Jessica Sofia Elizabet Bäckman (born 25 August 1997) is a Swedish racing driver currently competing in the

GT4 European Series The GT4 European Series is a sports car championship created and organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It is a pro/am championship which utilizes SRO GT4 class cars, and runs alongside the GT World Challenge Europe as a support series. History ...

for racing one. She is the sister of fellow racing driver Andreas Bäckman. Jessica Bäckman has previously raced in

World Touring Car Cup The FIA World Touring Car Cup (abbreviated to WTCR, referring to the use of TCR regulations) was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It ...

where she was the first women to achieve World Cup points in the series, and she was recently crowned the Vice Champion title in ADAC TCR Germany.

Career

Bäckman started her motorsport career in

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

in 2006. She mainly competed in championships in Sweden, including third place in both the North Swedish and National Championships in 2009. In 2012, she competed in international championships for the first time; she was the best placed woman in the world championship and fifth in the European championship. She also became national champion in the Junior class that year. In 2013, 2014 and 2015, she won races in the Belgian championship. In addition, in 2014, she finished second in the Swedish KF2 Championship and eighth in the German KF2 Championship. In 2016, she finished third in the overall Belgian championship and won the Swedish 125 championship. In 2017, Bäckman made her debut in the

FIA World Rallycross Championship The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull G ...

and finished fourteenth in the RX2 class of the event in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. She also won the Swedish 125 Championship again and was the best woman in the

Karting World Championship The FIA Karting World Championship, officially known as the Mondokart.com FIA Karting World Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a kart racing competition organised by the CIK-FIA. Hosted annually since 1964, it is widely regarded as the ...

. In 2018, she moved into track racing with her entry into the

TCR UK Touring Car Championship The TCR UK Touring Car Championship, known as the Touring Car Trophy from 2019 to 2021, is a touring car racing series based in the United Kingdom. It features production-based Touring car racing, touring cars built to TCR Touring Car, TCR speci ...

, competing alongside her brother for the WestCoast Racing team in a

Volkswagen Golf The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/ small family car ( C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplate ...

GTI TCR. She took a podium place at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

and was fourth in the final standings with 300 points. She also drove for WestCoast in five of the six race weekends of the

Scandinavian Touring Car Championship The Scandinavian Touring Car Championship (STCC) is a touring car racing series based in Scandinavia. The series took over from the Danish Touringcar Championship The Danish Touringcar Championship (abbreviated as the DTC) was a touring car ra ...

. In this series, she had a more difficult

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

with a twelfth place on the

Falkenbergs Motorbana Falkenbergs Motorbana is a motor racing circuit at Bergagård, Sweden. The circuit was opened in 1967, as a replacement for Skreabanan, and is currently owned and run by Falkenbergs Motorklubb. A chicane was added on the first corner in 2004 t ...

as the best classification, so that she finished winless in eighteenth in the standings. At the end of the year, she competed in the final weekend of the

TCR Europe Touring Car Series The TCR Europe Touring Car Series is an annual touring car racing event that is held at various locations across Europe. The series is run in accordance with the TCR Touring Car regulations with production-based cars that are front-wheel drive and ...

at the

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has stands ...

, finishing the races in 15th and 14th place. In 2019, Bäckman competed in the full season of TCR Europe with the

Target Competition Target Competition is an Italian auto racing team based in Eppan an der Weinstraße, Italy. The team is currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup and TCR Europe Touring Car Series as well in others TCR series. The team has previously race ...

team in a Hyundai i30 N TCR, again as her brother's teammate. She achieved a podium finish at the

Hockenheimring The Hockenheimring, officially Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other mot ...

and thus became nineteenth in the final standings with 70 points. She also drove in the

ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship The ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series based in Germany. History On 16 September 2015, the German Series was launched by ADAC and Engstler Motorsport, who already run in the International Series. The new categ ...

as a guest driver during the race weekends at

Autodrom Most Autodrom Most is a hard-surfaced long race track for motorsport outside of the city of Most (city), Most in the northwest of the Czech Republic. The racing circuit was built between 1978 and 1983, but the Most district was known for organizing m ...

and the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

. At Most, she only finished thirteenth and one dropout, while she finished seventh and second at the Nürburgring. She also took part in the race weekend at the STCC's

Anderstorp Raceway Anderstorp Raceway, previously known as Scandinavian Raceway, is a motorsport race track in Anderstorp (Gislaved Municipality), Sweden and the sole Nordic host of a Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, when the Swedish Grand Prix was held ...

, finishing seventh and third. At the end of the year she competed in the

FIA Motorsport Games The FIA Motorsport Games is a biennial motorsport event administered by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It includes competitions from multiple motorsport disciplines and is entered by national motorsport authorities under t ...

, finishing seventh in both races in the touring car class for her national team, thus finishing sixth overall. In

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, Bäckman achieved her best result in the TCR Europe with seventh place at the

Autodromo Nazionale Monza The Monza Circuit ( Italian: ; ) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit after Brooklands and Indianapolis and the oldest in mainland Europe ...

, placing her in eighteenth place in the final standings with 60 points. In addition, she again took part in the race weekend at the Nürburgring of the ADAC TCR Germany as a guest driver. This time, she had to retire in the first race, but finished sixth in the second. In

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, Bäckman moved to the

, in which she will compete alongside her brother for Target Competition in a

Hyundai Elantra The Hyundai Elantra (), also known as the Hyundai Avante (), is a compact car produced by the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai since 1990. The Elantra was initially marketed as the ''Lantra'' in Australia and some European markets. In Austra ...

N TCR. Jessica was the first women to complete a season in the

and was also the first women to achieve World Cup points in the series, as she finished 14th in the season opener at Nürburgring Nordschleife In 2022, Bäckman races in the

with

Comtoyou Racing JNVS Sprl, competing as Comtoyou Racing, is a Belgium, Belgian auto racing team based in Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo, Belgium. Upon its creation the team raced in the Fun Cup. The team has also previously raced in the TCR International Series in ...

in an Audi RS3 LMS TCR car. Jessica finished the season as Vice Champion in

with a total of 4 wins and 9 podiums. This made her the first women to finish top three in

with her 4 wins.

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Bäckman was a guest driver, she was ineligible to score points.

Complete TCR Europe Touring Car Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Driver did not finish, but was classified as she completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete World Touring Car Cup results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete ADAC TCR Germany results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Backman, Jessica 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Boden, Sweden Swedish female racing drivers World Touring Car Cup drivers FIA Motorsport Games drivers Swedish racing drivers Karting World Championship drivers World Rallycross Championship drivers Comtoyou Racing drivers Engstler Motorsport drivers TCR Europe Touring Car Series drivers GT4 European Series drivers ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship drivers TCR UK Touring Car Championship drivers 21st-century Swedish sportswomen