Today W Series’ week of pre-season testing, at the Circuit de Barcelona, came to an end.
This year’s pre-season test included the eight drivers that had automatically qualified for the 2022 season – those who finished in the top eight in the 2021 season – and twelve other hopefuls looking to secure a seat on this year’s grid.
Some of those hopefuls stem from a W Series test held earlier on in the year. In February, 15 female drivers were invited to Arizona for testing and to showcase their talents as the Series looked for the next crop of female racers. Five of the drivers from that test were selected to go forward and participate in this official pre-season test in Barcelona, alongside some of the more experienced W Series competitors.
Wednesday
The first group of drivers took to the track on Wednesday. This included the reining W Series champion, Jamie Chadwick, who got to take her new Jenner Racing Team car for a spin, and Jessica Hawkins, who has recently been announced as a driver for TCR UK in the 2022 season. Wednesday also saw some rookies make their on track debut including Tereza Babickova and Emely De Heus, aged 18 and 19 respectively, who had been selected from the Arizona test.
Thursday
Thursday saw the second group of drivers hit the track. This group featured two new teams that had been announced earlier in the week – Click2Drive Bristol Street Motors Racing and Puma team- and their newly appointed drivers, Alice Powell and Emma Kimiläinen respectively. Away from the track, the ‘Quantfury W Series Team’ was announced, the drivers of which are yet to be confirmed, and it was agreed Russian driver Irina Sidorkova would not be participating in testing and was replaced by Jem Hepworth. This comes in light of recent events and we believe a decision about her involvement in the rest of the season will be announced shortly.
Friday
The test was brought to a close on Friday as the second group of drivers took to the track for the last time. The fifth team for this year was also announced – the CortDAO team – with the first driver being revealed as Fabienne Wohlwend, who scored sixth place overall last year.
The racing director (Dave Ryan) of W Series says:
It was pretty difficult for some drivers, while other drivers just turned up and got up to speed. Now it’s a question of going through everything, but it is quite clear who has done a good job. This is a difficult circuit in terms of driver fatigue, especially with some of them having not driven for so long.
Dave Ryan
The full three days of running have been vital in the preparations for the upcoming season, which opens on the 6th May at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.
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