as Emma Mäkinen takes the team's second IVECO S-WAY R onto the Nürburgring track

​The Schwabentruck team increasingly runs on girl power: Emma Mäkinen, a young Finnish motorsport racer has joined driver Steffi Halm, head mechanic Judith Ehrmann and the many female volunteers providing support behind the scenes in the 2022 Truck Grand Prix. The young driver is looking forward to competing on the Nürburgring track with the Schwabentruck team and IVECO.


Twenty-four-year-old Emma Mäkinen, who studies civil engineering, has truck racing in her DNA: she is the daughter of Mika Mäkinen, a driver active on the truck racing scene for a long time who competed in several editions of the European championship. Emma is no motorsport novice, as she has been putting racing vehicles through their paces since she was 15, competed in a touring car class and won a national Endurance Cup with her team. She is also very familiar with racing trucks – the young Finn has completed two successful races behind the wheel in Kemora. Emma Mäkinen has had a truck driving licence for a while: "At 20, I started driving trucks to earn a little money on the side."

Number 28 on the starting line of the 2022 Truck Grand Prix at the Nürburgring
Traditionally, 28 is the second starting number of the Schwabentruck racers, and this will be Emma Mäkinen’s number on the starting line at the Nürburgring. The Finn will soon becom familiar with the IVECO S-WAY R racing truck on the steep curves of the oval track at Iveco Magirus AG in the Danube valley, near Ulm. She will complete her first laps on a racing track at the motordrome in Most, Czechia, where test drives are conducted before the season begins.

"I'm looking forward to racing a few laps with the IVECO racers – with Steffi from the Schwabentruck team, as well as Jochen and Lukas from the Hahn Racing team, benefiting from their advice and getting to know the IVECO racing truck in more detail," says Emma Mäkinen. "I'll need it in order to demonstrate what the IVECO S-WAY R and I are capable of at the Truck Grand Prix on the Nürburgring, with our combined power and passion."

Willy Schmid from the Schwabentruck team sees nurturing young talent as a key: "If we want to make sure that truck racing has a successful future ahead of it, we need to support talented young people by providing them with places and opportunities to get to grips with the sport and see what they're made of. Jochen Hahn is passing on his years of experience to Lukas, just as Steffi Halm will support her new colleague, Emma, and help her to find her feet in the world of truck racing."