Britain’s Jamie Chadwick sets the pace and fans flock to the paddock as the new W Series gets under way at Hockenheim

There was neither fanfare nor fireworks when the cars took to the track for practice at the Hockenheim ring on Friday morning, but for the 18 female drivers of the new W Series there was a sense the real business had started.

Announced and promoted with grand ambitions, the women’s-only W Series began the task of attempting to change the landscape for women in racing on a grey, chilly morning in Germany.

Britain’s Jamie Chadwick topped the time sheets in the first session and was quickest again in the second, looking impressive on a wet track. She and her fellow drivers go into Saturday’s qualifying and race at the vanguard of a radical approach to addressing motor racing’s male hegemony.

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The W Series has selected its drivers on merit and they are not required to bring financial backing. A lack of funding has been key in preventing many women from furthering their careers in motor sport. The intention is to change this by putting the women on track in a six-race season, promoting themselves, gaining experience and improving their chances to go racing in other series, all the while inspiring a new generation of women and girls.

Chadwick, who was the first woman to win the British GT championship, was enthused after climbing from her car. “To see 18 females on the grid and as competitive as they all are is groundbreaking for the sport,” she said. “Hopefully it really will see the rise of women in motor sport.

“There is so much talk about getting more women into the sport but not enough is actually done. This really is a step in the right direction. Ideally we would see more women racing men at the top level but until then we have 18 female drivers racing in Formula Three cars, which we didn’t have before. The level is high and there really is going to be good racing.”

The series runs as part of the German Touring car championship, DTM’s, race meetings. Very popular in Germany, DTM pulls huge crowds and if they had any impression that the female lineup presented artifice or novelty it had been dispelled by the end of the first session.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The cars line up before practice at Hockenheim. Photograph: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

Natalie Kohler, an 18-year-old from nearby Walldorf, was one of the fans who had come to take a closer look as the drivers assembled at their cars. “The W series is interesting,” she said. “I like it because I think women should drive more and in bigger series, like DTM or Formula One. I think it will inspire other girls to go racing. One of these drivers could make it into F1.”

Putting the single-make, single-seater cars through their paces, the drivers quickly set about pushing their new rides to the limit. After the first session when they reeled in to the paddock, which is open to fans, a crowd was already gathered.

It was a significant moment. Here were 18 women removing their helmets, inspecting their cars and in animated conversation about their runs. There were more women in this 50m of tarmac than are racing in single-seater series around the world this year.

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At the marquees that serve as garages a steady stream of fans stopped to observe and autographs were already being sought. Here a post-session chat with engineers could not have been more normal for the drivers but for interested onlookers surely none had seen it with such a striking absence of men in race suits.

It felt, simply, refreshing. The chief executive, Catherine Bond Muir, was confident their task would be an overwhelming success. “We are putting 18 women on the grid this year,” she said. “More and more will enter. In 10 years’ time they will wonder what all the fuss was about. Only historians will remember what it was like at this time.”

There is an awfully long way to go and the W Series has set itself mighty goals but it has at least made a strong getaway now that the wheels are in motion.