Marta Garcia wins last round, Champion Beitske Visser misses last round

Marta Garcia won two of the three races in the final round of the W Series Esports League at Silverstone to seal second place in the League table.

The Spaniard, 20, took advantage of Beitske Visser’s absence – the Dutch driver was crowned W Series Esports League champion in the previous round – to win races one and three at the Northamptonshire circuit and take her tally of race victories for the season to eight. Marta scored a total of 52 points having also recorded the fastest lap in all three races and come from last to seventh in the reverse-grid race. That was won by Sarah Moore, the 26-year-old Briton becoming the eighth different W Series Esports League race-winner.

Irina Sidorkova held on to third place in the W Series Esports League table thanks largely to a runner-up finish in the reverse-grid race. The Russian, 17, ended the season 14 points ahead of fourth-placed Nerea Marti despite the Spaniard’s best efforts at Silverstone where she scored 36 points. That was one point more than Tasmin Pepper managed, but she retained fifth place in the League table by two points as Caitlin Wood could only match the South African’s Silverstone score.

Ayla Agren was the second-highest scorer of the final round, finishing the three races in second, sixth and seventh positions respectively to score 37 points and overtake Belen Garcia for seventh place in the League table. Hannah Grisham competed in her third round of the season and recorded her best-ever result of fifth in the final race. As a guest driver, Hannah was not eligible to score W Series Esports League points.

The W Series Esports League table after the final round is as follows:

Race 1: Marta beat Caitlin by two tenths of a second in qualifying. Caitlin nearly took the lead with a move on the inside at Abbey, but while Marta held on and never looked back, Caitlin soon lost second place to Nerea. That put Tasmin on Caitlin’s tail on the Wellington Straight, but the South African got too close on the run to Brooklands, hitting the rear of the Australian’s car and sending them both off the circuit. Nerea and Irina both spun before the end of a frantic opening lap, by which time Marta led Ayla by three seconds with Fabienne Wohlwend in third. Emma Kimilainen was fourth, but she was hit by Belen at Copse with 12 minutes left before Belen was overtaken by Nerea. The latter set off in pursuit of Fabienne and the final podium place, but the Liechtensteiner held on after a drag race to the line.

Race 2: Connection issues for Sabre Cook meant that Vicky Piria started the reverse-grid race from the head of the field. The Italian was overtaken by Sarah at the end of the Wellington Straight on lap one and Tasmin followed her through into second place. Vicky hit Emma at the exit of Brooklands before Marta spun off at Copse to follow that pair in dropping down the order. Tasmin trailed Sarah by four tenths of a second at the end of lap one, but the former dropped down to sixth with 10 minutes remaining having got too close to the race leader and spun. That gave Sarah clear air and sparked a fierce fight for second. Irina passed Naomi Schiff at Stowe with nine minutes left only for Naomi to regain the place at Abbey next time around. Sarah led by more than three seconds at the halfway stage, but Naomi closed to within one second at the start of the final lap. However, Naomi spun at Village and dropped down to fifth, allowing Sarah to cruise home.

Race 3: Marta topped qualifying by three tenths of a second from Tasmin. The Spaniard got away well from pole position but Caitlin took second place from Tasmin at Abbey. With 16 of the 20 minutes remaining, Nerea overtook Tasmin for third around the outside at Stowe, but Tasmin quickly regained the place at Copse in a battle which continued for the next few laps. As the race approached halfway, Nerea went around the outside of Tasmin at Brooklands and the South African got too deep at Luffield to lose the place. Tasmin fought back on the run to Copse but hit the rear of the Spaniard’s car to send Nerea spinning down the order. Sarah was now on Tasmin’s tail and pulled off a great move at Club, but Tasmin wrestled back third place at Luffield on the next lap as Marta eased to victory.  

Marta Garcia: "Winning two races in the final round at Silverstone was a very good way to finish the W Series Esports League. I got pole position in both qualifying sessions, so I started first and had good pace in those races which allowed me to make a really good gap and take the wins.

"I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to do now that the W Series Esports League season has finished. I will try to go on holiday here in Spain and try to do some on-track testing to get me ready for next year. I’m really looking forward to getting back on-track and to next year with W Series. I think it’s going to be great racing with F1 in Austin, Texas, USA and Mexico City, Mexico in 2021. That is an amazing possibility for us and being there alongside the F1 drivers will be mega."

Sarah Moore: "Winning the reverse-grid race at Silverstone was a really nice way to finish off the W Series Esports League season. Race one didn’t go to plan for me, so I thought I’d give it up to get towards the front of the grid for the start of race two. I started second behind Vicky [Piria] and I knew that all I needed to do was get past her in the first few corners and then the guys behind me would start fighting. I managed to do that and then I had Tasmin [Pepper] on my tail for quite a while, but she unfortunately hit the back of me and spun around, giving me a nice gap.

"Tasmin had good pace in practice so I don’t think I would have been able to keep up if she had passed me – rather than battling I think I would have given her the place and come home happy with second place. The nerves started to get the better of me towards the end when Naomi [Schiff] started to catch me, but she made a mistake on the last lap so it was a nice win.

"I’ve been back out on-track in karts over the past few weeks. It’s been hard to balance the simulator work and find time to get out on a circuit to keep me in a race seat, but the W Series Esports League has been a fantastic opportunity to learn some new circuits.

"I’m really looking forward to racing at the F1 events in Austin, Texas, USA and Mexico City, Mexico, next year. When that was announced it was the highlight of everyone’s year, so to have that to look forward to in 2021 will make it the best year of my racing career so far."