W Series confirms 18-driver grid for inaugural season

W Series officials have named the 18 drivers who will take part in the inaugural season of the all-female single-seater championship following the final evaluation this week.

After an initial 55-driver longlist was cut to 28 following the first round of tests in January, the remaining candidates took part in four days of running in Almeria, Spain, this week to firm up the final 18-driver grid for the season to come.

W Series racing director Dave Ryan made the final decision on the 18 women who would be racing in W Series this year, with notable names including Jamie Chadwick, Alice Powell and Beitske Visser.

As well as the 18 race drivers for the first season, four reserves have been named.

"After four intensive days testing in Almeria, finishing yesterday, and four equally rigorous days’ trials in Melk in January, as you can imagine we'd amassed a huge amount of data. So our judges, led by Dave Ryan, then crunched that data in order to determine who would be the 18 drivers to contest the first ever single-seater racing series for female drivers: W Series," said W Series CEO Catherine Bond Muir.

"To those drivers who didn’t make it through, I offer my commiserations, of course, but I also say ‘well done’. All our drivers worked diligently, studied hard, and drove well, including those who didn’t make it through.

W SERIES HEARS ITS CRITICS, REMAINS FOCUSED ON OPPORTUNITY

"To the 18 drivers who did make it through, I say ‘big congrats and very well done’. But I also want to mention our four reserve drivers, who didn't quite make the final 18 but all impressed our judges. They’ll be disappointed, inevitably, but they’re still part of the W Series family.

"So that’s it then. Our driver selection programme is complete. Let’s go racing!"

The W Series season begins on May 4 at Hockenheim in Germany.

W SERIES DRIVERS 2019

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 

Reserves

Sarah Bovy, Belgium
Vivien Keszthelyi, Hungary
Stephane Kox, Netherlands
Francesca Linossi, Italy