W Series will not go ahead in 2020
Esports league begins tonight with Jamie Chadwick in action
The first round of the W Series Esports League takes place tonight.
Every Thursday from today until August 13 will see the world’s best female drivers, including current W Series champion Bath’s Jamie Chadwick, take to the virtual track over ten rounds.
Working with Logitech G, Beyond Entertainment and iracing, round one will be staged at Monza and three races will take place each Thursday. The first will be a standard 15 minutes plus one lap event and the result of that will form the reverse grid line-up for race two, another 15 minute plus one lap affair. The final race will be a 20 minute plus one lap event.
Drivers will earn points from places 1-15 (20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-43-2-1) and the driver with the fastest lap will also be awarded a bonus point.
As well as Monza, rounds will also be staged at the Circuit of the Americas, Brands Hatch, Interlagos, Spa, Watkins Glen, Suzuka, Mount Panorama, Nurburgring and culminating at Silverstone.
Each round will begin at 7pm and will be streamed live on the W Series Twitch, Youtube and Facebook channels. The W Series Esports League will also be shown live across the BBC’S digital platforms including iplayer, red button and sport website.
W Series chief executive officer Catherine Bond Muir said: “We want the brand-new W Series Esports League to be intensely competitive, serious and authentic. Our partnerships with Logitech G, Beyond Entertainment and iracing are going a long way to help us realise that ambition, and this new partnership with the BBC takes us further still.
“The W Series Esports League can open both W Series and the world of Esports to a wider audience, and the BBC’S unrivalled experience, trusted voice and diverse platforms will be the perfect conduit for that.”
On the track, W Series has announced that there will be no real racing until 2021. The 2020 season was due to start on May 30 and run until October 31 and the decision to cancel it has been taken in consultation with the FIA, F1, DTM and W Series’ partners and suppliers.
Plans are in place for a bigger and better 2021, including at least two races on the Formula One calendar in Texas and Mexico City.
Bond Muir said: “After the resounding success of W Series’ debut season in 2019, our decision not to stage ontrack races until 2021 is not one that has been taken lightly.
“However, we are already working on an exciting new W Series race calendar for 2021, and we are delighted to be able to confirm that W Series races will feature on the support cards of a number of Formula 1 Grands Prix next year, including the 2021 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas and the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
“W Series is a global movement that exists to support the careers of female racing drivers everywhere, and to foster interest in and enthusiasm for motor racing among girls and women all over the world. The 18 women who had qualified to race in the 2020 W Series represent 12 different countries, and the eight circuits on which they were due to race this year are located in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America and Central America.
“Delivering an international calendar of the kind that W Series requires, so as to take W Series’ diversity and inclusion message to girls and women globally, while prioritising during a global pandemic the health and safety of our drivers, our staff and the many other people who make W Series events such a success, requires resource at a level beyond the scope of a brave new start-up such as W Series.
“However, now that we have taken the very difficult but ultimately unavoidable decision to end any uncertainty surrounding our 2020 plans, we will focus our energies clearly on 2021, when we will resume our ontrack racing programme, bigger and better than ever before.
“In the meantime, this year, we remain committed to developing our drivers and entertaining our loyal fans all over the world. To that end, we are progressing with our exciting and innovative new W Series Esports League, which will go live on June 11. In addition, our brilliant management team, including 13-time F1 Grand Prix winner David Coulthard and our hugely experienced Racing Director Dave Ryan, will continue to provide our drivers with invaluable career advice and support.”