Today, at the Circuito de Almeria in southern Spain, 13 new W Series hopefuls from 11 countries took to the track on day one of a three-day driver selection test, in a bid to prove themselves worthy of a place on the 2020 W Series grid.

The 13 hopefuls were Abbie Eaton (GBR), Abbie Munro (GBR), Anna Inotsume (JPN), Ayla Argen (NOR), Belen Garcia (ESP), Bruna Tomaselli (BRA), Chelsea Herbert (NZL), Courtney Crone (USA), Gabriella Jilkova (CZE), Hannah Grisham (USA), Irina Sidorkova (RUS), Michelle Gatting (DNK) and Nerea Marti (ESP).

Also present today was Formula 2 driver Tatiana Calderon (COL), who was in attendance to find out more about W Series; two established 2019 W Series drivers, Beitske Visser (NLD) and Miki Koyama (JPN), were also invited to set benchmark lap times.

Katherine Legge (GBR) did not take part in the first day of testing owing to conflicting personal commitments but she will join the group tomorrow and Wednesday.

Hot temperatures and dusty conditions made for a challenging first day on track but the drivers generally adapted well.

Dave Ryan, W Series Racing Director, said:

“The first day of the driver selection test here at Almeria went pretty smoothly, the drivers getting to grips with the task of driving the W Series Tatuus T-318 Formula 3 car with varying degrees of composure, largely according to their comparative amount of experience in single-seaters. But that’s what we expected. Besides, apart from fast lap times, we’re looking for a number of other qualities, important among which is the ability to learn and improve.

“The weather here today has been hot, sunny, dry and slightly breezy, and dusty off-line, which called for a disciplined approach from all the drivers. Inevitably there were a few spinners as they became used to the car and the circuit, but again that was something we’d anticipated.

“The test will continue tomorrow, when the weather is forecast to be as hot, as dry and as breezy as it’s been today, albeit somewhat less sunny and rather more overcast.”



















High resolution images from today and throughout the test can be accessed via our Media Centre.