2019 W Series Assen round

The 2019 W Series Assen round (also commercially referred to as #WRace5) was the fifth round of the 2019 W Series, and took place at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands on 20 July 2019.[1] The event was an undercard to the 2019 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters round at the same circuit.[2]

2019 Assen W Series Round
Race 5 of 6 of the 2019 W Series
Race details
Date 20 July 2019 (2019-07-20)
Official name 2019 W Series Assen round
Location TT Circuit Assen, Assen, Drenthe, Netherlands
Course Permanent circuit
Course length 4.555 km (2.829 mi)
Pole position
Driver
Time 1:34.758
Fastest lap
Driver Emma Kimiläinen
Time 1:35.384
Podium
First
Second
Third

Report

Background

Heading into the event, Jamie Chadwick leads the championship on 83 points as the only driver to score a podium at all 4 events. Having beaten Chadwick to second in Nuremberg, Beitske Visser closed the gap to ten points with two races remaining. Norisring race winner Marta García sits third, a further thirteen points behind Visser but still within maximum points of the series lead. Mathematically, both Fabienne Wohlwend and Alice Powell are still in title contention – however Wohlwend sits more than an event's worth of points behind Chadwick whereas Powell needs to win both races and all four to finish outside the top ten in both races to win the championship on a countback.

On 28 June it was announced that an additional non-championship race would be held to assist the series in experimenting with new formats for future seasons. The race will be held on 21 July, with a full-field reverse grid set to the same race distance as previous events.[3]

The day before the event begun, W Series management would confirm the prize pool for the 2019 season as well as entry details for the 2020 season.[4]

Practice

Ahead of Practice, Megan Gilkes would be reinstated as 'main driver' having been demoted to 'reserve driver' in Nuremberg. Vivien Keszthelyi would return to the reserve driver role.[5]

Finnish driver Emma Kimiläinen dominated the opening session of the weekend, setting the first representative time and maintaining the top spot throughout. The only driver in the field to have raced at Assen previously, having done so in 2008, would finish nearly three tenths clear of Friday gun Jessica Hawkins and Norisring retirement Sarah Moore.[6]

Moore would finish on top of the second practice session. Despite the later than usual session time, laptimes would prove to be slower overall than in the first session. Vittoria Piria would be second fastest with a late time putting her 0.25sec adrift of Moore, with championship leader Chadwick third. Home favourite and championship contender Visser would end the session down in 12th place.[7]

Qualifying

Qualifying would commence at 9:30am CET. Kimiläinen would start Saturday where she left off on Friday, with the first fast representative time. With the lingering threat of rain, drivers began to push early on. Esmee Hawkey would find trouble, first spinning on the exit of turn five and later in the lap launching into a wheelie off one of the sawtooth kerbs. Alice Powell would then move to the top of the times, however the Finn would soon take the position back. Drivers would start pushing track limits, with Moore bouncing across the same kerb that caught out Hawkey whilst Fabienne Wohlwend would damage her front wing on another. With five minutes remaining in the session, Shea Holbrook would spin into the gravel and bring out a red flag. A closing minutes dash for times would ensue, however before drivers could complete their laps Piria would suffer from an engine failure out on the circuit and bring a premature end to the session. Kimiläinen would maintain pole ahead of Powell and Chadwick, with Caitlin Wood having her best result of the season with sixth.[8]

Championship race

Kimiläinen would make an average start from pole position, with Powell moving ahead and Chadwick attempting to drive between the two however would be unable to make the move work. Further back, a bottleneck at the first corner would see Tasmin Pepper lose the rear end on the wet kerb from earlier rain and spin, with an unsighted Miki Koyama crashing into her. Koyama would retire on the spot, whilst Pepper would make it back to the pits but the damage would be deemed terminal. Koyama's stranded car would bring out the safety car.

Having passed Visser at the start, Wood started to form a train from fourth place back. Wohlwend would attempt a move on Gosia Rdest for sixth, but broke her wing on a kerb and was forced into the pits to replace it. Holbrook would take a trip through the gravel at the final chicane at the back of the field, whilst Sabré Cook would receive a drive-though penalty for starting out of position. Visser managed to get past Wood not long after.

With ten minutes remaining, Kimiläinen would force Powell into an error at the first corner – the Briton running wide and ceding the lead to the Finn. Championship contenders Chadwick and Visser would start to battle over the final place on the podium, however with two laps remaining Visser would lock a front brake at turn five and would lose time on Chadwick.

Upon taking the lead, Kimiläinen would sprint away at nearly a second a lap and would take a comfortable win over Alice Powell, Jamie Chadwick and Beitske Visser. Caitlin Wood and Gosia Rdest would achieve season-best results behind with fifth and sixth, while Jessica Hawkins would score her first points of the season in seventh. The top ten would be rounded out by Vittoria Piria, Marta García and Sarah Moore. Poor results for García and Wohlwend would see the championship fight narrowed down to just Chadwick and Visser, with thirteen points separating the pair. Kimiläinen's dominant performance would also see her claim the first 'Grand Slam' (pole position, fastest lap of the race and race win) in W Series history.[9]

Non-championship race

The following day, a non-championship race was held in order to test a reverse-grid format. All 20 drivers would line up for a W Series race for the first time, with the grid set in reverse championship order. Megan Gilkes would therefore start the race from pole position, ahead of reserve driver Sarah Bovy and Shea Holbrook.[10]

