Tatjana Ziemer

I had no idea the journey I was about to embark on when I began working as a turn marshal at the infamous Sonoma Raceway in April 2021. I started the job during my final months at CSU, Sacramento where I was obtaining my BA in Business Marketing, and my hope was to work my way into a better position at the raceway while simultaneously building my own motorsports marketing business on the side.

A few months into my adventure at the track, I was pulled up to the go kart track to help with an event and fell in love with everything karting has to offer. At the end of October, I became the full-time track marshal and assistant mechanic for the Sonoma Karting center and racing school where I quickly learned all about the karting world.

One day in early October, Sonoma Raceway received an email from Formula Woman Racing about arranging an assessment for a couple of local woman who had applied to partake in the competition that ultimately lands four women from around the world a fully sponsored season in a McLaren GT4 for GT Cup in the UK.

I looked up Formula Woman and immediately applied. Soon after I was confirmed for an assessment on November 10th that included a written test, a media test, a fitness test, and of course, a driving test in a Tony Kart provided by Sonoma Raceway. This left me with just over a month to prepare and while I had driven my own WRX at track days, at this time I had only driven the school LO206 karts two times.