The organisers of W Series have released details of the 2020 selection programme, to be held in September.
Following the success of the inaugural W Series championship with Jamie Chadwick winning the title, the all-female series is now looking towards its second season in 2020 as the selection programme is set to kick-off.
Like last year, the selection event will take place at Circuito de Almeria in Spain between September 16-18 as they look for eight new drivers, with the Top 12 from 2019 getting an automatic entry.
At this juncture, the Top 12 drivers of 2019 with a guaranteed seat – should they continue in – are: Jamie Chadwick (UK), Beitske Visser (NLD), Alice Powell (UK), Marta Garcia (ESP), Emma Kimilainen (FIN), Fabienne Wohlwend (LIE), Miki Koyama (JPN), Sarah Moore (UK), Vicky Piria (ITA), Tasmin Pepper (RSA), Jessica Hawkins (UK) and Sabre Cook (USA).
These 12 will not be part of the selection event, although some may be called upon to post benchmark lap-times. The series has received about 40 fresh applications already for the Spain test.
The two criteria set by the championship are that they must be female and they must possess an FIA International C racing licence. More racers can still apply at media@wseries.com.
Catherine Bond Muir said: “As soon as one W Series season ends, another one begins; or, to be precise, the preparations for another one begin. The 2019 W Series season has been a roaring success, but we fully intend that the 2020 season will be bigger and better.
“I’m excited to discover the quality of our new applicants, and there’s no better way of appraising them than putting them in W Series race cars for three days, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
At the same time, Dave Ryan added: “Prior to the 2019 season, we tested all our drivers at Almeria in W Series race cars – Tatuus T-318 Formula 3 cars powered by 270bhp 1.8-litre in-line four-cylinder turbo engines made by Autotecnica Motori – and we plan to put our new applicants through exactly the same process.
“We’ll have one or two drivers from the pool of 12 who are already guaranteed a 2020 W Series drive on hand too, to post comparative lap-times, the better to enable us to understand the ability and speed of our aspiring newcomers.
“To be clear, the eight drivers who finished outside the top 12 in the 2019 championship are not ineligible for our 2020 season; they’re merely not guaranteed to take part in it.
“Inevitably they’re now on tenterhooks, eager to race with us again next season, but whether they do or not will to a great extent depend on the quality of the newcomers we test at Almeria in a month’s time. Time will tell.”
