W Series arrive at a Virtual Watkins Glen, USA for round six of their Esports League, in a week that saw the top of the championship table taste victory and disappointment.
The series’ second trip to the USA saw the grid line up at a virtual Watkins Glen, a circuit steeped in motorsport history and was once the home of the “Formula One United States Grand Prix”.
Race One
Beitske Visser was on usual high form during qualifyin,g beating Irina Sidorkova to pole by two tenths of a second. Visser made an excellent start to remain in the lead after the long run down to turn one. A mistake from Sidokova on the exit of turn one allowed the chasing pack to bunch up behind her, giving Visser plenty of breathing space. A collision between Sidorkova and Marta Garcia at the first chicane sent Visser’s only real challengers tumbling down the order. The incident added to Visser’s already comfortable lead and the championship leader’s nearest challenger, Catlin Wood, was over three seconds behind. Despite some tussling in the midfeild, Visser remain unchallenged and took a commanding victory in the first race of the round.
Race One Result
| Pos | No | Driver | Time/Retired | Grid | Points | FL |
| 1 | 95 | Beitske Visser | 15:58.320 | 1 | 20 | 1 |
| 2 | 20 | Caitlin Wood | -6.888 | 3 | 17 | |
| 3 | 31 | Tasmin Pepper | -11.119 | 6 | 15 | |
| 4 | 32 | Nerea Marti | -16.295 | 4 | 13 | |
| 5 | 44 | Abbie Eaton | -17.558 | 7 | 11 | |
| 6 | 17 | Ayla Agren | -24.456 | 8 | 10 | |
| 7 | 26 | Sarah Moore | -25.408 | 9 | 9 | |
| 8 | 97 | Bruna Tomaselli | -27.484 | 14 | 8 | |
| 9 | 19 | Marta Garcia | -27.764 | 5 | 7 | |
| 10 | 5 | Fabienne Wohlwend | -29.088 | 11 | 6 |
Race Two
Naomi Schiff started the reverse-grid race from P1 and her lead was short lived as both Belen Garcia and Sidorkova quickly overtook her. Meanwhile, championship leader Visser had made her way up from last on the grid to eighth. As the race approached the halfway stage, a great battle between Sidorkova and B. Garcia saw Sidorkova pass Garcia for the lead. Visser was still working her way through the field and had dispatched with Sarah Moore and Bruna Tomaselli to get to sixth place which soon became fifth as Visser capitalised of an incident between Marta Garcia and Schiff. M. Garcia took the final podium place with a stellar move along the back straight with four minutes left.
Race Two Result
| Pos | No | Driver | Time/Retired | Grid | Points | FL |
| 1 | 51 | Ira Sidorkova | 16:07.545 | 3 | 20 | |
| 2 | 22 | Belen Garcia | -4.466 | 2 | 17 | |
| 3 | 19 | Marta Garcia | -8.519 | 8 | 15 | |
| 4 | 95 | Beitske Visser | -8.634 | 16 | 13 | 1 |
| 5 | 5 | Fabienne Wohlwend | -11.969 | 7 | 11 | |
| 6 | 97 | Bruna Tomaselli | -16.853 | 9 | 10 | |
| 7 | 99 | Naomi Schiff | -24.599 | 1 | 9 | |
| 8 | 32 | Nerea Marti | -37.943 | 13 | 8 | |
| 9 | 26 | Sarah Moore | -39.225 | 10 | 7 | |
| 10 | 17 | Ayla Agren | -40.069 | 11 | 6 |
Race Three
It was another dominating qualifying display from Visser who secured her second pole of the round from Wood in P2. Wood made a slow start giving Visser some breathing space right off the bat. Australian Wood dropped to fourth behind Marta Garcia and Irina Sidorkova. An uncharacteristic move from Visser who got an overtake wrong on Marta Garcia and hit the wall allowed Spaniard Garcia plenty of breathing space herself and more importanly a clear track to take a comfortable victory from Sidorkova and Wood who took P2 and P3 respectively.
Race Three Result
| Pos | No | Driver | Time/Retired | Grid | Points | FL |
| 1 | 19 | Marta Garcia | 21:16.958 | 3 | 20 | |
| 2 | 51 | Ira Sidorkova | -4.034 | 4 | 17 | |
| 3 | 20 | Caitlin Wood | -4.844 | 2 | 15 | |
| 4 | 32 | Nerea Marti | -9.417 | 6 | 13 | |
| 5 | 21 | Jessica Hawkins | -19.458 | 11 | 11 | |
| 6 | 22 | Belen Garcia | -24.695 | 12 | 10 | |
| 7 | 97 | Bruna Tomaselli | -32.915 | 14 | 9 | |
| 8 | 26 | Sarah Moore | -37.422 | 13 | 8 | |
| 9 | 31 | Tasmin Pepper | -59.816 | 5 | 7 | |
| 10 | 5 | Fabienne Wohlwend | -1:15.798 | 9 | 6 |
On a great night for the Spaniard, Marta Garcia said; “I started fifth in the first race as my qualifying was not great. I had a decent start and made up places but then had a crash with Ira [Sidorkova]. It was a pity because it was really close, we couldn’t do anything about it, just a racing incident. After that I overtook some drivers and finished ninth. In the reverse-grid race I started eighth, had a good start again to quickly get into the top five and then I managed to overtake Fabienne [Wohlwend] and Naomi [Schiff] to finish third.
In the last race I started third, had a good start and overtook Beitske [Visser] on the first lap with the tow on the straight. She fought back and tried to overtake but she made a bit of a mistake and after that my pace was good and I could get the win. Suzuka is another new circuit for me. I’ve never been there before so I’m really looking forward to learning it and I will be training hard to try to get a good result.”
Championship Standings
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Round seven is at Suzuka International Racing Course, Japan, next Thursday, 23 July at 7pm BST. You can watch all three races on BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button, BBC Sport website and W Series’ Twitch, YouTube and Facebook channels.
