TCR Europe regular Michelle Halder will join the TCR Denmark grid for the final round at Jyllandsringen, alongside her brother Mike Halder at TPR Motorsport. The German racer is the only woman to have won in three different TCR championships and now has the chance to start in yet another TCR sanctioned series.
Michelle Halder has been making headlines since she started racing in TCR-sanctioned events, quickly moving up the ranks of the most important national championships and becoming the first woman to win in three different series.
Halder stepped up from karting to single seaters, racing in the competitive ADAC F4 in 2015 and 2016. But it would be in touring cars that she caught the world's attention, claiming two podiums in the ADAC German-based series in 2018 and her first win in 2019. In the second race at Zandvoort, she became the first woman to climb the highest step of the podium in the series. Halder Motorsport made a last minute move to the continental TCR Europe championship in 2020 but, despite the late move, both Michelle and her brother Mike proved to be immediately competitive. In a historic moment, Michelle secured a brilliant victory at Zolder, second round of the championship. She would finish 15th in the drivers' standings, having scored points in seven other occasions and claimed three more top-tens.
The Halder siblings opted for the brand-new TCR Spain in 2021, where Halder Motorsport quickly established itself as the team to beat. The German racer finished third in the drivers championship and conquered two wins and seven podiums, with Mike sealing the title.
In 2022, Michelle - alongside Mike and a third car for Jack Young - returned to TCR Europe, as Halder Motorsport significantly expanded its program. At her return to the continental series, Michelle has scored 5 top-ten finishes, in a campaign hampered by a series of technical issues. The series will host its season finale at Barcelona on 14-16 October.
But before that commitment, Michelle Halder will join the Danish TCR series for the final round of the season - becoming the only female entry this year after Louise Frost competed full time in 2021. Michelle will join her brother Mike with TPR Motorsport, alongside Swedish driver Anton Bergstörm at Jyllandsringen.
"It will definitely be something else to have to drive at the Jyllandsringen, where I have not been before, but we are always ready for a challenge - and I think we will probably succeed.", Michelle said. "I'm really looking forward to getting started next Friday - I haven't met the team yet, but I'm really looking forward to taking on the task and to driving with my brother again." - the German racer said.
The overall event format sees the qualifying session being split in two sections: at the end of Q1, the ten fastest drivers will advance into Q2, with the combined qualifying results setting the grid for the first 15-minute plus one lap race. Race two will have a reverse grid of the Top-10 from Race 1, while the final race – a 20 minutes plus one lap competition – will have a grid shaped by the sum of the scored points from the first two races.
The action will start this Friday with two races over the weekend, as Michelle Halder continues to impress in a wide variety of TCR sanctioned championships.