W Series Esports League: Spanish Stars Shine Brightest at Suzuka

Marta Garcia moved up to second place in the W Series Esports League by winning two of the three races at Suzuka where she was the top-scorer for the third round in a row.

The 19-year-old was victorious in the first and third races of Round Seven at the iconic Japanese circuit, and came from last on the grid to fourth in the reverse-grid race. That was won by fellow Spaniard Belen Garcia who became the sixth different W Series Esports League race-winner.

Marta scored 56 points – her best result at a single round – to go into second place ahead of Irina Sidorkova. Marta is 51 points behind W Series Esports League leader Beitske Visser with three rounds remaining. The Dutch driver, 25, topped both qualifying sessions but failed to convert either of those pole positions into a victory. Beitske’s best result was a runner-up finish in race one and she also recorded the fastest lap in the first two races for a total of 39 points. That tally was matched by Nerea Marti and Ayla Agren who scored one podium finish each to move up to fifth and seventh respectively in the League table.

Guest drivers Hannah Grisham and Gabriela Jilkova – who both tested for W Series on-track in Almeria, Spain, last year – impressed on their W Series Esports League debuts. Czech driver Gabriela, 25, was second in the reverse-grid race, while American Hannah, 20, recorded top-10 finishes in the second and third races. As guest drivers, they are not eligible to score W Series Esports League points.

The W Series Esports League table after Round Seven is as follows:

Position	No	Driver	Points
1	95	Beitske Visser	330
2	19	Marta Garcia	279
3	51	Irina Sidorkova	257
4	20	Caitlin Wood	210
5	32	Nerea Marti	205
6	31	Tasmin Pepper	203
7	17	Ayla Agren	136
8	22	Belen Garcia	130
9	27	Alice Powell	130
10	21	Jessica Hawkins	125
11	26	Sarah Moore	116
12	44	Abbie Eaton	115
13	5	Fabienne Wohlwend	90
14	7	Emma Kimilainen	86
15	99	Naomi Schiff	84
16	3	Gosia Rdest	81
17	97	Bruna Tomaselli	59
18	85	Miki Koyama	48
19	37	Sabre Cook	47
20	11	Vicky Piria	19
21	55	Jamie Chadwick	18

Race 1: Beitske beat Marta to pole position by two tenths of a second, but the Spaniard made the better start to the race and took the lead at Turn One. That allowed Irina to have a run a Beitske, but she got too close and damaged her front wing before running wide and dropping down the order. Caitlin Wood was promoted to third and, with 10 minutes remaining, Nerea took fourth place from Ayla with a move up the inside at the hairpin. Five minutes from the end, the top two crossed the line side-by-side but Marta held on at Turn One. Beitske took the lead at the end of that lap with an incredible overtake around the outside at 130R, but Marta regained first place with a move up the inside at the same corner on the next lap. Beitske got a great exit out of the final chicane on the last lap to set up a drag race to the chequered flag, but Marta won it by nine one-hundredths of a second.

RACE 1
Pos	No	Driver	Time/Retired	Grid	Points	FL
1	19	Marta Garcia	16:02.203	2	20
2	95	Beitske Visser	-0.096	1	17	1
3	20	Caitlin Wood	-3.189	4	15
4	32	Nerea Marti	-11.693	5	13
5	17	Ayla Agren	-12.975	8	11
6	51	Ira Sidorkova	-15.701	3	10
7	26	Sarah Moore	-31.616	17	9
8	44	Abbie Eaton	-36.433	9	8
9	3	Gosia Rdest	-40.581	16	7
10	2	Gabriela Jilkova	-40.644	6	0
11	31	Tasmin Pepper	-44.093	7	6
12	1	Hannah Grisham	-59.513	14	0
13	21	Jessica Hawkins	-1:06.064	18	5
14	7	Emma Kimilainen	-1:15.672	13	4
15	85	Miki Koyama	-1:51.315	10	3
16	11	Vicky Piria	-1 LAP	19	2
17	99	Naomi Schiff	-1 LAP	12	1
18	97	Bruna Tomaselli	-1 LAP	15	0
19	22	Belen Garcia	-2 LAPS	11	0

