W Series driver line-up announced

[Cold]

You may or may not be interested to learn of the 18 drivers who will compete in this year's W Series.
Full details on their dedicated website but a quick c+p list is below. Good to see the Brits well represented.

Jamie Chadwick, UK
Sabre Cook, USA
Marta Garcia, Spain
Megan Gilkes, Canada
Esmee Hawkey, UK
Jessica Hawkins, UK
Shea Holbrook, USA
Emma Kimilainen, Finland
Miki Koyama, Japan
Sarah Moore, UK
Tasmin Pepper, South Africa
Vicky Piria, Italy
Alice Powell, UK
Gosia Rdest, Poland
Naomi Schiff, Belgium
Beitske Visser, Netherlands
Fabienne Wohlwend, Liechtenstein
Caitlin Wood, Australia

Race calendar:

3-4 May - Hockenheim
17-18 May - Zolder
7-8 June - Misano
5-6 July - Norisring
19-20 July - Assen
10-11 August - Brands Hatch

[Koln-RS]

It's an interesting initiative, and should attract a lot of media attention - especially with the UK so well represented.

With only six rounds, I presume most of these drivers will also be competing in other race series?

[37chevy]

Utterly pointless, I see it lasting a few years max.

The biggest question for me is what’s the end game? A woman wins the championship, then what? A move to F3/F2 where she has got to compete against the same people that she would have had to compete against anyway...the experience and promotion may be vaauluable but that’s about it....

...this is coming from a guy who is beaten to the championship by women on more than 1 occasion....

[Pericoloso]

I've heard of 4 from that list ,all British.
Chadwick ,Moore ,Hawkey and Powell.

[Jerry Can]

I think the winner gets £500k? Useful for career progression. It's also a free drive, so that saves the pennies.

All 5 British drivers nominated got through. I think this is excellent and maybe shows the level of diversity in UK motorsport leading to the British women being of a higher calibre.

Without putting pressure on Jamie Chadwick, I think she'll piss it to be honest.

[300bhp/ton]

A shame such initiatives can't be done for non minority groups of people in motorsport too.

[n3il123]

Am i missing the bit on there website where it shows details of the actual car they will be racing?

[Munter]

Jerry Can said:

All 5 British drivers nominated got through. I think this is excellent and maybe shows the level of diversity in UK motorsport leading to the British women being of a higher calibre.

Without putting pressure on Jamie Chadwick, I think she'll piss it to be honest.

To me this shows that we (in the UK) don't need W series. We have top female talent all ready there. (And winning British GT I seem to recall).

Well done to them though getting through the selection process, and showing that we do have quality female talent in the UK. May the winner spend the prize wisely on coke and hookers, and waste the rest.

[Robmarriott]

Munter said:

Jerry Can said:

All 5 British drivers nominated got through. I think this is excellent and maybe shows the level of diversity in UK motorsport leading to the British women being of a higher calibre.

Without putting pressure on Jamie Chadwick, I think she'll piss it to be honest.

To me this shows that we (in the UK) don't need W series. We have top female talent all ready there. (And winning British GT I seem to recall).

Agreed, the reason those 5 UK women got through is the years of competing in multi gender series' already.

I'd be very surprised if it's not a UK driver who wins.

I think it's great for other countries where the women don't get as much opportunity though, I think we're pretty tolerant regardless of gender in motorsport in the UK but I suspect that's not the case elsewhere.

[Active75]

I am looking forward to watching the first race, see how it all goes.

Its a decent prize fund. At least 4 entries have driven F3, and Jamie Chadwick won the Brands Hatch round last year, plus several podiums in the GT4 class. Though there are a few quick women drivers who have not made it through. Hopefully they will still be in the GP2 and F1 teams minds. I'd also like to see more women racing at Le Mans 24hr.