From Riga to the Ring: Patricija Stalidzane's journey through the racing ranks
- MARCO ALBERTINI
- Jun 5
- 8 min read
Young Latvian racer Patricija Stalidzane reflects on her journey from karting to GT racing, highlighting the challenges of funding, adapting across very different disciplines like NXT Gen Cup and NLS, and her growth as a driver.
In 2007, Karlīne Štāla broke barriers by becoming the first female to win a Formula Renault 2.0 championship, securing the Belgian series by two points over Niels Cox. Six years later, another female Latvian in Patricija Stalidzane, began breaking barriers of her own, by winning the South German Karting Cup in the Mini class by 20 points over future DTM driver Marius Zug.
Born in 2002 in Riga to a family involved in rallying, Stalidzane initially took up ballet at an early age, before starting her karting career at the age of eight. Racing primarily in German championships until 2017, Stalidzane followed up her title by finishing third in the same series, this time in KF-Junior (now OK-Junior), before finishing sixth in the ADAC Kart Masters in 2015 in the same category.
Stalidzane also made her international debut in 2015, racing in the Trofeo Andrea Margutti in the KF-Junior class and finishing 13th in the final, ahead of drivers such as Marta García, Niklas Krütten and Christian Rasmussen. In 2016, she placed 19th in the OK-Junior class of the German Karting Championship.
Speaking of her time in karting, Stalidzane said: “It’s actually surprising that it even happened. Karting is the common nominator whether you go rallying or not [in Latvia], which is what many of the young drivers did, but with this opportunity in Clio Cup it all just developed in that direction."
“Being Latvian was also one difficulty. When I arrived in Germany I didn’t speak German either, so there was not only a bit of a prejudice in me being a girl in racing - also the fact that I was a foreigner and my parents had no knowledge of how circuit racing worked, they weren’t much into German culture and language, so I definitely had my obstacles besides being a girl in racing.”
After competing in the Latvian Karting Championship in 2017, Stalidzane was called up by FSR Performance to compete in the Renault Clio Cup Central Europe. However, as she had been racing under a German licence until that point, she wouldn’t have been able to make her car racing debut until she was 16. During negotiations, however, she discovered a little-known rule about Latvian licenses that changed everything.
“When I was 14 years old, I was doing junior karting in the German Karting Championship along with a couple of rounds in WSK,” Stalidzane said. “I was not too slow and with small team owners from Clio Cup watching the races, I got an offer from one of them to drive in the Clio Cup for very little money."
“My Latvian roots also came in handy as I found a gray area on how I was able to drive as the youngest driver back then in Clio Cup Central Europe, by getting a licence in Latvia which made me able to drive in the series at 15 years old. There were also 35 cars on track, including an ex-formula one driver in Stuck, so it was a really strong field. I did a couple of races and our pace was good and so were the results, but after a disagreement with the team I stopped after three races. Still, I think it was enough for me to show my pace to then get a drive in ADAC GT4.”
Following just six races in Clio Cup Central Europe, Stalidzane stepped up to ADAC GT4 in 2019 with Racing One, securing one podium at the penultimate round of the season at Hockenheimring to finish her maiden season in GT4 machinery in 21st in points. The Latvian then returned to the championship the following year, albeit switching to Dorr Motorsport for her second season. However, her season only lasted four races as she lost one of her major backers during the pandemic.
“Driving wise, I learned a lot and I also showed my pace on multiple occasions,” Stalidzane said. “I was quite fast but I think the talent was to manage the outside. I was not as good back in the day, I was young, inexperienced and I think age comes with different approaches to how you manage outside circumstances."
“Pace was one thing, but racing is so much more than just driving well. Managing how you act in the team, how you work with your co-driver on the car, how you fight on track — and I’m much better at these things than I was back then", she continues. "ADAC GT4 was a really good school, which gave me a platform to build upon now; I don’t think that if I continued racing without the break, that I would be as strong as I am now in my mind."
"Also seeing everything behind the scenes in DTM and GT World Challenge now is helping me in gaining knowledge and experience to be able to put that in the races.”
With no financial support for 2021, Stalidzane spent one year on the sidelines,until BMW called her up to race in the final round of the BMW M2 Cup Germany at Hockenheimring. She would achieve a best result of 12th in the three races, before competing once again on a part-time basis the following year, but was again left without a seat when the championship’s promoter, Team Project 1, folded in early 2024.
Things turned around when WS Racing brought her to the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, initially to race alongside Maximilian Paul for the first two rounds, and later joining the team’s all-female lineup consisting of Beitske Visser, Carrie Schreiner, Fabienne Wohlwend and Janina Schall in the last five rounds of the season.
