W Series announces pre-season test
The all-female W Series championship is set to hold its only pre-season test days at the Spanish venue of Ricardo Tormo, Valencia.
The all-female Formula 3-based championship W Series will officially start its 2020 season from the Valencian Ricardo Tormo Circuit, as the drivers will be back in the driving seats for a two days of testing on May 4-5.
After the last September selection days at Almeria circuit, this will be the first official appearance for W Series in the Iberic country, which counts this year three representatives (Marta Garcia, Belen Garcia, Nerea Martí), the largest group after the Brits.
The German racetrack of Lausitzring hosted last year's official pre-season testing, where the twenty drivers found rainy conditions ahead of their first experience at the wheel of the new cars.
"The Circuit de Valencia isn't part of the 2020 W Series race calendar, but it's perfectly suited to testing Formula 3 cars." - said W Series racing director Dave Ryan.
"A tight and twisty circuit, 4.005km in length, it consists of one long straight and 14 corners, of which Turn One, an 80-degree left-hander that requires precise but heavy braking, is perhaps the trickiest."
The Valencia test will be the W Series debut for the series newcomers: Nerea Martí, Belen Garcia, Bruna Tomaselli, Abbie Eaton, Irina Sidorkova and Ayla Agren will get their first chance to measure themselves with the 2019 drivers.
We will in fact see in action again the 12 confirmed drivers from the inaugural season: Alice Powell, Marta Garcia, Jessica Hawkins, Fabienne Wohlwend, Tasmin Pepper, Emma Kimilainen, Vicky Piria, Sabre Cook, and Sarah Moore, while the 2019 runner-up Beitske Visser and one of the greatest 2019 revelation Miki Koyama were also part of the Almeria selections as benchmark for the new candidates.
The inaugural W Series champion and Williams Academy driver Jamie Chadwick will make her return to the all-women series after her recent successful F3 Asian campaign, where she finished fourth in the final standings and claimed her first 10 points in her personal FIA Super License chase.
"After the success of W Series' 2019 inaugural season, all of us at W Series are now eagerly looking forward to our second season, which will feature a mix of the best drivers who raced with us in 2019, including reigning W Series champion Jamie Chadwick, and some exciting new faces too" - commented the series CEO Catherine Bound Muir
"Our established drivers will welcome the opportunity to reacquaint themselves with the W Series Tatuus Formula 3 car, which they'll race againg this year, while the newcomers will be anxious to work as hard as they can to dial themselves in for the season ahead" - she added.
The Spanish two days test anticipates the season opening weekend at the new Russian venue of Igora Drive, scheduled on May 30th.
W Series is also set to announce the final two drivers on the grid shortly.