Rising female race driver Katrina Ee has been selected to be part of More than Equal’s inaugural 2024 Driver Development Programme cohort.
The 14-year-old from Malaysia and Hong Kong is one of six girls chosen from across the globe for the prestigious Programme which aims to identify and nurture high-potential top female racing talent.
More than Equal is a non-profit initiative co-founded by former F1 driver, David Coulthard, whose overall goal is to help find and develop the first female F1 World Champion.
“We are pleased and proud to kick off a new era for young female drivers in motorsport with the launch of the More than Equal Driver Development Programme.
“This group of talented young drivers will now be part of a programme which has been designed with their age and their gender in mind, with specialist coaches supporting their journey and helping to maximise their potential. This is a hugely exciting moment,” the More than Equal co-founder said.
The Programme will give Ee the opportunity to work alongside world-class performance coaches in her bid to move up the motorsport ladder.
Headed by Cycling Stalwart Tom Stanton, former Head of Performance at British Cycling, who will use his Olympic experience to nurture and maximise the true potential of Ee and 5 other young female talents.
Also featured are driver coaches Sarah Moore and Jordan King, as well as Hintsa Performance and Smedley Group, to lead a first-of-its-kind, data-led development plan for each individual driver.
This will lay the foundation in the 14-year-old’s growth as a racing driver as she will be exposed to rigorous training regimens such as technical and tactical coaching, and physical and personal development.
More than Equal takes pride in their usage of data and research as a means to close the performance gap for females in racing, as well as their thorough selection process for the elite Driver Development Programme.
Being the only Asian inducted in the Programme, this shines a light on Ee’s young talent, and gives a projection in her future as an up-and-coming race driver.
Born and raised by a Malaysian father and Hong Kong mother, Katrina Ee began her racing journey at the age of 7 when she took up karting as a hobby with her sister in 2017. Eventually her passion for the sport grew and she pursued it competitively throughout Asia in 2019.
At just 14 years old, the Malaysian has been consistently evolving and has shown impressive progress in the sport.
In 2022, the talented young karter made her mark by securing her first karting titles as the IAME Series Asia Champion and Rotax Max Challenge Malaysia Champion. 2023 was also a year of successes for her as she swept three Asian karting titles, becoming the Rotax Trophy Asian Champion, IAME Series Asian Champion and Rok Cup Asian Champion. With these various achievements, the young teen has shown her amazing potential throughout various championships around the region.
Ee recently expanded her competition pool at the start of the year, and will be competing in 6 rounds in the Champions of the Future Academy Programme across the Middle East and Europe.
The young karter is also set to compete in other series in Europe and the United Kingdom. With More than Equal being headquartered in London, this makes her initiation into their esteemed Driver Development Programme timely.
“I still can’t believe that I’ve been selected by the More than Equal panel to join their Driver Development Programme.
“Growing up racing in Asia, I just worked hard and drove as fast as I could, but after speaking to the team at More than Equal and hearing about their approach to driver development, it is way beyond anything I could have ever imagined’” she said.
“I aim to maximise this opportunity and learn as much as I can, in hopes it gives me the speed and education to move up the racing ladder. It is amazing and I’m just so thankful for this opportunity, I can’t wait to get started.
“Thank you to everyone for believing in me, and especially my parents for always supporting my dream to become an F1 champion,” the 14-year-old said.
