moving to Audi Sport TT Cup in 2015

The Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup was abandoned in 2015 and Mikaela had to find a new drive. Luckily, Audi decided to start a new series and the Swedish girl began to compete in the Audi Sport TT Cup. A total of 18 drivers were competing in the first season of the new championship and the young Swedish girl was among them.

The beginning of the season was pretty good as Mikaela picked points on a regular basis. Her best result was the 3rd place at Norisring and also had two fastest laps that season. Unfortunately, too many retirements in the second half of the year pulled her down to the 15th position overall.

ADAC GT Masters was the biggest challenge so far

Mikaela was working at Audi Driving Experience but it was a small surprise when she was teamed with the factory driver Marco Bonanomi to drive for Aust Motorsport in ADAC GT Masters series. That was a huge step forward in her career and an opportunity to compete against more experienced racers.

The change was big, so Mikaela struggled to adapt. However, in the last round at Hockenheim, she picked her maiden point in the series, finishing 10th in the penultimate race of the year, but in the final standings, ’Lady of the Rings’ was 52nd.

First female race winner in the STCC

In 2018, Mikaela switched to the TCR Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, driving the #19 Cupra Leon TCR for PWR Racing/Seat Dealer Team. In the fourth round at Karlskoga she became the first female race winner in the history of STCC. She finished the season 10th in the points.

She stayed with PWR Racing in 2019, scoring again one victory in TCR Scandinavia and finishing sixth in the points.

Photo: racingnews365.nl speedqueens.blogspot.com mikaelaracing.com revistasafetycar.com sport-auto.ch