W Series has chosen 18 drivers for the inaugural season
The all-female W Series open-wheel championship has chosen 18 drivers for the inaugural season that will kick-off in May. The final selection test took place in the past four days at Circuito de Almeria in Spain, and the 18-driver rooster has been selected from the wide list of 28 drivers that participated in the test.
Eighteen of them, from thirteen nationalities, will compete in the first ever all-female international single-seater racing series, four of them have been chosen as reserve drivers.
28 drivers participated in the selection test at Circuito de Almeria
List of drivers (name, nationality, age):
Jamie Chadwick (UK, 20)
Sabre Cook (USA, 24)
Marta Garcia (Spain, 18)
Megan Gilkes (Canada, 17)
Esmee Hawkey (UK, 21)
Jessica Hawkins (UK, 24)
Shea Holbrook (USA, 28)
Emma Kimilainen (Finland, 29)
Miki Koyama (Japan, 21)
Sarah Moore (UK, 25)
Tasmin Pepper (South Africa, 29)
Vicky Piria (Italy, 25)
Alice Powell (UK, 26)
Gosia Rdest (Poland, 26)
Naomi Schiff (Belgium, 24)
Beitske Visser (Netherlands, 24)
Fabienne Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, 21)
Caitlin Wood (Australia, 22)
Reserve drivers: Sarah Bovy (Belgium, 29), Vivien Keszthelyi (Hungary, 18), Stephane Kox (Netherlands, 25), Francesca Linossi (Italy, 27).
W Series is using F3-spec Tatuus T318 cars
The final phase of the selection process included many laps on the 4.2 km track in the Tatuus T-318 car that will be used in the championship. Now the cars will be taken back to the base at Silverstone and be prepared for the forthcoming test at the Lausitzring on April 14-16.
As a support series for the DTM, the W Series will kick-off on the season-opening DTM weekend at Hockenheim on May 4-5. After that, five more rounds are on the calendar: Zolder (May 18-19), Misano (June 8-9), Norisring (July 6-7), Assen (July 20-21) and Brands Hatch (August 10-11).
The inaugural season of the W Series will kick-off in May at Hockenheimring
Catherine Bond Muir, W Series CEO said: “After four intensive days’ testing in Almeria, and four equally rigorous days’ trials in Melk in January, as you can imagine we’d amassed a huge amount of data. So our judges, led by Dave Ryan, then crunched that data in order to determine who would be the 18 drivers to contest the first ever single-seater racing series for female drivers: W Series. To those drivers who didn’t make it through, I offer my commiserations, of course, but I also say ‘well done’. All our drivers worked diligently, studied hard, and drove well, including those who didn’t make it through. To the 18 drivers who did make it through, I say ‘big congrats and very well done’.
But I also want to mention our four reserve drivers, who didn’t quite make the final 18 but all impressed our judges. They’ll be disappointed, inevitably, but they’re still part of the W Series family. So that’s it then. Our driver selection programme is complete. Let’s go racing!”
W Series Tatuus car at Almeria circuit
Photos: W Series,
