2020 W Series

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Jamie Chadwick, the reigning drivers' champion from the 2019 season. Jamie Laura Chadwick.jpg
Jamie Chadwick, the reigning drivers' champion from the 2019 season.

The 2020 W Series was a planned motor racing championship that was scheduled to be the second W Series season. The championship was to be exclusively open to female racing drivers as a Formula Regional-level racing series. [1]

The planned championship season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, [2] and a 10-event eSports league for female racing drivers only was held on the iRacing platform in its place. [3] The league was ultimately won by Beitske Visser. [4]

Driver selection

The top twelve finishers from the 2019 championship were automatically eligible to compete in the 2020 season, [5] leaving eight vacancies in the driver line up. [6] Forty new drivers applied to take part in the season; [6] however, only fourteen of those took part in the first test which took place between 16 and 18 September 2019 at the Circuito de Almería, Spain. [7] [8]

Applications

The following eight drivers competed in the 2019 W Series but did not automatically qualify for 2020:

The following eight drivers attempted to qualify for the 2020 W Series, having not competed in 2019 but were unsuccessful or elected not to race in W Series: [9]

Qualified drivers

No.Drivers
5 Flag of Liechtenstein.svg Fabienne Wohlwend
7 Flag of Finland.svg Emma Kimiläinen
11 Flag of Italy.svg Vicky Piria
17 Flag of Norway.svg Ayla Ågren
19 Flag of Spain.svg Marta García
21 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jessica Hawkins
22 Flag of Spain.svg Belén García
26 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sarah Moore
27 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alice Powell
31 Flag of South Africa.svg Tasmin Pepper
32 Flag of Spain.svg Nerea Martí
37 Flag of the United States.svg Sabré Cook
44 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Abbie Eaton
51 Flag of Russia.svg Irina Sidorkova
55 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jamie Chadwick
85 Flag of Japan.svg Miki Koyama
95 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
97 Flag of Brazil.svg Bruna Tomaselli
Source: [10]

Calendar

The series was scheduled to continue supporting the 2020 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for most races. [11] [12] Races at Hockenheimring, Circuit Zolder and Misano World Circuit were replaced by races at Igora Drive, Anderstorp Raceway and Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. On 16 January 2020, the series announced it would stage races in the Americas, operating as a support category for the United States and Mexico City Grands Prix. [13] On 4 June 2020, the series announced that it would not hold on-track races for the 2020 season, with Formula 1 Managing Director of Motorsports, Ross Brawn, stating "It is a big disappointment for all of us that due to the difficulties presented by COVID-19 the events will not take place." [14]

RoundCircuitDate
1 Flag of Russia.svg Igora Drive 30 May
2 Flag of Sweden.svg Anderstorp Raceway 13 June
3 Flag of Italy.svg Autodromo Nazionale di Monza 27 June
4 Flag of Germany.svg Norisring 11 July
5 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Brands Hatch 23 August
6 Flag of the Netherlands.svg TT Circuit Assen 5 September
7 Flag of the United States.svg Circuit of the Americas 24 October
8 Flag of Mexico.svg Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez 31 October

eSports League

The inaugural and ultimately only season of the W Series eSports League virtual championship was announced on 7 May 2020 in response to the cancellation of the normal championship. The league partnered with Logitech G, Beyond Entertainment, and iRacing to contest 10 virtual events with all drivers competing in digital versions of the Tatuus Formula Renault 2.0 race car. [15] Events consisted of three races, three heats of 15mins each with the second being a reverse-grid race, and were broadcast with a week delay on YouTube. All 18 drivers who qualified to race in the on-track championship plus the three reserve drivers partook in the sim racing series, with guest wildcards employed late in the season as some drivers returned to normal racing in other categories. Beitske Visser clinched the championship title with a round to spare, winning 11 races and achieving pole position 12 times. [16]

Calendar and results

RoundCircuitBroadcast dateRace winnersSource
1 Autodromo Nazionale di Monza 11 JuneR1: Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
R2: Flag of Poland.svg Gosia Rdest
R3: Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
[17]
2 Circuit of the Americas 18 JuneR1: Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
R2: Flag of Finland.svg Emma Kimiläinen
R3: Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
[18]
3 Brands Hatch 25 JuneR1: Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
R2: Flag of Russia.svg Irina Sidorkova
R3: Flag of Russia.svg Irina Sidorkova
[19]
4 Autódromo José Carlos Pace 2 JulyR1: Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
R2: Flag of Russia.svg Irina Sidorkova
R3: Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
[20]
5 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps 9 JulyR1: Flag of Spain.svg Marta García
R2: Flag of South Africa.svg Tasmin Pepper
R3: Flag of Spain.svg Marta García
[21]
6 Watkins Glen International 16 JulyR1: Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
R2: Flag of Russia.svg Irina Sidorkova
R3: Flag of Spain.svg Marta García
[22]
7 Suzuka International Racing Course 23 JulyR1: Flag of Spain.svg Marta García
R2: Flag of Spain.svg Belén García
R3: Flag of Spain.svg Marta García
[23]
8 Mount Panorama Circuit 30 JulyR1: Flag of Spain.svg Marta García
R2: Flag of South Africa.svg Tasmin Pepper
R3: Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
[24]
9 Nürburgring (Nordschleife)6 AugustR1: Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
R2: Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Gabriela Jílková
R3: Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
[25]
10 Silverstone Circuit 13 AugustR1: Flag of Spain.svg Marta García
R2: Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sarah Moore
R3: Flag of Spain.svg Marta García
[26]
Source: [27]

Championship standings

Pos.DriverPts
1 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser 439
2 Flag of Spain.svg Marta García 423
3 Flag of Russia.svg Irina Sidorkova 331
4 Flag of Spain.svg Nerea Martí 317
5 Flag of South Africa.svg Tasmin Pepper 305
6 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Caitlin Wood 303
7 Flag of Norway.svg Ayla Ågren 224
8 Flag of Spain.svg Belén García 212
9 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sarah Moore 205
10 Flag of Rwanda.svg Naomi Schiff 161
11 Flag of Liechtenstein.svg Fabienne Wohlwend 145
12 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alice Powell 137
13 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jessica Hawkins 135
14 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Abbie Eaton 124
15 Flag of Finland.svg Emma Kimiläinen 101
16 Flag of Poland.svg Gosia Rdest 100
17 Flag of Brazil.svg Bruna Tomaselli 86
18 Flag of the United States.svg Sabré Cook 68
19 Flag of Japan.svg Miki Koyama 53
20 Flag of Italy.svg Vittoria Piria 39
21 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jamie Chadwick 18
Guest drivers
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Gabriela Jílková0
Flag of the United States.svg Hannah Grisham0
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Charlie Martin 0

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