Top award for WPS Racing's female engineer.

WPS Racing junior engineer Kate Millar is the toast of the team following her recent success in securing the inaugural 'Excellence in Studies and Achievement' award, presented by the Queensland State Council of the Confederation of Australian Motorsport [CAMS].

Millar, who at 20 years of age is the youngest female engineer in the V8 Supercar Series, claimed the prestigious title ahead of 15 of her male peers, who all graduated with a Diploma of Automotive [Motorsport] at the Warwick campus of the Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE.

Two thousand and five has proved a whirlwind year of achievement for Millar since joining WPS Racing and the future looks even brighter for this young automotive protege.

"It's very exciting and very cool to win this award and I have to thank CAMS Queensland for their support of the Warwick TAFE motorsports program," said Millar.

"I've also just been accepted into Deakin University to study a Bachelor of Commerce by correspondence so it's been a huge couple of weeks. Of course it's also a very busy time at WPS Racing where we're in the process of putting together two brand new cars for next season.

"In my role I look after data analysis and telemetry so I can't wait for when we get to do some testing early next year."

Millar describes her first three months working at WPS Racing as a major highlight in her life.

The camaraderie she's developed with her team-mates coupled with an opportunity to visit the best touring car circuits in Australia is one greatly appreciated. And as the V8 Supercars has expanded its reach World-wide, this budding young engineer is champing at the bit and keen to add to a greatly expanding repertoire of personal experiences.

"This year I was totally blown away at Indy, particularly being a part of the whole Team Australia programme and the atmosphere that was created here on the Gold Coast," added Millar.

"I've never been out of Australia so the thought of travelling to New Zealand, China and Bahrain as part of the series next year is very exciting and something I'm looking forward to.

"There's been a huge attitude shift with everyone in the team and morale is at an all-time high, particularly with the new cars being built and the expectation of bigger things in '06.

"During the season we all travel together and spend lot of time together so I've fitted in very easily.

"I always get asked what it's like being a woman in such a male dominated sport but I've been involved in motorsport since I was a kid so I've never really seen any problems.

"Put it this way the topic of conversation never changes when I enter into a room which is great and I feel comfortable in my position with the team."

Millar received her award during CAMS' 'Evening of Champions' dinner held in Brisbane where all Queensland State champions were recognised, along with other notable achievers and officials in the sport.