Jamie Chadwick wins the inaugural W Series  on Hankook race tyres

The W Series drew to a close this weekend with a thrilling finale at Brands Hatch. Fourth place for championship leader Jamie Chadwick in the sixth and final race of the inaugural 2019 season was sufficient for the British driver to be crowned champion in the only all-woman Formula series in the world. Chadwick was rewarded for her title win with a cheque for 500,000 dollars. The total prize money on offer amounted to 1.5 million dollars. The new racing format, in which only female drivers may race, was launched at the start of the year. Premium tyre maker Hankook supported the drivers with the Ventus Race tyre, which, with its high level of consistency and predictability, proved to be the ideal partner for the young drivers.

Brands Hatch/Great Britain, 12th August 2019 – 18 women from 13 different countries lined up in the inaugural season of the W Series in 2019. They had all come through a tough selection procedure with over 50 applicants. The calendar featured six races, all of which featured on the support programme for the DTM. Jamie Chadwick’s victory in the season-opener in Hockenheim showed that she would be the woman to beat. Beitske Visser emerged as her closest rival. The Dutch driver won one race and produced consistently strong performances to keep the title race alive until the finale at Brands Hatch. However, she was ultimately unable to stop Chadwick from claiming the title.

The 21-year-old lived up to her billing as pre-season favourite. Chadwick had previously become the first woman to win the British GT Championship and the MRF Challenge, and was also the first female driver to win a race in the British Formula 3 series. However, success in the W Series is the highlight of the Brit’s career so far. “Appearing in the W Series has been a great opportunity. This title means everything to me. It is a dream come true. This is the first time I have driven on the Hankook race tyres, and I was very impressed. You are consistently quick on them, always know how the tyre will react, and can adapt to them quickly. My engineers were also impressed. The Hankook race tyre really helped me on my way to the title,” said Chadwick, looking back on her successful season in the W Series.

The all-woman Formula series returns next year. The top twelve drivers in the overall standings are automatically eligible to start. The remaining eight places at the wheel of the 270-hp Formula 3 cars will be allocated after another selection process. Manfred Sandbichler, Hankook Motorsport Director Europe: “It was fun to watch the drivers throughout the season. They stood their ground in some fierce, wheel-to-wheel battles and put on some great displays of racing on our Hankook race tyres. The series developed well over the course of the season and produced great motorsport right down to the finale here at Brands Hatch.”

A proposito di Hankook Tire

Hankook, uno dei principali produttori mondiali di pneumatici, fornisce pneumatici radiali premium ad alte prestazioni per automobili, SUV, fuoristrada, trasporto leggero, camper, autocarri e autobus oltre che per competizioni motoristiche (gare su circuito e su strada/rally).

Hankook investe costantemente in ricerca e sviluppo al fine di offrire ai propri clienti la massima qualità, abbinata all'eccellenza tecnologica. In cinque centri di sviluppo e in otto stabilimenti situati in tutto il mondo, l'impresa sviluppa e produce pneumatici atti a soddisfare pienamente le speciali esigenze e richieste dei diversi mercati. In Europa, presso il centro tecnologico Hankook di Hannover (Germania), avviene lo sviluppo degli pneumatici per i mercati locali e il primo equipaggiamento, nel rispetto delle indicazioni delle principali case automobilistiche europee. Gli pneumatici vengono prodotti, tra l'altro, nella modernissima fabbrica europea dell'impresa di Rácalmás (Ungheria), inaugurata nel 2007 ed in continua espansione.

La sede centrale europea e tedesca Hankook si trova a Neu-Isenburg, nei pressi di Francoforte sul Meno. Il produttore gestisce altre filiali in diversi paesi europei e vende i suoi prodotti tramite distributori regionali in altri mercati locali. L'impresa dà lavoro a 20.000 dipendenti in tutto il mondo e fornisce i propri prodotti in oltre 160 paesi. L'azienda è partner tecnico e fornitore esclusivo degli pneumatici della Generazione 3 per il FIA ABB Formula E World Championship dal 2023. Gli pneumatici Hankook sono utilizzati in primo equipaggiamento dalle principali case automobilistiche internazionali. Circa il 38% del fatturato globale dell'impresa è generato all'interno dell'Europa.

Per ulteriori informazioni visitate il sito www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com o www.hankooktire.com

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