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.
The planned championship season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a 10-event eSports league for female racing drivers only was held on the iRacing platform in its place. The league was ultimately won by Beitske Visser.
Driver selection The top twelve finishers from the 2019 championship were automatically eligible to compete in the 2020 season, leaving eight vacancies in the driver line up. Forty new drivers applied to take part in the season; 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.
Applications The following eight drivers competed in the 2019 W Series but did not automatically qualify for 2020:
Sarah Bovy Megan Gilkes Esmee Hawkey Shea Holbrook Vivien Keszthelyi Gosia Rdest Naomi Schiff Caitlin Wood
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:
Courtney Crone Michelle Gatting Hannah Grisham Chelsea Herbert Anna Inotsume Gabriela Jílková Katherine Legge Abbie Munro
Qualified drivers Drivers 5 Fabienne Wohlwend 7 Emma Kimiläinen 11 Vicky Piria 17 Ayla Ågren 19 Marta García 21 Jessica Hawkins 22 Belén García 26 Sarah Moore 27 Alice Powell 31 Tasmin Pepper 32 Nerea Martí 37 Sabré Cook 44 Abbie Eaton 51 Irina Sidorkova 55 Jamie Chadwick 85 Miki Koyama 95 Beitske Visser 97 Bruna Tomaselli Source:
Calendar The series was scheduled to continue supporting the 2020 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for most races. 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. 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."
Round Circuit Date Maps 1 Igora Drive 30 May 2 Anderstorp Raceway 13 June 3 27 June 4 Norisring 11 July 5 Brands Hatch 23 August 6 TT Circuit Assen 5 September 7 Circuit of the Americas 24 October 8 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. 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.
Calendar and results Round Circuit Broadcast date Race winners Source 1 Autodromo Nazionale di Monza 11 June R1: Beitske VisserR2: Gosia RdestR3: Beitske Visser 2 Circuit of the Americas 18 June R1: Beitske VisserR3: Beitske Visser 3 Brands Hatch 25 June R1: Beitske VisserR2: Irina SidorkovaR3: Irina Sidorkova 4 Autódromo José Carlos Pace 2 July R1: Beitske VisserR2: Irina SidorkovaR3: Beitske Visser 5 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps 9 July R1: Marta GarcíaR2: Tasmin PepperR3: Marta García 6 Watkins Glen International 16 July R1: Beitske VisserR2: Irina SidorkovaR3: Marta García 7 Suzuka International Racing Course 23 July R1: Marta GarcíaR2: Belén GarcíaR3: Marta García 8 Mount Panorama Circuit 30 July R1: Marta GarcíaR2: Tasmin PepperR3: Beitske Visser 9 Nürburgring 6 August R1: Beitske VisserR2: Gabriela JílkováR3: Beitske Visser 10 Silverstone Circuit 13 August R1: Marta GarcíaR2: Sarah MooreR3: Marta García Source:
Championship standings Pos. Driver Pts 1 Beitske Visser 439 2 Marta García 423 3 Irina Sidorkova 331 4 Nerea Martí 317 5 Tasmin Pepper 305 6 Caitlin Wood 303 7 Ayla Ågren 224 8 Belén García 212 9 Sarah Moore 205 10 Naomi Schiff 161 11 Fabienne Wohlwend 145 12 Alice Powell 137 13 Jessica Hawkins 135 14 Abbie Eaton 124 15 Emma Kimiläinen 101 16 Gosia Rdest 100 17 Bruna Tomaselli 86 18 Sabré Cook 68 19 Miki Koyama 53 20 Vittoria Piria 39 21 Jamie Chadwick 18 Guest drivers Gabriela Jílková 0 Hannah Grisham 0 Charlie Martin 0
References
External links Official website