W Series Esports League: Beitske Visser Repeats the Trick in Austin

June 18th, 2020 by W Series

Beitske Visser extended her lead at the top of the W Series Esports League by winning two of the three races in round two at Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, USA.

Just as she did a week ago at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Italy, the 25-year-old Dutch driver won races one and three at COTA. In between those victories, Beitske came from last to sixth in the reverse-grid race which, in another repeat of round one, was won by Finland’s Emma Kimiläinen, 30.

A bonus point for setting the fastest lap in the third race meant Beitske earned 51 points in Austin, giving her a W Series Esports League total of 100 and a 14-point lead over Irina Sidorkova in the League table. The 16-year-old Russian was the second-highest scorer in round two by finishing eighth, second and third for a total of 40 points, one more than Alice Powell. The Briton leapt from 10th in the League table after round one to third thanks to third-placed finishes in the opening two races at COTA and an eighth-placed finish in the final race. The 27-year-old added a bonus point for the fastest lap in race one.

Alice trails Irina by 28 points in the League table and leads fourth-placed Nerea Marti by a single point. Caitlin Wood is one point further back in fifth. The 23-year-old Australian scored 36 points at COTA by finishing fourth, 10th and second.

The W Series Esports League table after round two is as follows:
Position No Driver Points
1 95 Beitske Visser 100
2 51 Irina Sidorkova 86
3 27 Alice Powell 58
4 32 Nerea Marti 57
5 20 Caitlin Wood 56
6 7 Emma Kimilainen 52
7 31 Marta Garcia 52
8 19 Tasmin Pepper 48
9 3 Gosia Rdest 44
10 21 Jessica Hawkins 38
11 5 Fabienne Wohlwend 34
12 17 Ayla Agren 30
13 26 Sarah Moore 29
14 99 Naomi Schiff 29
15 44 Abbie Eaton 19
16 55 Jamie Chadwick 18
17 37 Sabre Cook 13
18 22 Belen Garcia 13
19 97 Bruna Tomaselli 11
20 85 Miki Koyama 3
21 11 Vicky Piria 2
Race 1: Beitske took pole position by four tenths of a second from Caitlin in qualifying. However, those two were slow away from the front row, allowing the all-Spanish second-row pairing of Marta Garcia and Nerea to lead after Turn One. Beitske passed Nerea for second place with 11 of the 15 minutes remaining and closed to within half a second of Marta at the halfway stage when the top five drivers were separated by four seconds. A minute later, as they made their way through the backmarkers, Beitske snatched the lead from Marta and pulled away. Alice overtook Caitlin with five minutes left and withstood a strong challenge from the Australian on the last lap.
RACE 1
Pos No Driver Time/Retired Grid Points FL
1 95 Beitske Visser 16:43.193 1 20
2 19 Marta Garcia -6.070 3 17
3 27 Alice Powell -8.940 6 15 1
4 20 Caitlin Wood -9.306 2 13
5 32 Nerea Marti -13.636 4 11
6 21 Jessica Hawkins -16.969 10 10
7 7 Emma Kimilainen -22.847 14 9
8 51 Irina Sidorkova -23.058 17 8
9 22 Belen Garcia -23.084 11 7
10 99 Naomi Schiff -40.431 9 6
11 31 Tasmin Pepper -42.790 5 5
12 3 Gosia Rdest -49.054 15 4
13 5 Fabienne Wohlwend -56.362 7 3
14 37 Sabre Cook -57.577 18 2
15 17 Ayla Agren -1:29.367 8 1
16 44 Abbie Eaton -1:32.691 12 0
17 26 Sarah Moore -2:03.542 13 0
18 97 Bruna Tomaselli -1 LAP 16 0
19 11 Vicky Piria -1 LAP 19 0
Race 2: Vicky Piria started the reverse-grid race from pole position and the Italian got away cleanly. She was passed after a few corners by Bruna Tomaselli, before both drivers had contacts in separate incidents during a frantic opening lap. As several drivers pitted for repairs, Emma tiptoed her way through the chaos to reach the head of the field and established a nine-second lead over Jessica Hawkins after five minutes. Irina got up to second with six minutes left by passing Jessica, who ran wide a minute later to let Alice through into third. Irina was catching Emma at more than one second per lap in the closing stages, but the Finn survived the scare and Alice completed the podium having made up 14 places – more than any other driver in the race.
RACE 2
Pos No Driver Time/Retired Grid Points FL
1 7 Emma Kimilainen 17:05.715 13 20
2 51 Irina Sidorkova -1.532 12 17
3 27 Alice Powell -4.656 17 15
4 21 Jessica Hawkins -6.336 14 13
5 99 Naomi Schiff -11.863 10 11 1
6 95 Beitske Visser -13.886 19 10
7 5 Fabienne Wohlwend -24.228 7 9
8 26 Sarah Moore -27.431 3 8
9 37 Sabre Cook -27.714 6 7
10 20 Caitlin Wood -32.646 16 6
11 44 Abbie Eaton -34.984 4 5
12 17 Ayla Agren -36.251 5 4
13 3 Gosia Rdest -46.161 8 3
14 31 Marta Garcia -1:00.851 18 2
15 97 Vicky Piria -1:12.614 1 1
16 19 Nerea Marti -1:17.110 15 0
17 11 Tasmin Pepper -1:27.971 9 0
18 32 Bruna Tomaselli -1:28.720 2 0
19 22 Belen Garcia -1 LAP 11 0
Race 3: Beitske qualified fastest and made amends for her poor start in race one with a solid start this time. Tasmin Pepper retained second behind Beitske until the final corner of lap one where a spin dropped her back to sixth. Nerea was now Beitske’s closest challenger, two seconds behind, but the Spaniard was focused on her mirrors where Caitlin and Irina loomed large and the pressure told with 12 minutes left when Nerea spun. The battle for second allowed Beitske to pull out a six-second lead at the midway point, and the scrap behind her continued throughout the second half of the race. Irina rarely trailed Caitlin by more than a second, but the latter kept her cool to finish runner-up to Beitske, who completed a dominant lights-to-flag victory.
RACE 3
Pos No Driver Time/Retired Grid Points FL
1 95 Beitske Visser 20:52.141 1 20 1
2 20 Caitlin Wood -10.353 3 17
3 51 Irina Sidorkova -11.102 5 15
4 31 Tasmin Pepper -17.840 2 13
5 32 Nerea Marti -20.353 4 11
6 19 Marta Garcia -28.142 6 10
7 99 Naomi Schiff -1:02.946 10 9
8 27 Alice Powell -1:03.046 7 8
9 97 Bruna Tomaselli -1:11.033 16 7
10 21 Jessica Hawkins -1:13.620 13 6
11 17 Ayla Agren -1:14.006 11 5
12 5 Fabienne Wohlwend -1:14.857 17 4
13 85 Miki Koyama -1:29.488 19 3
14 26 Sarah Moore -1:33.430 8 2
15 3 Gosia Rdest -1:37.593 15 1
16 37 Sabre Cook -1:37.772 18 0
17 22 Belen Garcia -1:40.045 12 0
18 11 Vicky Piria -2:02.251 20 0
19 7 Emma Kimilainen -2:02.750 14 0
20 44 Abbie Eaton -1 LAP 9 0
Round three is at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit, Kent, UK, next Thursday, 25 June 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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