Emma Mäkinen gets set for Goodyear FIA ETRC return
Emma Mäkinen will return to the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship in 2026 as she works towards a full-time campaign in the future.
Emma Mäkinen will return to the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship in 2026 as she works towards a full-time campaign in the future.
The second-generation racer – her father Mika was a Goodyear FIA ETRC regular in the past – will contest the Int. ADAC Truck-Grand-Prix at the Nürburgring in Germany from 10-12 July with another appearance planned for later in the season.
Driving as a private entrant with IVECO power, Mäkinen will receive support and guidance from Team Hahn Racing, one of the Goodyear FIA ETRC’s most successful outfits, alongside fellow female racer Steffi Halm.
The 28-year-old said: “I’m racing race-by-race. I am going to try at least two races. The first race will be Nürburgring and then we make decisions on what other races I’m driving. I haven’t done a test yet, so I’ve never been driving my new truck, but I had a good visit to Team Hahn Racing in Germany this week, testing the seat and driving position. It went well.”
She continued: “I’ve been in race truck paddocks since I was one years old as my dad has raced all my life. I’ve raced once in the ETRC, and I’ve raced trucks in Finland. For three years, I’ve raced in the BMW series. Now I just want to go back to Europe and the European championship.”
Mäkinen, an instructor at Lapland Driving – a rally centre in northern Finland – in the winter and a civil engineer in the railway industry in the summer, has a clear plan for her Nürburgring outing, round three of the seven-event Goodyear FIA ETRC.
“I’m not waiting to win, I just want to finish every race,” she said. “Jochen and Lukas [Hahn] are going to help me, so I’ll be getting to know my team and get some experience.”
Mäkinen is no stranger to getting behind the wheel in the Goodyear FIA ETRC having contested the Nürburgring round in 2022 when she recorded a trio of top 16 finishes on board an IVECO race truck.
“It was very different than racing in the Finnish championship,” she said. “Most of the guys had been racing trucks for many, many years. It was difficult and the weather was so warm, over 30 degrees and we were racing for four times.”
As well her exploits racing trucks, Mäkinen won the silver medal in the Finnish BMW Race Series last season and co-founded an initiative that promotes female participation in motorsport in her homeland.
“Together with my female friends who race circuit cars, I co-founded the Girls Edition Racing community,” Mäkinen explained. “Our goal is to encourage women and girls to get involved in motorsport. We have already organised one event in Lapland, where everyone had the opportunity to try rally driving and drifting. Marcus Grönholm and Mika Salo also took part in the event. I believe we inspired new enthusiasts, and the event was a great success.”
The 2026 Goodyear FIA ETRC season gets under way at Misano World Circuit in Italy from 30-31 May. The series then visits Slovakia Ring (6-7 June), prior to the Int. ADAC Truck-Grand-Prix, which is marking its 40th anniversary this summer, having taken place for the first time in 1986.
Photo: Richard Kienberger
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