GENDER PARITY
Stefanie started working at Falken Tyre in 2001 through its advertising agency .
“ At this time , Falken ’ s presence in Europe was different ,” she explains . “ Then , it was a team of mechanics , engineers and drivers from Japan coming over to compete in the 24-hour race with a Nissan GT-R34 .
“ That first year , my job quickly turned into organising everything for the team – definitely not usual marketing tasks . I was translating the race directors ’ instructions , filling in the entry forms , sorting licences et cetera plus dipping my toe into the technical stuff surrounding the event and our tyres . I loved it and I soon became part of Falken full time .”
In 2017 , Falken started running two GT3 cars for the first time , the Porsche 911 GT3 R and the BMW M6 GT3 , alongside selling tyres .
While women have not yet driven for Falken in the 24-hour Nürburgring endurance race , Stefanie is far from the only woman on the team .
“ There ’ s myself , our team manager , our physio , the PR manager and the social media manager ,” she says . “ We ’ re all women . We ’ ve also benefitted from having women race engineers and women tyre fitters be part of our team too .
“ There ’ s a camaraderie between us , particularly at events where we have a shared experience – there are plenty of high and lows at the 24-hour race as you can imagine , racing through the day and night in all weathers .
“ There have been a few times where girls or young women have come into
the Falken team area and have had their eyes opened as to what job opportunities are out there . Stuff they never imagined or expected .
“ Once , a friend of mine came with her kids to a race weekend . Her daughter was really into mathematics and after a quick garage tour , then chatting to our female engineer and seeing the data traces from the car , she said to me ‘ Oh , that ’ s really cool .
164 March 2025