Over 100 women apply for $1.5 million ‘W Series’

LONDON: More than 100 applicants from around the world have sought to join a new all-female motor racing series aimed at getting them into Formula One, where no woman has competed since 1976.

Organisers on Wednesday issued a long list of 55 for the W Series, which is set to launch in May with 18 drivers racing 1.8 litre Formula Three cars for a $1.5 million prize fund.

The drivers, whose ages range from 17 to 33 and include some familiar names to fans who follow the various junior series, now face on and off-track tests with former grand prix racers David Coulthard and Alex Wurz among the judges.

Spain’s ex-lotus and Renault Formula One development driver Carmen Jorda, a 30-year-old who also sits on the governing FIA’S women’s commission, was one of those to go on to the next phase.

Amna Al Qubaisi, 18, the irst female racing driver from the United Arab Emirates who has competed in Italian Formula Four and will test a Formula E car in Saudi Arabia next month, was another.

So too was Britain’s Jamie Chadwick, 20, who in 2015 became the irst female driver to win a British GT championship and this year became the irst woman to win a round of the British Formula Three series, inishing eighth overall.

Indian racers Mira Erda, 18, and Sneha Sharma, 28, also made the long list.