W Series selected 55 female drivers for a shootout to fill 18-place grid


November 28, 2018
Featured, News
Marijan Malcevic


  • W Series Tatuus car
  • W Series race car

The W Series, the women-only single-seater racing championship that will start in 2019, has announced a list of 55 female drivers that will compete in a shootout to fill the 18-place grid when the season kicks off in May next year.

Catherine Bond Muir, W Series CEO said: “We are thrilled but perhaps not surprised by the response. Even today there is a massive gender imbalance in motorsport and W Series is making the first step to correct that.  Drivers from all over the world have stepped forward, so it’s clear that with the right framework we can make the changes this sport desperately needs.”

Catherine Bond Muir

Catherine Bond Muir

The W Series would be a free-to-enter competition with a total prize fund of $1,500,000, including $500,000 for the overall winner. W Series will also fund travel and subsistence costs. Because of that, the interest is big and the long list for a shootout was made after a selection from a pool of more than 100 applicants from 30 countries around the world.

The selected drivers will now have just two months to prepare for the next step in the selection process. That would be a three-day on-and-off-track trial including fitness tests and psychometric profiling, as well as multiple driving skill tests. Former F1 stars David Coulthard and Alex Wurz will be among the judges, alongside Dave Ryan, W Series Racing Director. The final grid will be determined following a series of track tests in the W Series race car – a 2019 Tatuus T-318.

The inaugural W Series season will start on May 3 at Hockenheim, as a part of the DTM support programme.

Here’s the full list of selected drivers:

Ayla Agren, 25, Norway

Amna Al Qubaisi,18, UAE

Chelsea Angelo, 22, Australia

Carmen Boix, 23, Spain

Sarah Bovy, 29, Belgium

Toni Breidinger, 19, USA

Ivana Cetinich, 22, South Africa

Jamie Chadwick, 20, UK

Veronika Cicha, 31, Czech Republic

Sabre Cook, 24, USA

Courtney Crone, 17, USA

Natalie Decker, 21, USA

Mira Erda, 18, India

Carlotta Fedeli, 26, Italy

Cassie Gannis, 27, USA

Marta Garcia, 18, Spain

Michelle Gatting, 24, Denmark

Angelique Germann, 27 Germany

Megan Gilkes, 17, Canada

Samin Gomez, 26, Venezuela

Grace Gui, 27, China

Michelle Halder, 19, Germany

Esmee Hawkey, 20, UK

Jessica Hawkins, 23, UK

Shea Holbrook, 28, USA

Carmen Jorda, 30, Spain

Vivien Keszthelyi, 17, Hungary

Emma Kimilainen, 29, Finland

Natalia Kowalska, 28, Poland

Stephane Kox, 24, Netherland

Miki Koyama, 21, Japan

Fabienne Lanz, 32, South Africa

Milla Mäkelä, 25, Finland

Alexandra Marinescu, 18, Romania

Milou Mets, 28, Netherlands

Sheena Monk, 29, USA

Sarah Moore, 25, UK

Marylin Niederhauser, 22, Germany

Tasmin Pepper, 28, South Africa

Vicky Piria, 24, Italy

Taegen Poles, 20, Canada

Alice Powell, 25, UK

Charlotte Poynting, 20, Australia

Naomi Schiff, 24, Belgium

Carrie Schreiner, 20, Germany

Sharon Scolari, 23, Switzerland

Doreen Seidel, 33, Germany

Siti Shahkirah, 24, Malaysia

Sneha Sharma, 28, India

Bruna Tomaselli, 21, Brazil

Shirley Van Der Lof, 31, Netherlands

Beitske Visser, 23, Netherlands

Fabienne Wohlwend, 21, Lichenstein

Caitlin Wood, 21, Australia

Hanna Zellers, 21, USA.

Six drivers are already pre-selected as ambassadors to represent the W Series qualifiers and attend the 2018 Autosport Awards event in London on Sunday, December 2. The chosen six are Alice Powell, Shea Holbrook, Naomi Schiff, Emma Kimilainen, Stephane Kox and Vicky Piria.

Photos: W Series,

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