The 2020 W Series was a planned motor racing championship that was scheduled to be the second W Series season. The championship was to be exclusively open to female racing drivers as a Formula Regional-level racing series.[1]
The planned championship season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[2] and a 10-event eSports league for female racing drivers only was held on the iRacing platform in its place.[3] The league was ultimately won by Beitske Visser.[4]
The top twelve finishers from the 2019 championship were automatically eligible to compete in the 2020 season,[5] leaving eight vacancies in the driver line up.[6] Forty new drivers applied to take part in the season; however, only fourteen of those took part in the first test which took place between 16 and 18 September 2019 at the Circuito de Almería, Spain.[7] [8]
The following eight drivers competed in the 2019 W Series but did not automatically qualify for 2020:
Sarah Bovy
Megan Gilkes
Esmee Hawkey
Shea Holbrook
Vivien Keszthelyi
Gosia Rdest
Naomi Schiff
Caitlin WoodThe following eight drivers attempted to qualify for the 2020 W Series, having not competed in 2019 but were unsuccessful or elected not to race in W Series:[9]
Courtney Crone
Michelle Gatting Hannah Grisham
Chelsea Herbert
Anna Inotsume
Gabriela Jílková Katherine Legge Abbie Munro| Drivers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 |  Fabienne Wohlwend | ||
| 7 |  Emma Kimiläinen | ||
| 11 |  Vicky Piria | ||
| 17 |  Ayla Ågren | ||
| 19 |  Marta García | ||
| 21 | Jessica Hawkins | ||
| 22 | Belén García | ||
| 26 | Sarah Moore | ||
| 27 | Alice Powell | ||
| 31 |  Tasmin Pepper | ||
| 32 | Nerea Martí | ||
| 37 | Sabré Cook | ||
| 44 | Abbie Eaton | ||
| 51 |  Irina Sidorkova | ||
| 55 | Jamie Chadwick | ||
| 85 | Miki Koyama | ||
| 95 |  Beitske Visser | ||
| 97 |  Bruna Tomaselli | ||
| Source:[10] | |||
The series was scheduled to continue supporting the 2020 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for most races.[11] [12] Races at Hockenheimring, Circuit Zolder and Misano World Circuit were replaced by races at Igora Drive, Anderstorp Raceway and Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. On 16 January 2020, the series announced it would stage races in the Americas, operating as a support category for the United States and Mexico City Grands Prix.[13] On 4 June 2020, the series announced that it would not hold on-track races for the 2020 season, with Formula 1 Managing Director of Motorsports, Ross Brawn, stating "It is a big disappointment for all of us that due to the difficulties presented by COVID-19 the events will not take place."[14]
| Round | Circuit | Date | Maps | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Igora Drive | 30 May | |||
| 2 |  Anderstorp Raceway | 13 June | |||
| 3 | 27 June | ||||
| 4 | Norisring | 11 July | |||
| 5 | Brands Hatch | 23 August | |||
| 6 | TT Circuit Assen | nowrap | 5 September | ||
| 7 | Circuit of the Americas | 24 October | |||
| 8 | nowrap |  Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez | nowrap | 31 October |
The inaugural and ultimately only season of the W Series eSports League virtual championship was announced on 7 May 2020 in response to the cancellation of the normal championship. The league partnered with Logitech G, Beyond Entertainment, and iRacing to contest 10 virtual events with all drivers competing in digital versions of the Tatuus Formula Renault 2.0 race car.[15] Events consisted of three races, three heats of 15mins each with the second being a reverse-grid race, and were broadcast with a week delay on YouTube. All 18 drivers who qualified to race in the on-track championship plus the three reserve drivers partook in the sim racing series, with guest wildcards employed late in the season as some drivers returned to normal racing in other categories. Beitske Visser clinched the championship title with a round to spare, winning 11 races and achieving pole position 12 times.[16]
| Round | Circuit | Broadcast date | Race winners | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | nowrap | Autodromo Nazionale di Monza | nowrap | 11 June | R1: Beitske Visser R2: Gosia RdestR3: Beitske Visser | [17] |
| 2 | Circuit of the Americas | 18 June | R1: Beitske Visser R3: Beitske Visser | [18] | ||
| 3 | Brands Hatch | 25 June | R1: Beitske Visser R2: Irina SidorkovaR3: Irina Sidorkova | [19] | ||
| 4 | nowrap | Autódromo José Carlos Pace | nowrap | 2 July | R1: Beitske Visser R2: Irina SidorkovaR3: Beitske Visser | [20] |
| 5 | nowrap | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | nowrap | 9 July | R1: Marta García R2: Tasmin Pepper R3: Marta García | [21] |
| 6 | Watkins Glen International | 16 July | R1: Beitske Visser R2: Irina SidorkovaR3: Marta García | [22] | ||
| 7 | nowrap | Suzuka International Racing Course | nowrap | 23 July | R1: Marta García R2: Belén GarcíaR3: Marta García | [23] |
| 8 | Mount Panorama Circuit | 30 July | R1: Marta García R2: Tasmin Pepper R3: Beitske Visser | [24] | ||
| 9 | nowrap | 6 August | R1: Beitske Visser R2: Gabriela JílkováR3: Beitske Visser | [25] | ||
| 10 | Silverstone Circuit | 13 August | R1: Marta García R2: Sarah MooreR3: Marta García | [26] | ||
| Source:[27] | ||||||
| Pos. | Driver | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beitske Visser | 439 | |
| 2 | Marta García | 423 | |
| 3 | Irina Sidorkova | 331 | |
| 4 | Nerea Martí | 317 | |
| 5 | Tasmin Pepper | 305 | |
| 6 | Caitlin Wood | 303 | |
| 7 | Ayla Ågren | 224 | |
| 8 | Belén García | 212 | |
| 9 | Sarah Moore | 205 | |
| 10 | Naomi Schiff | 161 | |
| 11 | nowrap | Fabienne Wohlwend | 145 |
| 12 | Alice Powell | 137 | |
| 13 | Jessica Hawkins | 135 | |
| 14 | Abbie Eaton | 124 | |
| 15 | Emma Kimiläinen | 101 | |
| 16 | Gosia Rdest | 100 | |
| 17 | Bruna Tomaselli | 86 | |
| 18 | Sabré Cook | 68 | |
| 19 | Miki Koyama | 53 | |
| 20 | Vittoria Piria | 39 | |
| 21 | Jamie Chadwick | 18 | |
| Guest drivers | |||
| Gabriela Jílková | 0 | ||
| Hannah Grisham | 0 | ||
| Charlie Martin | 0 |