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