[rubicon]

Sneha Sharma & Mira Erda from India in initial 55-driver list for W Series.

About the Series :

W Series is a forthcoming third-tier single-seater racing championship which aims to encourage greater female participation in motorsport. It was created in response to the lack of female drivers progressing to the highest levels of motorsport, particularly Formula 1. The all-female W Series has released a list of 55 contenders for a spot on the 18-driver grid for its inaugural campaign next year.

The series has the backing of a number of prominent members of the motorsport community, including former F1 driver David Coulthard and engineer Adrian Newey.

The inaugural W Series Championship will be free to enter and will offer a total prize fund of $1.5 million, with the series champion receiving a top prize fund of $500,000.

The drivers competing in the series will be not be require to bring any sponsorship to fund their drive.

This list is to be whittled down to a final grid of 18 after “a three-day on-and-off-track trial” and a subsequent series of track tests with the W Series car.

The organizers say they have been contacted by “more than 100 applicants from 30 countries around the world”, from which the current 'longlist' of 55 was selected.

This list is to be whittled down to a final grid of 18 after “a three-day on-and-off-track trial” and a subsequent series of track tests with the W Series car.

The selection panel will include Coulthard, series racing director Dave Ryan and former F1 driver Alex Wurz.

Indian Participants :

Mira became the first women racer to take part in the flagship Euro JK category of JK Tyre National Racing Championship in 2017 and stayed on in the same series this year.

Sneha, meanwhile, has been a regular in the Formula LGB category of the same championship, but stepped back from her involvement last year due to a knee injury. She made a strong comeback earlier this month after fighting her way back through rehab and other physiotherapy exercises.

Both drivers have now been included in W Series’ preliminary list of 55-names.

Lets wish them great success!

[V.Narayan]

^^^^
These gritty and skilled young ladies deserve our fullest support and encouragement. Best of luck. Safe racing.

Guys chime in and support them with your posts.

[Chetan_Rao]

It will come down to funding (often more critical in racing than talent itself, unfortunately), so I hope there's enough financial backing available to the initiative consistently until it's able to pay for itself and hopefully be profitable at some point.

Spectator engagement will play a huge role too, because sponsorship is proportional to popularity, so let's do our bit as racing fans.

Go W!

[TusharK]

India's Mira Erda and Sneha Sharma have been selected for W Series trials. A total of 50 drivers will be vying for a spot in the W Series next year.



Drivers from 30 different countries will fight for a place on the final grid of 18 in the all-women racing championship. Mira Erda (18) is the youngest among them. In 2017, she entered the Euro JK category of the JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship. Sneha Sharma competes in the LGB-4 class.

The shortlisted candidates will face a 3-day on-and-off-track trial, which includes fitness tests, psychometric profiling and multiple driving skill tests. The final grid will be decided through a series of track tests in the W Series race car - a 2019 Tatuus T-318.



Former F1 drivers David Coulthard and Alex Wurz as well as Dave Ryan - W Series Racing Director will be among the judges.

The W Series has a prize fund of US$1.5 million and the overall winner gets US$5,00,000. Travel and subsistence costs are also taken care of by the organizers. The first race of the season will be held at Hockenheim, Germany on May 3, 2019.

Link to Team-BHP News

[vikram_d]

Seems like a good day for Indian racers.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/vehic...cid=spartandhp

[Hatari]

Great news, will be following this series for sure.

[FourWheelDrift]

Sadly, both ladies did not make the cut to the Qualifiers.

https://in.motorsport.com/w-series/n...tests/4329985/

Erda, Sharma eliminated from W Series qualifiers

Both Erda and Sharma were included in the W Series’ preliminary list of 55 candidates, who were shortlisted from “more than 100 applicants from 30 countries around the world.”

All selected candidates, including Erda and Sharma, were invited to Austria for a three-day evaluation process, where they were judged by a panel led by former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard, Le Mans 24 Hours winner Alex Wurz and ex-IndyCar racer Lyn St. James.

Points were awarded to candidates on the basis of 10 modules, including a test of their driving ability at the Wachauring circuit using Ford Fiesta ST and Porsche Cayman S road cars.

After the scores were tallied, 28 drivers were selected for further assessment ahead of the W Series’ inaugural season.

Unfortunately neither Erda nor Sharma, both of whom are seasoned racers in the JK Tyre National Racing Championship, were included in the list.

Series boss Catherine Bond Muir said that she was "massively impressed" by all 54 drivers present and that it was tough to shortlist 28 candidates from them.

Muir also revealed that drivers who didn't make it to the next stage are allowed to enter again in 2020.

"All W Series' qualifier-drivers here at the Wachauring [Melk, Austria] are superstars, every single one of them," Muir said.

"But the sad fact is that not all of them will continue to the next stage of our driver selection programme. That's competition. That's sport. That's racing.

"So to all of them who’ve made it through to the next stage, I say: congratulations and good luck in Almeria [Spain] in March, the final stage of our driver selection programme.

"And to those of them who haven’t made it through to the next stage, I say: obviously, today is a sad day.

"But one thing I've seen over the past three days, and that I've been massively impressed by, is that each and every one of our qualifier-drivers is tough, brave and strong.

"And of course we'll therefore encourage them to work hard on their driving for the next few months and then consider re-applying for the 2020 W Series season when the time comes."