Race 2: Belen started the reverse-grid race from pole position, but while her and second-placed Bruna Tomaselli made smooth starts to hold their positions there was chaos behind them on the opening lap. Spins on the starting grid and mistakes by Miki Koyama and Vicky Piria impacted several drivers, most notably Beitske who was relegated to the rear of the field having made early progress. Tasmin Pepper and Gabriela were the chief beneficiaries and Gabriela passed the South African for third with nine minutes left before quickly taking second place from Bruna. Tasmin, Ayla, Abbie Eaton and Marta all passed Bruna in a hurry and Ayla moved into the final podium position with a move on Tasmin at 130R four minutes from the end. Belen was clear at the front so the focus during the closing stages switched to Marta. After a long wheel-to-wheel battle she finally took fifth place from Abbie on the penultimate lap, diving up the inside at the final chicane. That gave her one lap to overtake Tasmin and she managed it at the Degner curve to finish fourth.

RACE 2
Pos	No	Driver	Time/Retired	Grid	Points	FL
1	22	Belen Garcia	16:11.029	1	20
2	2	Gabriela Jilkova	-0.713	10	0
3	17	Ayla Agren	-7.309	15	17
4	19	Marta Garcia	-9.876	19	15
5	31	Tasmin Pepper	-11.099	9	13
6	44	Abbie Eaton	-12.033	12	11
7	20	Caitlin Wood	-12.221	17	10
8	32	Nerea Marti	-13.06	16	9
9	97	Bruna Tomaselli	-31.751	2	8
10	1	Hannah Grisham	-45.476	8	0
11	51	Ira Sidorkova	-59.642	14	7
12	21	Jessica Hawkins	-1:05.860	7	6
13	95	Beitske Visser	-1:06.126	18	5	1
14	85	Miki Koyama	-1:39.224	5	4
15	26	Sarah Moore	-1:51.785	13	3
16	11	Vicky Piria	-1:58.141	4	2
17	99	Naomi Schiff	-1 LAP	3	1
18	3	Gosia Rdest	-1 LAP	11	0
19	7	Emma Kimilainen	-1 LAP	6	0

Race 3: Beitske’s advantage was halved to one tenth of a second but she got the better of Marta in qualifying again. But unlike in race one, Beitske held on to her lead at the start by moving across to cover Marta when the lights went out. Irina spun at Turn One and collected Gabriela, relegating those two to the back of the field. That pushed Tasmin up to third, a position she temporarily lost to Nerea at the final chicane with 16 of the 20 minutes remaining, only to regain it at the next corner. Marta took a leaf out of Beitske’s book from race one by overtaking her rival around the outside at 130R to hit the front. Two minutes later, Beitske failed with an attempted a pass at the final chicane and hit the rear of Marta’s car on the exit, damaging her front wing. That gave Marta some breathing space and put Beitske under pressure from Tasmin who took second place at 130R. Nerea overtook Beitske with two minutes remaining, and though the League leader fought hard on the final lap, Nerea held on by half a second. A five-second post-race penalty dropped Tasmin to fourth.

RACE 3
Pos	No	Driver	Time/Retired	Grid	Points	FL
1	19	Marta Garcia	20:02.484	2	20	1
3	32	Nerea Marti	-7.549	7	17
3	95	Beitske Visser	-8.029	1	15
4	31	Tasmin Pepper	-9.000	6	13
5	17	Ayla Agren	-10.576	8	11
6	22	Belen Garcia	-16.991	12	10
7	85	Miki Koyama	-20.974	9	9
8	21	Jessica Hawkins	-21.316	10	8
9	1	Hannah Grisham	-35.019	18	0
10	99	Naomi Schiff	-38.169	14	7
11	3	Gosia Rdest	-39.993	16	6
12	97	Bruna Tomaselli	-44.696	17	5
13	44	Abbie Eaton	-59.380	11	4
14	20	Caitlin Wood	-1:07.908	4	3
15	26	Sarah Moore	-1:12.684	15	2
16	7	Emma Kimilainen	-1:20.721	13	1
17	51	Ira Sidorkova	-1 LAPS	3	0
18	11	Vicky Piria	-2 LAPS	19	0
19	2	Gabriela Jilkova	DNF	5	0

Round Eight is at Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst, Australia, next Thursday, 30 July at 19:00 BST. Watch all three races on BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button, BBC Sport website and W Series’ Twitch, YouTube and Facebook channels.

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