The four Dutch finalists in the new W Series visited our workshop in Amsterdam last week, to test a formula race car on one of our simulators.
In preparation for the final selection stage at the Almeria circuit in Spain, Beitske Visser, Stéphane Kox, Milou Mets and Shirley van der Lof all did several runs of the track on the Cruden simulator, analyzed their data and gained some useful experience of how to work with a race engineer.
The W Series is a unique ground-breaking free-to-enter single-seater motor racing series for women drivers, with a top prize of US$500,000 for the winner and a total prize fund of US$1.5 million. The inaugural W Series season will commence in the spring of 2019, with six European races to be held in this, the first year.
There are 28 finalists and the final selection for the 18 to 20 available places will take place between March 21st and 27th in Spain.
The session at Cruden was led by our good friend and race engineer supremo, Rik Vernooij of Van Amersfoort Racing.
The women had lots of good things to say about the day:
Beitske Visser: “This is going to be a big help. Especially on a track, you have never raced before it is very valuable to prepare in a simulator like this.The experience of driving a formula car in the W-series will help me get closer to my goal to drive for a Formula E or DTM team.”
Shirley van der Lof: “Spending a full day in a professional driving simulator and analyzing the data with an experienced race engineer like Rik Vernooij, is the best possible preparation for us.”
Milou Mets: “Until now I have only raced on oval tracks, currently in the Late Model V8 class. My ultimate goal in motorsport is to race the Indy 500. A seat in the W Series would help me get closer to that goal.”
Good luck ladies!
