In Conversation with Race Engineer Tamires Lustosa

Tamires Lustosa is a race engineer who’s had a breakthrough year in 2022 with her career which included leading an all female crew at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring.

We chatted about this as well as how she got started down this particular career path, what it’s like to work under the pressure of a constantly changing environment, if she’d prefer to go bowling with Kimi Raikkonen or do Karaoke with Daniel Ricciardo and much more!

I hope you enjoy our conversation.

What first got you interested in motorsport?

A student project at university was created so that we could compete in something like the Shell Eco Marathon. I joined the project to understand a bit more about cars and from there, I fell in love.

ADAC TCR Germany, 11. + 12. Rennen Sachsenring 2022 – Foto: Gruppe C Photography

For those who don’t know, what is your current role and what does it entail?

I am a motorsport engineer. In some events I am a race engineer, where I manage the car and crew during tests and the race. There, I am responsible for deciding the initial setup of the weekend and how to improve the car’s performance with setup optimization over the event, making the run plan, supporting the driver on the radio, making decisions, strategy, and performance analysis.

In other events, I am a performance engineer. This is where I analyze the performance of the driver and the car through the dedicated software, and I support the race engineer with the results of this data analysis for decision making.

As a race engineer, like we just touched on, you have an ever evolving role as systems progress and improve – how do you handle that constant pressure to be on top of everything?

It is all about focus. I am super focused in developing my career and I use my time available to update myself on new releases and learn with the mistakes and successes of an event. I like to go through the things I could have done better. It is a normal pressure I am used to, since I started in motorsport. I had to learn a lot and this has always been my priority

How is 2022 going for you?

2022 is certainly one of the most assertive years I’ve lived so far. I started to reap some of the fruits of all the learning I’ve planted so far. It was a year of fulfilling dreams, as I finally did the Nürburgring 24h, I worked together with a factory in a test phase of a new car release, I worked in Le Mans again and I had very good feedback, both verbal and in my attitudes, that I’m on the right path.

You joined Iron Lynx for Le Mans before leading the Girls Only Team at the Nurburgring 24hrs – how were those experiences for you?

Le Mans with Iron Linx was amazing, very high level, good crew, learned a lot again about strategy. Nürburgring 24h I did with a team called Girls Only. It was one of the nicest things I’ve done so far, not only because it is one of the biggest and crazy endurance races in the world, in a legendary and beloved track, but also because I was leading a complete female crew, without experience in motorsport, while I was learning this challenging track and a new car for me. I was also teaching the crew about the skills that motorsport requires – the passion built up in the girls was priceless.

What’s been the most satisfying thing in your career so far?

Many things are satisfying, winning a race is surely one of them, but perhaps the Nürburgring 24h was the most satisfying one because there I was not only doing what I love, but also influencing other girls with the same passion as me. It was a combination of professional and personal satisfaction!

On the flip side, what’s been the most challenging thing and how have you/did you overcome it?

It is challenging to handle people that don’t accept women in motorsport. I had an experience with a factory support member that did not speak to me and made things a bit rough when he was present. But I kept my focus on the job and I focused on showing that I am not there because of the show, but because I want to be good in what I do and I want to be respected for that.

What advice would you give to someone looking to get into this side of motorsport?

Not give up under any circumstances. To start from below and not having any limitation for “hands on” and dirty tasks. To accept doing something you don’t like first, while you realize the possibilities available to you.