Classification

Practice
Session No. Driver Time Condts
Practice 1 7 Emma Kimiläinen 1:34.195 Dry
Practice 2 26 Sarah Moore 1:34.247 Dry

Qualifying
Pos. No. Driver Time/Gap Grid
1 7 Emma Kimiläinen 1:34.758 1
2 27 Alice Powell +0.127 2
3 55 Jamie Chadwick +0.173 3
4 95 Beitske Visser +0.181 4
5 26 Sarah Moore +0.342 101
6 20 Caitlin Wood +0.353 5
7 31 Tasmin Pepper +0.497 6
8 5 Fabienne Wohlwend +0.513 7
9 19 Marta García +0.550 8
10 3 Gosia Rdest +0.571 9
11 21 Jessica Hawkins +0.587 11
12 11 Vittoria Piria +0.902 12
13 85 Miki Koyama +0.965 13
14 37 Sabré Cook +1.126 14
15 2 Esmee Hawkey +1.135 15
16 99 Naomi Schiff +1.269 16
17 49 Megan Gilkes +1.400 17
18 67 Shea Holbrook +1.597 18
Source:[11]
  • ^1 Moore would receive a five-place grid penalty for causing a collision in the previous race.

Championship race
Pos. No. Driver Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 7 Emma Kimiläinen 19 32:20.386 1 25
2 27 Alice Powell 19 +5.767 2 18
3 55 Jamie Chadwick 19 +8.762 3 15
4 95 Beitske Visser 19 +9.363 4 12
5 20 Caitlin Wood 19 +18.579 5 10
6 3 Gosia Rdest 19 +20.077 9 8
7 21 Jessica Hawkins 19 +22.481 11 6
8 11 Vittoria Piria 19 +25.105 12 4
9 19 Marta García 19 +25.636 8 2
10 26 Sarah Moore 19 +25.839 10 1
11 2 Esmee Hawkey 19 +33.919 15
12 99 Naomi Schiff 19 +41.869 16
13 37 Sabré Cook 19 +50.614 14
14 49 Megan Gilkes 19 +55.456 17
15 5 Fabienne Wohlwend 19 +1:04.644 7
16 67 Shea Holbrook 18 +1 lap 18
Ret 31 Tasmin Pepper 1 Accident damage 6
Ret 85 Miki Koyama 0 Accident 13
Fastest lap set by Emma Kimiläinen: 1:35.384[12]
Source:[13]

Non-championship race
Pos. No. Driver Laps Time/Retired Grid
1 49 Megan Gilkes 18 32:21.283 1
2 27 Alice Powell 18 +0.003 17
3 37 Sabré Cook 18 +0.347 8
4 7 Emma Kimiläinen 18 +0.537 15
5 21 Jessica Hawkins 18 +0.715 7
6 31 Tasmin Pepper 18 +1.817 12
7 99 Naomi Schiff 18 +1.966 5
8 55 Jamie Chadwick 18 +2.324 20
9 11 Vittoria Piria 18 +2.704 11
10 26 Sarah Moore 18 +3.101 13
11 58 Sarah Bovy 18 +5.241 2
12 20 Caitlin Wood 18 +5.510 10
13 19 Marta García 18 +5.695 18
14 95 Beitske Visser 18 +6.085 19
15 85 Miki Koyama 18 +6.530 14
16 2 Esmee Hawkey 18 +6.879 6
17 77 Vivien Keszthelyi 18 +8.051 4
18 5 Fabienne Wohlwend 18 +8.168 16
Ret 3 Gosia Rdest 11 Accident 9
Ret 67 Shea Holbrook 8 Spun out 3
Fastest lap set by Sabré Cook: 1:36.059
Source:[14]

Championship standings
+/- Pos. Driver Pts Gap
1 Jamie Chadwick 98
2 Beitske Visser 85 -13
3 Marta García 62 -36
1 4 Alice Powell 51 -47
1 5 Fabienne Wohlwend 41 -57
  • Drivers represented in bold are in mathematical contention for the championship.
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See also

References
  1. "Assen, The Netherlands". W Series. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  2. "DTM announces 2019 calendar and W Series on support bill". Autosport. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  3. "Additional non-championship race to be held at Assen". W Series. 28 June 2019.
  4. "2019 prize money roster and initial 2020 season details revealed". W Series. 18 July 2019.
  5. "@WSeriesRacing on Twitter". Twitter. 18 July 2019.
  6. "@WSeriesRacing on Twitter". Twitter. 19 July 2019.
  7. "New names top time-sheets at Assen 'Cathedral of Speed'". W Series. 19 July 2019.
  8. "Assen W Series: Kimilainen tops red-flagged qualifying". Motorsport.com. 20 July 2019.
  9. "Assen W Series: Kimilainen passes Powell to score first win". Motorsport.com. 20 July 2019.
  10. "Grid line-up for tomorrow's non-championship reverse-grid race at Assen revealed". W Series. 20 July 2019.
  11. "W Series 2019 Assen – Qualifying". Motorsport.com. 20 July 2019.
  12. "W Series 2019 Assen – Fastest Lap Race 1". Motorsport.com. 20 July 2019.
  13. "W Series 2019 Assen – Race 1". Motorsport.com. 20 July 2019.
  14. "W Series 2019 Assen". Motorsport.com. 21 July 2019.

Official website

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2019 W Series Nuremberg round		 W Series
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2019 W Series Brands Hatch round
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