Photo: LAT Images
W Series has contacted Ferrari regarding the Rising Stars young driver initiative it has created with the FIA’s Girls on Track programme.
The collaboration was announced last month, as part of the expanding programme set up by the Women in Motorsport Commission fronted by rallying legend Michele Mouton.
It started with female drivers aged between 12 and 16 being nominated by their national sporting authorities, and 20 of them being picked to attend a Paul Ricard shootout in October. Twelve of those will proceed to a training camp based around Formula 4 and karting, which will decide the four who will progress to a one-week FDA course.
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Subject to meeting an assessment standard, one of those four would then be awarded an F4 drive for 2021 as a Ferrari junior.
“We fully endorse it. We have contacted Ferrari about it, and we are very supportive of it as we are with any initiative that promotes women in motorsport,” W Series CEO Catherine Bond Muir said.
“It could potentially dovetail fantastically into W Series because it covers girls between the age of 12 and 16, and our drivers have to be at least 16 years of age, so it could potentially be a great feeder initiative into W Series.”
The regional Formula 3-spec Tatuus T318 car is used in W Series, and the FIA places regional F3 series as the step above F4 in its ‘Global Pathway’ to Formula 1.
W Series’ cancelled its 2020 season as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic, but it is expected to return in 2021. Like many series, it has run a substitute Esports competition while real-world racing has not been taking place.