W Series has just been launched with the inaugural race being held in Hockenheim, Germany. The W series has been created as a series solely for women to race in, the aim of this is to create a platform for more women to enter motorsports. As such, all eighteen drivers race identical cars, these cars will then be rotated around the grid throughout the six races, so that the car doesn’t influence the overall Championship winner, and holds more focus on driver race craft and talent.
Previous to the first ever race, a vast selection process occurred with sixty applicants. An intense training programme was then launched narrowing down the sixty candidates, this was then followed up with further tests in both Austria and Spain for the final selection to just eighteen racers.
These eighteen racers are of thirteen varied nationalities consisting of: British, American, Canadian, Australian, Spanish, Finnish, Japanese, South African, Italian, Polish, Belgium, Dutch and Liechtensteiner. All racing in the hopes of securing the Championship which will be decided after six races, the final being held at Brands Hatch. Alongside this, the winner will gain a further $500,000 in aid of their racing aspirations.
The racing layout is far from that of Formula 1 with a sprint race format of 30 minutes of racing plus an extra lap. However, the point system mimics Formula 1's with the winner receiving 25 points, whilst second place receives 18 points and so on...
Already, the W Series has gained support from major motorsport names such as David Coulthard, Claire Williams, Ted Kravitz, Lee McKenzie and many others. And with thrilling races, proved by a shunt in only the first two minutes which even released a safety car, who will be the next big motorsports name to join the W Series' Paddock?
One name to remember from the inaugural race is definitely that of Jamie Chadwick, who managed to secure pole position and the first step of the podium as well, all whilst nursing a car with break balance issues. Jamie had already made her dent in the racing world with incredible victories such as her British GT Championship in 2015, which saw her crowned the first ever female and youngest winner, as well as becoming the first female in history to win a BRDC British Formula 3 Championship! So if that's anything to go by, I'd expect to see Jamie Chadwick's face on the podium more often... and maybe eventually in Formula 1...
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