2021 Zandvoort W Series round explained

Type:	CUST
Description:	Event 6 of 7 of the 2021 W Series
Country:	NED
Grand Prix:	W Series
Gp Suffix:	Zandvoort round
Year:	2021
Official Name:	2021 W Series Zandvoort round
Location:	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort, North Holland, the Netherlands
Course:	Permanent circuit
Course Km:	4.259
Course Mi:	2.646
Distance Laps:	20
Distance Km:	85.180
Distance Mi:	52.907
Pole Country:	FIN
Pole Team:	Écurie W
Pole Time:	1:34.326
Fast Driver:	Alice Powell
Fast Team:	Racing X
Fast Time:	1:34.719
Fast Country:	GBR
First Driver:	Alice Powell
First Country:	GBR
First Team:	Racing X
Second Driver:	Jamie Chadwick
Second Country:	GBR
Third Driver:	Emma Kimiläinen
Third Country:	FIN
Third Team:	Écurie W

The 2021 W Series Zandvoort round was the sixth and penultimate round of the 2021 W Series, and took place at Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands on 4 September 2021.^[1] The event was an undercard to the 2021 Formula One World Championship round at the same circuit.^[2]

Report

Background

Irina Sidorkova's coronavirus test result at the previous round turned out to be a false positive, and the Russian was let back into the field in time for Zandvoort. Abbi Pulling replaced Caitlin Wood at the Puma W Series Team.^[3]

Jamie Chadwick led the championship on 91 points, 7 points ahead of Alice Powell.

Race

There was drama before the start as Bruna Tomaselli spun at Tarzan on the warm-up lap. Because she fell behind Fabienne Wohlwend, who was due to start last following a crash in qualifying, the Brazilian was sent to the back of the grid.

The start of the race was fairly tame, with the only movement towards the front coming from Jessica Hawkins and Abbie Eaton; the pair passing the slow-starting Abbi Pulling through the opening sequence of corners. Pulling also fell victim to Belén García at Tarzan on lap 2, falling from fifth to eighth – however the other García was overambitious heading into the Hugenholzbocht on Vittoria Piria, attempting to cut under the Italian and nearly losing her wing in the process.

Having initially pulled away from Powell and Chadwick on the opening lap, polesitter and Spa winner Emma Kimiläinen was slowly reeled in by the pair of Brits – and Powell made an unconventional yet successful move for the lead at turn 10, with Chadwick following her compatriot through for second half a lap later at Tarzan. Hawkins however had failed to keep in contact with Nerea Martí ahead and began to form a train behind.

The Tatuus–Alfa Romeo F3 T-318 chassis used in the W Series had gained notoriety amongst the other championships it was deployed in for being difficult to race closely, and the nature of the Zandvoort circuit meant that overtaking proved extraordinarily difficult unless drivers made unforced errors. Marta García proved this point by running wide at the Kumhobocht and the Spaniard dropped to the back of the field almost immediately, after which she failed to make up any ground on the field and remained stubbornly stuck behind Tomaselli in 17th.

Alice Powell claimed her third win of the season ahead of Jamie Chadwick in second – the result placing the two drivers level on 109 points at the top of the standings. Kimiläinen was the only other driver still in championship contention with two races left; she had fallen back into the clutches of Martí but the academy driver did not manage to take third away from the Finn. The only other movement in the field towards the end of the race was a last lap pass from Pulling on Belén García; the Spaniard locking up and running slightly wide of the high line at the Hugenholzbocht which allowed Pulling to pull past on the run up to Scheivlak.

Classification

Qualifying

		Team	Time/
1	7	Écurie W	1:34.326
2	27	Racing X	+0.074
3	55	Veloce Racing	+0.257
4	32	W Series Academy	+0.732
5	49		+0.852
6	21	Racing X	+0.869
7	44	Écurie W	+0.996
8	26	Scuderia W	+1.212
9	22	Scuderia W	+1.225
10	54	Sirin Racing	+1.246
11	11	Sirin Racing	+1.276
12	95	M. Forbes Motorsport	+1.324
13	19	Puma W Series Team	+1.461
14	97	Veloce Racing	+1.555
15	51	W Series Academy	+1.829
16	17	M. Forbes Motorsport	+2.316
17	37	Bunker Racing	+2.655
18	5	Bunker Racing	+3.310
Source:^[5]

Race

		Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid
1	27	Alice Powell	Racing X	20	31:53.483	2	25
2	55	Jamie Chadwick	Veloce Racing	20	+2.871	3	18
3	7	Emma Kimiläinen	Écurie W	20	+9.913	1	15
4	32	Nerea Martí	W Series Academy	20	+12.157	4	12
5	21	Jessica Hawkins	Racing X	20	+13.944	6	10
6	44	Abbie Eaton	Écurie W	20	+14.996	7	8
7	49	Abbi Pulling		20	+15.889	5	6
8	22	Belén García	Scuderia W	20	+16.637	9	4
9	26	Sarah Moore	Scuderia W	20	+17.357	8	2
10	54	Miki Koyama	Sirin Racing	20	+20.943	10	1
11	11	Vittoria Piria	Sirin Racing	20	+21.937	11
12	95	Beitske Visser	M. Forbes Motorsport	20	+22.126	12
13	51	Irina Sidorkova	W Series Academy	20	+22.714	15
14	37	Sabré Cook	Bunker Racing	20	+31.479	17
15	17	Ayla Ågren	M. Forbes Motorsport	20	+31.664	16
16	5	Fabienne Wohlwend	Bunker Racing	20	+41.428	18
17	97	Bruna Tomaselli	Veloce Racing	20	+48.240	14
18	19	Marta García	Puma W Series Team	20	+49.462	13
Fastest lap set by Alice Powell: 1:34.719
Source:^[6]