Starting grid revealed for Assen non-championship race
Details of the W-Series experimental Sunday's morning race in Assen have been revealed.
W-Series announced late on Saturday that the awaited experimental Sunday's race in Assen will feature a starting grid based on the full reversal of championship points standings and not on Saturday's finish results.
This means that Canadian Megan Gilkes is set to start from pole position, joined by Sarah Bovy on the front row. Both Bovy and Keszthelyi, the series reserve drivers, will in fact take the start of the non-championship race.
18-year old Gilkes missed the Norisring round after losing out a Friday shootout to Vivien Keszthelyi, and will now have the chance to shine in the non points-paying round in Assen.
Title contenders Beitske Visser and Jamie Chadwick will start from the last row, respectively P19 and P20.
The Dutch circuit of Assen proved today to be a difficult but not impossible track to overtake, as Kimilainen took victory away from Alice Powell when the British ran slightly wide at turn one.
“Those drivers who’ll be starting a W Series race at the sharp end of the grid for the first time will be anxious to do their very best to hang on to their front-running positions, while those in the midfield will also be looking to make progress." - commented Dave Ryan, the series Technical Director.
Sunday's race duration will be of 30 minutes + 1 lap, as per W-Series usual, and will be broadcasted live (09:00 local time) on the championship's social media channels without geo-restrictions.
W-Series has so far proved to be extremely open to experiments and will evaluate the possibility of extending the number of races for 2020.
The full grid will be as follows:
1 Megan Gilkes
2 Sarah Bovy
3 Shea Holbrook
4 Vivien Keszthelyi
5 Naomi Schiff
6 Esmee Hawkey
7 Jessica Hawkins
8 Sabré Cook
9 Gosia Rdest
10 Caitlin Wood
11 Vicky Piria
12 Tasmin Pepper
13 Sarah Moore
14 Miki Koyama
15 Emma Kimilainen
16 Fabienne Wohlwend
17 Alice Powell
18 Marta Garcia
19 Beitske Visser
20 Jamie Chadwick
Ph credits: Racers-BehindTheHelmet.com