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W Series joins Esports party with W Series Esports League for female racing drivers only

Motorsport Technology
08 May 2020
4 min read

Following on from successful Esports initiatives entertaining fans and drivers during the coronavirus pandemic, W Series has now joined the party with the W Series Esports League for female racing drivers only.

As with the ground breaking W Series, the Esports version will feature all 18 drivers who have qualified to race in the on-track W Series this year and the competition will be run on 10 of the most iconic virtual circuits in the world, including the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Circuit of the Americas, Spa-Francorchamps, Suzuka, Silverstone and the Nurburgring.

In order to make the racing as realistic as possible, the W Series has partnered with Logitech G, Beyond Entertainment and iRacing, the leading esports simulation platform, and features digital versions of the Tatuus Formula Renault 2.0 race car, similar in performance to the W Series Tatuus Formula 3 race car in which the women compete in the series proper.

“Nothing beats the sheer thrill of driving a real race car flat-out on a real racetrack, and I don’t mind admitting I’m missing that enormously,” commented reigning W Series champion, Jamie Chadwick. “But I’ve been massively impressed by the work that W Series, Logitech, Beyond Entertainment and iRacing have done together over the past few weeks, and the result, the W Series Esports League, is seriously impressive.

“Moreover, when I saw the list of circuits, I literally gasped: it’s a truly mouth-watering schedule. So you can be well sure I’ll be practising hard from now until the first W Series Esports League race. It won’t be easy to continue my winning form – I respect all the W Series drivers and I know how keen they’ll all be to do well – but I’ll definitely be giving it my best shot. Bring it on!”

The format will see the drivers compete in up to three races run at each of the 10 circuits, of varying lengths/durations, with the league set to commence in the coming weeks.

“The 2019 W Series championship was a brilliantly successful and hugely popular six-race debut season, and I’m sure that the 2020 W Series championship, which has been scheduled over eight races, would have been even bigger and even better,” said David Coulthard, Chairman of the W Series Advisory Board. “We intend to stage on-track W Series races once the global COVID-19 crisis has subsided, whenever that will be, but, in the meantime, we’re delighted to have created the next best thing, the W Series Esports League, which will race on 10 of the greatest racetracks in the world.

“I began my racing career prior to the digital revolution, so I’d be the first to admit that I’m not an ace sim racer, but I recognise the brilliance of modern esports and I’m very much looking forward to watching our W Series drivers take each other on, racing wheel-to-wheel, on identical set-ups, remotely, from their own homes, all over the world.”

In the current absence of any real racing and no clear picture emerging as to when social distancing measures will be lifted, it is hoped that the series will help to further raise the profile of female sim racing and encourage more women and girls everywhere to take up eracing.

“We are excited to partner with W Series to deliver high-stakes sim racing competitions designed to showcase the best women drivers across the globe,” added Joseph Bentley, Head of Beyond Entertainment at Logitech. “It is no secret that women in particular are under-represented in esports and, by collaborating with W Series, Beyond is proud to continue working as a positive force for change in the esports industry.”

Motorsport Technology

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