Romy Mayer is a German motorsport engineer whose career has taken her from the DTM pitlane in Stuttgart to the top tier of Australian Supercars — and along the way she has collected a handful of firsts that the sport hadn’t seen before.

EARLY YEARS

Mayer grew up in the same small German town where Gottlieb Daimler was born, and in the region associated with Bertha Benz — a context she has described as formative [1]. Her family had no motorsport background, but her father was technically minded and, noticing her aptitude for maths and physics, pointed her toward engineering [2].

After high school she began studying industrial engineering at Hochschule Esslingen, then switched to automotive engineering after an internship at Mercedes — a change that required her to go back two terms [3]. She joined the university’s Formula Student team during her degree, an experience she has since called her first real look at how a motorsport team operates [2]. A German profile noted she was the only woman in her class and on the team [4].

That internship at Mercedes did more than redirect her degree. It prompted her to consider a career in engineering seriously, and when she graduated she moved straight into motorsport. “After graduating in Automotive Engineering from Esslingen University of Applied Science in Germany I started working as a data engineer with the Mercedes DTM Team at HWA in 2010,” she said [5]. She worked with the HWA operation through 2015, including on the development of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 [5].

The move to the other side of the world came next, and it was deliberate. “In 2015 I decided I want to see what motorsport is like on the other side of the world and packed my bags when I got a job with Red Bull Holden Racing Team in Australia,” she said [5]. The lifestyle was part of the appeal — she has said the move also offered an opportunity to gain experience outside Germany [3].

OTHER INTERESTS

Surfing is a genuine passion, not a talking point — it was part of what made Australia an attractive destination and she has described camping and surfing as regular spare-time pursuits [3]. She is an FIA Girls on Track ambassador and co-founded the Future Females Gold Coast program; she has spoken at schools and universities to encourage women into STEM careers [6].

EARLY SUCCESS

At Triple Eight Race Engineering — the Red Bull Holden Racing Team — Mayer worked as a data and performance engineer from 2015. She was part of the team during Jamie Whincup’s 2017 championship campaign [2]. Her learning curve had sharp edges. She has described a 2016 race weekend in which she had to operate without the experienced engineer who had supported her through the two previous events, and said the experience forced her to become self-reliant and establish her own routine [7].

From 2019 she led Triple Eight’s GT World Challenge Asia program before moving into a race-engineering role on the team’s Super2 entry and then on its Supercars program [8]. In 2022, she was race engineer for Triple Eight’s GT World Challenge Asia car 99, which won the Pro-Am class championship [9].

The same year brought her first outing as a lead Supercars race engineer, at Bathurst. She engineered the #888 wildcard entry driven by Craig Lowndes and Declan Fraser, which finished eighth overall — at the time the best result recorded by a Supercars wildcard at the Bathurst 1000 [10].

In 2023 she joined PremiAir Racing — later rebranded Nulon Racing — as race engineer for James Golding in the #31 Chevrolet Camaro [8]. The partnership produced results in 2024: at the Darwin round, Golding took pole position, making Mayer the first female race engineer to claim a Supercars pole [11]. Later that season, at the Sandown 500, Golding delivered the team’s first Supercars podium, making Mayer the first female race engineer to claim a Supercars podium as well [10].

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2022: Race engineer for Triple Eight’s #888 wildcard at the Bathurst 1000, which finished eighth overall — reported as the best wildcard result at the event at the time [10].
• 2022: Race engineer for Triple Eight car 99 in GT World Challenge Asia, which won the Pro-Am class championship [9].
• 2024: First female race engineer to claim a Supercars pole position, at the Darwin round with James Golding [11].
• 2024: First female race engineer to claim a Supercars podium, at the Sandown 500 with James Golding [10].

INSPIRATIONS

The automotive world around Stuttgart and her father’s encouragement were the primary early influences she has cited [2]. She has not named a particular racing figure or event as a specific inspiration in any sources reviewed. What she has articulated is a philosophy: gender does not determine whether someone can do the job; attitude and motivation are what matter [2]. She has also said that teams benefit from different perspectives, and that women may need to prove themselves in male-dominated workplaces — but that proving yourself is navigable [2].

REPUTATION

In 2024, Supercars identified Mayer as the grid’s only full-time female race engineer [11]. The assessment of her work is not new. Back in 2013, DTM driver Gary Paffett told Der Spiegel: “In a short time she analyses data and finds solutions for how I can go faster” [4]. She has spoken publicly about what women entering the industry should expect — that they may face assumptions and will likely need to work harder than male colleagues to establish themselves — and has said that more women are entering motorsport, and that initiatives and programs can help young women take steps into the field [2] [12].

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

As of July 2026, Mayer was supporting Radburn Racing’s #29 entry in Mustang Cup Australia, having worked remotely for the team before attending the Darwin round in person [13]. Earlier in 2026, she was also reported to be supporting PremiAir Racing from the workshop [14]. No further plans beyond that activity were stated in sources reviewed.

References:

[1] RomyMayer.com — My Story
[2] Red Bull Ampol Racing — Inspiring the Female Talent of Tomorrow
[3] The Gist — Romy Mayer Profile
[4] Der Spiegel — Rennsportingenieurin bei der DTM
[5] Supercars — Supercars Trio Named for Dare to Be Different
[6] HP — Ambassador Romy Mayer
[7] Red Bull Ampol Racing — Team Talk: Getting to Know Romy
[8] PremiAir Racing — Romy Mayer Joins Nulon Racing
[9] LinkedIn — Romy Mayer Race Engineer
[10] Supercars — Romy Mayer: History-Making PremiAir Engineer Turns Mentor
[11] Supercars — Trailblazing Engineer Romy Mayer, Darwin 2024
[12] University of Melbourne Student Union — Interview with Romy Mayer
[13] DailySportsCar — New Car, Supercars Driver and Engineer Join Mustang Cup Australia Field for Darwin
[14] Auto Action — Dane’s Message for PremiAir’s New Era