8 female drivers awarded with PMH Powering Diversity Scholarship

Parella Motorsports Holdings stepped up its support of young talents and has named 8 women among 14 recipients of the 2024 PMH Powering Diversity Scholarship.

Entering its fourth year, the Parella Motorsports Holdings' Powering Diversity Scholarship aims to increase the participation of drivers from a variety of backgrounds in the PHM-owned racing series, such as SVRA, the Trans Am Series, Formula Regional Americas, F4 US Championship and its new Ligier JS F4 category, Prototype Sprint Series Association and TA2 Club.

Through its first three years, the PMH Powering Diversity Scholarship program supported 11 drivers - 8 of which were female racers, including notable graduates like newly-announced F1 Academy driver Chloe Chambers.

In 2024, the programme will step up its support and Parella Motorsports Holdings has announced that 14 drivers will be awarded the scholarship: the new eight talented female recipients are Kaylee Bryson, Jenn Krpata, Amy Ruman, Michele Abbate, Maite Cáceres, Ava Hanssen, Nicole Havrda and Taylor Ferns.

In addition to providing free entry fees and test days, the PMH Powering Diversity Scholarship is set to provide mentoring as well as a variety of media and fan engagement opportunities.

“We’re thrilled to expand our PMH Powering Diversity Scholarship to assist 14 racers this season, our largest class ever,” said Tony Parella, CEO of PMH. “We have watched several of our past graduates go on to accomplish bigger and better things, among them Chloe Chambers, who was just nominated to the F1 Academy by the Haas F1 Team. I can’t wait to see what this year’s class of drivers goes on to accomplish in their careers.”

After a few appearances in the Trans Am Series - the longest-running professional road racing series in North America - Kaylee Bryson will return to the championship for a full-time effort in 2024, with LSI Racing in the SGT class. Bryson also raced in the USAC Silver Crown in 2023, where she became the first woman to earn Rookie of the Year honors - and will complete a double program this year.

Joining Bryson in the SGT class will also be Jenn Krpata. Krpata climbed the ladder in recent years by competing in SCCA, NASA and SVRA and will step up to the Trans Am Series in her family-owned team. Two-time Trans Am champion Amy Ruman will once again return to the TA class with Ruman Racing Team and will also hold a mentor role for the younger drivers.

In the TA2 category, Michele Abbate retains the scholarship after being a recipient for the first time last year; the talented American - also part of the Shift Up Now collective - returns to Nitro Motorsports.

Having raced in the F4 US in 2022, Uruguayan talent Maite Cáceres went on to race in the F1-promoted F1 Academy series in 2023, where she joined Campos Racing and scored points in Zandvoort, Monza and Paul Ricard. After her first International campaign, Maite will return to US-soil in 2024, as she recently announced a new partnership with International Motorsport in the F4 US. Cáceres is a first-time recipient of the PMH Powering Diversity Scholarship.

On the F4 US package, 13-year-old Ava Hanssen targets her single seater debut later this year, as soon as she'll turn 14 and will be eligible to join the Ligier JS F4 grid. The new category employs the Gen-1 Ligier F4 machine.

One step higher in the single seater ladder, Nicole Havrda will return to Formula Regional Americas for her first full-time season. The 17 year old Canadian claimed the title in 2023 in the F3 Regional class of the Formula Pro US Championship and, towards the end of the year, made her debut in the Formula Regional Americas. Despite contesting only two rounds, Havrda secured three top-five finishes. Nicole - who has also joined Shift Up Now - will race for Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport.

A race winner in the USAC Championship, Taylor Ferns rounds out the list of the female scholarship recipients: she will join Arrive Drive Motorsport to race in the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association.