It’s not only little boys who want to be racecar drivers when they get older. In SA alone we have many talented females who have risen through the ranks to be competitive drivers at the top national levels, but there is a glass ceiling. Earlier today W Series announced a racing series for women only that aims to shatter this limit.

Unique in the world

The free-to-enter series will commence in the second quarter of 2019 and entry will be limited to women only. Races will take place in Europe for the inaugural season.

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18-20 drivers will compete in identical cars. Successful applicants will be given thorough training in driving techniques, simulator exposure, technical engineering approaches, fitness, media skills, etc. The team responsible for training the participants will be multiple Grand Prix winner David Coulthard, famed F1 engineer Adrian Newey as well as several other F1 and motorsport notables.

The car

The cars will all be identical Tatuus T-318 Formula 3 cars, powered by inline four-cylinder 1,8-litre turbocharged engines mated with Sadev six-speed sequential gearboxes.

Prize money

Significant prize money will be awarded. A total purse of U$1,5 million will be on offer with the series champ claiming U$500,000. Prize money awarded all the way down to 18th place in the championship.

David Coulthard:

“In order to be a successful racing driver, you have to be skilled, determined, competitive, brave and physically fit, but you don’t have to possess the kind of super-powerful strength levels that some sports require. You also don’t have to be a man. That’s why we at W Series firmly believe that female and male racing drivers can compete with one another on equal terms given the same opportunity.

“At the moment, however, women racing drivers tend to reach a ‘glass ceiling’ at around the GP3/Formula 3 level on their learning curve, often as a result of a lack of funding rather than a lack of talent.

“That’s why an all-new all-female single-seater motor racing series is required – W Series – to establish a competitive and constructive motorsport habitat in which our drivers will be able to equip themselves with the necessary skill-set eventually to move on up to existing high-level mainstream racing series and compete with the best male drivers on equal terms.”

Click here for the series official site.