W Series announces that it will stage 10 Formula 1 support races in 2022 – the most races that W Series has ever staged in a single season.
Starting with two races over the same weekend in support of Formula 1’s inaugural Miami Grand Prix at the brand-new Miami International Autodrome, USA, on 6-8 May, W Series will stage 10 F1 support races at eight grand prix weekends in three continents this year.
Following the success of W Series’ season-ending double-header in Austin, Texas, USA, last October – when more than 400,000 spectators across the weekend watched Jamie Chadwick successfully defend her title after a nail-biting finale at the Circuit of the Americas – W Series’ third on-track season will be bookended by double events. This season’s finale will take place in Mexico City, Mexico, on 28-30 October, when the 2022 W Series champion will be crowned following two races at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
In between, W Series will race at F1’s Spanish, British, French, Hungarian, United States, and Japanese Grands Prix – the latter, in October, being W Series’ first-ever round in Asia.
Toyota Gazoo Racing New Zealand will support W Series with the logistics required to get racing cars to F1 race weekends in the most sustainable way this year. Toyota will send 18 of its FT60 cars to be used by W Series during the rounds at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain, and Suzuka, Japan. It is the first time that junior formula categories have worked together in this way to stage a championship.
W Series uses identical Tatuus chassis to the Toyota Racing Series, but with different engines, and the cars being shipped for those two rounds will retain their Toyota engines. Sharing cars between the two championships helps to manage logistics and enables the use of sea, as opposed to air, freight, keeping the series’ carbon footprint as low as possible.
Dave Ryan (Racing Director, W Series) said:
“We’ve had two productive pre-season tests, the drivers are ready to hit the ground running, and it’s full steam ahead to Miami. After the success of last year’s final round in Austin, we’re all looking forward to returning to the USA to start the season with a double-header, and it will be very special to be part of the inaugural Miami Grand Prix weekend.
“It’s great that we were able to come to an arrangement with TGRNZ over the use of their cars. I would like to thank Andrew Davis and Nicolas Caillol for the enthusiastic and proactive manner in which they approached this project, along with Bob McMurray who made the initial introduction between TGNZR and ourselves. Putting together an international racing series is a complex operation requiring lots of resources, as W Series stages more races in a single season than ever before in 2022. This is a good solution for W Series as it prevents the use of air freight and allows us to stage our support races at eight Formula 1 grand prix weekends in the most sustainable way.”
The 2022 W Series calendar is as follows:
| Race | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Race 1 | 6-8 May | Miami, USA |
| Race 2 | 6-8 May | Miami, USA |
| Race 3 | 20-22 May | Barcelona, Spain |
| Race 4 | 1-3 July | Silverstone, UK |
| Race 5 | 22-24 July | Le Castellet, France |
| Race 6 | 29-31 July | Budapest, Hungary |
| Race 7 | 7-9 October | Suzuka, Japan |
| Race 8 | 21-23 October | Austin, USA |
| Race 9 | 28-30 October | Mexico City, Mexico |
| Race 10 | 28-30 October | Mexico City, Mexico |
Practice, qualifying and race session times at each round will be announced in due course.