As part of the all-female squad, Stalidzane took her maiden NLS podium on her first outing, before ending the season with a remarkable class win at the NLS8.
“Racing at the Nordschleife is the best school you can have,” Stalidzane said. “Learning how to overtake, learning how to manage traffic, and I don’t think there’s a better place to learn how to be a better driver than the Nordschleife.”
In 2024, Stalidzane also competed in the all-electric NXT Gen Cup, becoming the first female to claim a podium in the series, finishing second in the season-ending round at Sachsenring behind Victor Nielsen and ahead of Enzo Hallman.
Looking back on 2024, Stalidzane said: “I was quite used to coming unprepared, testing days are quite expensive so I’ve often arrived to a season with just one or two test days done, and it was the same case last year. 2024 was difficult, because everything was new to me, the cars and the environment were new, the tracks were partly new and I hadn’t driven in a long time."
"I was way too soft on the others at the beginning, but after last year I got my eagerness back and I’m prepared on all the tracks and all the cars. I'm back in the racing mentality and I feel much more prepared simply from having raced last season.”
Switching between two completely different championships in NXT Gen Cup and the NLS, Stalidzane had to drastically adapt her mindset and driving style between race weekends, as the former has sprint-like races and the latter is very focused on endurance-style races.
Talking about the differences between the two series, Stalidzane said: “[In NLS] you have different drivers in one car, the most crazy circumstances on the track, and the track itself is very difficult and it gives you all it has to the drivers, while the setup is also something that you have to figure out."
“I think managing everything and finding balance, as with everything in life, is really important, putting your car where you want it to be and also sometimes taking a step back for the greater good. One thing I learned with this double campaign is to take what I have and do the best with it, because you usually compare yourself on the Nordschleife against your teammates, because everything else is hard to compare."
"It doesn’t matter if it’s good or not—it’s about what you do with it, and this applies to NXT Gen Cup as well. However with the Cup, you can’t do much with the setup, you just get the car and drive it and I think it’s really good for me to be able to say ‘Put me in any car and I’ll be fast’ by adapting my driving instead of changing the setup.”
This year, Stalidzane is competing in both series, and has already shown great progress — standing on the podium in both the NXT Gen Cup and NLS to kick off the season.
In NXT Gen Cup, the LRT NXT1 is used, a Mini Cooper-based car fitted with around 200 horsepower plus the 60 hp push to pass system. Just like its road counterpart, the car is front wheel drive and in addition, the car is fully electric as the series aims for a sustainable approach to motorsport.
Meanwhile in NLS, Stalidzane drives the BMW M4 GT4, which has 518 horsepower, rear-wheel drive and has around 1400kg of weight, around 300 more than the LRT NXT1. In NLS, the M4 is used in the SP10 and AT 3 classes, whilst outside of the series, it is widely used in GT4 championships around the world.
Comparing the two cars, Stalidzane said: “I think there is a massive difference between the two cars, [in NXT Gen Cup] I have a front-wheel drive Mini, and then I have a rear-wheel drive BMW M4 GT4 on the Nordschleife. I’m managing it quite well, because I know the people around me, so I can switch into the mood quite quickly, knowing where I am. When I come to the Nordschleife I know where I am compared to a DTM-supported race, with Paul Motorsport supporting me."
"Driving wise, I think it’s very good that I raced a bit last year as preparation, so this year it’s time for me to put it all together. Obviously the only two races I’ve done this year I’ve been on the podium, so it’s quite good and I think this year is going to be successful.”
This year, Stalidzane also had her first taste of GT3 machinery, driving Paul Motorsport’s Huracan GT3 Evo at Paul Ricard, after her boyfriend, DTM race winner Maximilian Paul, gave her a chance to try it out.
“It was a crazy experience for me,” Stalidzane said. “[Maximilian] values my driving and keeps telling me that I’m made for more and he’s giving me every opportunity to grow as a driver. It was very crazy how big the change actually is from GT4 to GT3."
"The Huracan is a middle-engined car and it’s so much more aggressive than the M4 that I think some people underestimate how much more power a GT3 actually has", she explains. "I think aggressiveness is the key, but everything is also so much louder, so much more powerful and also very responsive, but now I’ve broken the ice and now I know what I should expect in my next tests.”
When not racing, Stalidzane attends Paul’s races in DTM and GT World Challenge Europe. He does the same for the young Latvian in NXT Gen Cup and NLS, while also providing valuable coaching and helping her find financial backing for her career.
