Ayla Ågren


Ayla Ågren is a Norwegian-Swedish racing driver. Representing Norway, she formerly competed in the W Series.

Biography

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. 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. The success saw her move onto the Road to Indy schedule, promoted within Team Pelfrey. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. During this time, Ågren also worked as a spotter for the short-lived Paretta Autosport IndyCar team.

Racing record

Complete W Series results

YearTeam12345678DCPoints
2021M. Forbes MotorsportSPI1
10		SPI2
14		SIL
15		BUD
11		SPA
DNS		ZAN
15		AUS1
16		AUS2
9		17th3
2022Puma W Series TeamMIA1MIA2BCNSILLECBUDSGP
16		19th0