Leena and Teena Gade, sisters who share a passion for fast cars, have two of the most important jobs in world motorsport. In 2012, Leena not only won the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) as an engineer, but also the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second time. Her younger sister, Teena, is in an identical role, engineering Kris Meeke’s MINI John Cooper Works WRC in the World Rally Championship.
Their interest in engineering led Leena to study aerospace engineering at Manchester University, while Teena chose to study mechanical engineering at UCL, before going on to complete a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering at Imperial College.
We were brought up with the belief that if you want to do something, you work hard, make your opportunities and you can do anything you want.
– Leena Gade
Lenna was Born in the U.K, but spent a part of her childhood in India. When the family moved back to England she started to watched Formula One on TV with her sister. “We got into it properly through 1990 and 1991. We watched Senna win, watched Mansell do his thing in ’92. It was basically Murray Walker and James Hunt’s commentary that got us hooked.“
Leena says she wouldn’t trade her job. She prefers life in the fast lane. “Whether running through the airport to catch the plane, to getting to the race track, the dynamic is very individual, that makes me want to keep doing more and keep winning races.”
forbes.com
