Mira Erda, Sneha Sharma earn call-ups for W Series trials

The shortlisted racers have two months to prepare for the next step in the selection process, with former F1 stars David Coulthard and Alex Wurz set to be among the judges.

Mira, who began racing at the age of nine, first competed in the 2010 JK Tyre National Rotax Max Championship.

India’s foremost female racer Mira Erda is set to create history, making the list of over 50 elite drivers who will get a shot at the ambitious W Series next year.

At 18, Mira is among the youngest to be selected from 30 different countries to fight for a place in the final grid of 18 in the world’s only all-women racing championship, starting in May 2019, the organisers said.

Mira broke the glass ceiling in 2017 when she entered the Euro JK category of India’s premier racing event, the JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship.

READ | Mick Schumacher to race Formula Two in 2019

Another JK Tyre racer, Sneha Sharma, who competes in the LGB-4 class, has also been invited from a pool of 100 applicants.

The W Series boasts of a total prize fund of $1.5 million, with the overall winner taking home a cool $5,00,000.

Sneha Sharma, one of the fastest woman racers in the country, is also a pilot with Indigo Airlines.

 

The shortlisted racers have two months to prepare for the next step in the selection process — a three-day on-and-off-track trial, including fitness tests and psychometric profiling, as well as multiple driving skill tests. Former F1 stars David Coulthard and Alex Wurz will be among the judges, alongside Dave Ryan, W Series Racing Director.

The final grid will be determined following a series of track tests in the W Series race car — a 2019 Tatuus T-318 — ahead of the season’s first race, at Hockenheim in Germany on May 3.

“We designed W Series to shine a light on female talent right around the world. I can’t wait to be part of the next stage and to see some of that talent in action,” David Coulthard said.