Ella Hakkinen is not the only Finnish teen trying to revive a famous racing name

Think of one of motorsport’s flying Finns and your mind will drift to Raikkonen, Makinen, Vatanen, perhaps even Rovanpera. All men. Fast men, but men nonetheless. The permanence of this fact is not guaranteed, though, thanks to the growing presence of women on the world’s starting grids.

Motocross racer Lotte van Drunen, MotoAmerica Supersport rider Kayla Yaakov, and F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling are all recent examples of women who have become identifiable within motorsport for their achievements and ability. 

Van Drunen, for example, has been the dominant force in the Women’s Motocross World Championship since she became eligible to race in the class at 16; Yaakov became the first woman to stand on a Daytona 200 podium this year; and Pulling has been victorious in the UK-based GB3 series.

Someone like Ella Hakkinen is a different brand of young racer, though, one in a similar position to Kalle Rovanpera, because the curiosity surrounding her gender is additive to, perhaps amplified by, that surrounding her name, which comes from her father, two-time Formula 1 World Champion Mika. Hakkinen won both his titles with McLaren, which last year signed his then-14-year-old daughter to its young driver programme.

But the younger Hakkinen is not the only driver with hopes of bringing a legendary Finnish name from the past back to the forefront of motorsport.

Pentti Airikkala is a core part of British rallying lore, winning the national title in 1979 in a Vauxhall Chevette, driving for several years in the early Group A days as a factory Mitsubishi driver in the legendary Starion, a car that he took to victory in the 1989 RAC Rally, a rally unattended by the factory Lancia team which had already wrapped up the manufacturers’ world title by then, as well as the drivers’ with Miki Biasion.

37 years on from Airikkala’s RAC win, and almost 50 on from his British title, and his granddaughter, Flame Airikkala (daughter of former Ford Fiesta touring car racer Jo-Ann Airikkala), is forging her own path in motorsport.

Having spent some time in GB4 last year, scoring a best result of 15th, Airikkala has transitioned into sportscar racing in 2026 with the one-make Porsche Iberica Sprint Challenge which, as the name suggests, is based in Spain and Portugal.

Crash.net spoke to Airikkala after the first two rounds of the season at Monteblanco and Estoril, which hadn’t gone as the teenager had hoped. 

“The first round was really unfortunate, I didn’t finish either race because of mechanical issues with the car, so that was quite unfortunate,” Airikkala explained.

“But the last round in Estoril was way better and I got three class podiums, so it was definitely a big step forward in the car.”

The car itself, a GT3 Cup-spec Porsche 911, is one that Airikkala feels suits her, especially compared to the single-seaters she raced in 2025.

“I think I definitely found single-seaters most challenging,” she explained.

“I think because everyone I was competing against had done it for such a long time and they had much more experience than me, and it’s a really specific driving style. 

“Doing some Radicals as well, and Porsches, I think those kind of cars I’ve enjoyed the most driving and it definitely seems to be more suitable with my driving style, I think.”

She added: “I think it’s [the Porsche Iberica Sprint Challenge car] one of my favourite cars to drive so far.

“Coming from single seaters it’s very different and I think it’s about twice the weight, so it’s getting used to the weight transfer and how much faster [it is] – it’s quite a lot faster. 

“So, I’ve still got a lot to learn, for sure, but I feel like coming in with no preseason testing or anything – everything was kind of last-minute – it’s been good and I’ve adapted quite well with the car. I’m excited for the [remaining four rounds].”

The stiffness of a single-seater makes that category of racing perhaps the closest, in terms of the driving style requirements, to karting, a form of racing Airikkala began driving relatively late.

“I never really got into it at a young age, because I know most people do,” she said.

“I think I was 14 when I started karting, so quite late, and growing up I tried every sport, I was quite sporty, and I really enjoyed playing sports.

“As soon as I got in a go-kart when I was 14 I knew that this was what I wanted to do. 

“But my parents actually put my brother in a go-kart when he was three and never me, so I think they kind of missed that opportunity there! I was always the one playing with Matchbox cars and not Barbies or anything.”

Not only did Airikkala start karting late, she only did a year of it before moving into cars.

“I’m quite tall – I’m 6ft now – but karting is– it helps if you’re a bit shorter,” she explained.

“So, I think I did a year in rental karts and I just wanted to get into cars. We found that Fiesta Juniors was kind of the best option at the time and that’s where I first started, and I really fell in love with driving cars as well. 

“They’re so different to karting. However many years of karting you do, I mean it’s good racecraft and everything, but it’s a totally different ballpark when you go to cars.”

“For sure,” Airikkala adds, though, the lack of karting experience played against her in GB4 last year, and even the Fuji Speedway-based women-only Kyojo Cup series in Japan.

“Pretty much the whole grid in GB4, or even the Kyojo Cup series that I did in Japan, the drivers have been karting since [the age of] five or six,” she said.

“So, it was definitely challenging like that and I had to get used to everything really quickly, and I only did half-a-season in both of those championships. 

“But I still managed to keep up with them and do some decent results, so I think it was okay. It was just really challenging, I think.”

Given her clear  preference for tin-top cars over single-seaters, it’s perhaps no surprise that 19-year-old Airikkala is targeting the top of sportscar racing rather than something like F1 when considering her ambitions for a career that could stretch in front of her for as many years as she’s currently been alive.

“I think definitely endurance racing,” she said. “I’d like to get a few more years of experience in GT4 and then GT3, hopefully, and hopefully one day become like a professional, paid driver. That’s kind of the route I want to take.”

She added: “Now I’ve kind of switched into GT and I think that’s the path I want to take. 

“I want to do the 24 Hours of Le Mans one day, and do the LMP/GT route. 

“If the opportunity came about for F1 Academy, that would be amazing, but right now I’m kind of heading towards the GT route.”

Although the circuits are where Airikkala is primarily focused, her particular brand of Finnish heritage means that thoughts of forest roads are never too far away.

“I’ve done a few rallies and I’ve absolutely loved that,” she said. “I do like getting it sideways as well, which isn’t the best when it comes to a race track.”

UK circuit rallies have been Airikkala’s introduction to rallying so far, but the desire to experience forest rallies is clearly there.

“I did two circuit rallies last year at Knockhill and Snetterton, and I find it weird whenever I’m rallying on a track that I’m normally racing at,” she laughed.

“So, I think I was doing Knockhill backwards and it was really weird. 

“I also did a gravel rally, which I ended on the first stage because of a problem with the car, and that was an MG 3. 

“I definitely think I love rallying on gravel, it’s my favourite.”

Airikkala continued: “I’ve always wanted to try it and I really want to carry on the Airikkala name and legacy in rallying, and not just on the race track. 

“It’s definitely always been an interest of mine. I’ve done a few rallies, but I haven’t fully kind of put all my effort into it. 

“I think it would be nice to do some more rallies on maybe some closed roads, some more gravel ones, and maybe over the winter in Finland, some ice and in the snow – I think that would be really great. It’s something I’m interested in as well as racing on the track.”

An ice rally would not be something entirely alien to Airikkala.

“I have had one test in like a Rally3 car, so four-wheel-drive, on the ice and snow two years ago and that was great fun, I still have great memories of that,” she said.

“I’d like to do it again and do a proper rally of it as well. 

“Any time I’m over in Finland – I am here right now, but obviously there’s no snow – I do just like to take anything out and go drift in the snow or something.”