Following a successful debut for the W Series on U.S. soil last year, the international single-seater motor racing championship for female drivers announced a new testing program in America.
The session will be conducted Jan. 31 through Feb. 4 at Inde Motorsports Ranch near Tucson, Arizona.
Fourteen drivers have been invited to attend the five-day test, ranging in age from 15-year-old Nicole Havrda, a native of Canada, to Corinna Kamper, 27, from Austria. Eleven countries are represented in the test, including three Americans: Madison Aust, 16, Chloe Chambers, 17, and Lindsay Brewer, 24.
Inde Motorsports Ranch is a 2.75-mile circuit that can be reconfigured into multiple layouts to facilitate the assessment.
The international list of drivers will be evaluated in U.S. specification F4 cars by W Series Racing Director Dave Ryan and his team.
“The purpose of this test is to get to know a new group of drivers and understand what they are capable of as we finalize our 2022 driver line-up and look to the future,” Ryan, the series’ racing director, said in a release. “All of the drivers who will be with us in Arizona have demonstrated talent and potential in their careers so far and, while some may be a year or two away from racing in W Series, this is an opportunity for them to showcase their skills and for us to accelerate their development.
“The final round of our 2021 season at the Circuit of the Americas was very successful and proved what a great appetite there is for W Series in the USA. I am therefore delighted to be staging this test at the Inde Motorsports Ranch with a great group of drivers, many of whom have experience of racing in the Americas.”
The test marks the start of the 2022 W Series season. The full calendar of races, preseason testing and the driver lineup will be announced at a later date.
The American test is intended to continue to build on the excitement from the W Series first trip to America last year, which saw Jamie Chadwick and Alice Powell enter the final weekend at the Circuit of the Americas tied in points. Chadwick, who also competed in Extreme E last year, swept the weekend at COTA and walked away with the championship.
#WSeries raced at some epic circuits in 2021, but where do you want to see us race this year? 🤔
— W Series (@WSeriesRacing) January 11, 2022
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