Katrina Ochoa

**Katrina** Raquel **Ochoa** (born 3 December 1992) is an American professional racing driver. She currently competes in the Champ Car World Series for Escuderia Aguila. Ochoa is best known for her contributions to Champ Car as a test driver, having performed test duties for tire supplier, Firestone, as well as chassis makers, Dallara, and Andromeda, prior to becoming a full time competitor at the top level.

## Early Years

Ochoa was raised in Brooklyn Park, a suburb in southern Baltimore, Maryland, as an only child. Her father, Ramon, is a construction manager, while her mother, Trisha, worked as an ER nurse. Ochoa excelled in school, being a high honors student every year from her 7th grade year until she graduated in 2010. Ochoa became interested in racing while in high school, beginning her racing career later than average, after being brought to an IndyCar event at Dover.

## Junior Categories

### Indy Development League

Ochoa, with the support of her parents, began pursuing racing in 2011, after she had graduated high school. In exchange for her parents' support, she also enrolled into university at Morgan State University, balancing racing with college classes. For the 2011 and 2012 seasons, Ochoa raced in the Indy Development League (IDL), the entry level of open wheel racing in the United States. Ochoa earned a reputation for being methodical, winning the IDL New England regional championship in 2012, and being picked up by Obsidian Racing Team for the next level of the developmental ladder.

### Indy Pro Series

For 2013, Ochoa raced in the Indy Pro Series, which saw her travel the entire continental U.S. for the first time as the series supported the Indycar World Championship. Ochoa performed well as a series rookie, finishing fourth in points with two wins, both at Gateway, six podiums, and two pole positions. Her performances were enough to warrant her being promoted early into the Indy Lights Championship for 2014, remaining with Obsidian.

### Indy Lights

Ochoa would begin 2014 on a high note, winning the first race at St. Petersburg as a Indy Lights series rookie. She would tack on additional wins at Gateway, Kentucky, and Watkins Glen, but untimely retirements at Sonoma, and the finale at Fontana, saw her finish third in the driver's championship, behind 2014 series champion, Alex Rivera, and runner up, Steven Gnash.

2015 would be another solid year for Ochoa, with the now sophomore driver sweeping both races at St. Pete, as well as winning Gateway once again, Texas, Toronto, and Sonoma. A close finish at Fontana would see her end up second in points in 2015, behind series champion, Michael White, by a margin of 4 points.

## Champ Car career

### Test Driver

The end of 2015 did not treat Ochoa kindly. Obsidian Racing Team announced it was leaving the North American open wheel scene to focus on the Super GP ladder in Japan. Ochoa, while proven talented, was viewed as more of an oval specialist, which would not benefit the team in their move to a road course-exclusive series. Additionally, it was announced that the Indy Lights Championship would be cancelled for 2016, after Citadel Promotions took over managing the Indycar World Championship. Citadel did not want to finance a feeder series, and scrapped it instead of outsourcing it, which caused backlash.

In mid-2016, Ochoa was picked up as a test driver by Dallara. Dallara were in the midst of performing their own investigation around the death of Henna Venalainen, and needed test drivers to collect data, as well as evaluate new parts they would implement on the IR-10 chassis platform. Ochoa impressed Dallara, with the Italian chassis builder making her their full time American test driver from 2016 until 2018, when it was announced Dallara would not be making the third generation chassis for the series.

Ochoa was promptly picked up by both Andromeda Automotive Initiative (AAI), and Firestone, becoming a regular presence at events, as well as running 14 tests a year from 2019 through 2020. Ochoa test drove for the two companies enough to earn a testing license for Formula One, having completed 4,000 miles of testing without incident.

### Velocity Autosport

#### 2021 Season

Ochoa was announced as one of Velocity Autosport's drivers for the 2021 Indianapolis 500 early in 2021. Ochoa would balance being a full time driver for Cherokee GP in the Atlantic Championship, while also competing in the Firestone Triple Crown alongside Maria Chavez, who she competed against in the Atlantic Championship. Velocity would later expand their 2021 program to include all of the ovals in the U.S. after Indy, with Ochoa participating in six races, and earning a best finish of fifth at Gateway, one of her best tracks statistically.

#### 2022 Season

Ochoa would continue with Velocity for 2022, becoming a full time Champ Car driver for the first time at the age of 29, 11 years after beginning her progression up the American open wheel ladder system. She would continue to drive the #48 Chevrolet, with DoorDash contributing as a primary sponsor. However, the team's season would be cut short after financial difficulties saw the team have to leave the season after six races, with the 2022 swine flu pandemic forcing the series to halt for the year just a month later.

### Escuderia Aguila

#### 2023 Season

For 2023, Ochoa would join the legendary Escuderia Aguila squad, being signed on to drive full time for the team, while her Velocity Autosport teammate, Maria Chavez, would join team leader, Cristine Espinoza, in running a part time schedule for the year as all of the series adjusted to being on the other side of the pandemic. Ochoa would depart the #48 in favor of running the #36 for the team, while also having a new sponsor in the form of Crown Royal.

## Personal Life

Ochoa graduated from Morgan State University with a master's in engineering physics, a degree which helped her tremendously as a test driver. Ochoa has stated she is religious, but never specified what denomination, if any, she pertained to.