Japanese ace Noda among drivers confirmed for W Series Barcelona test
Juju Noda, the daughter of 1990s Formula 1 driver Hideki Noda, is among the drivers to have been confirmed for W Series’ three-day on-track test in Barcelona next week.
Photo by: Noda Racing Academy
The Japanese 16-year-old will be the youngest driver to take part in the test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from 2-4 March.
She has previously had success in Danish Formula 4, finishing sixth in 2020 after taking pole for all three rounds, before finishing seventh last year with two wins.
PLUS: How Chadwick's u-turn poses big question for W Series
20 drivers, including two-time reigning champion Jamie Chadwick and 2021 runner-up Alice Powell, will take part in the event.
The eight drivers who qualified automatically for the 2022 season by finishing in the top eight last year plus last season's W Series Academy driver Irina Sidorkova were automatically given places on the grid.
Joining them will be 11 drivers all hopeful of earning one of the remaining seats and a fully funded racing season. Those include the top five drivers chosen from the Arizona test which took place in February - Tereza Babickova, Lena Buhler, Bianca Bustamante, Chloe Chambers, and Emely De Heus.
Jamie Chadwick
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Megan Gilkes will also return to W Series for the test, having raced in the series’ inaugural season in 2019, finishing 19th.
The 20 drivers testing at the 2022 W Series pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya are:
Tereza Babickova, CZE, 18
Lena Buhler, SWI, 24
Bianca Bustamante, PHI, 17
Jamie Chadwick, UK, 23
Chloe Chambers, USA, 17
Emely De Heus, NED, 19
Belen Garcia, ESP, 22
Marta Garcia, ESP, 21
Megan Gilkes, CAN, 21
Jessica Hawkins, UK, 27
Emma Kimiläinen, FIN, 32
Nerea Martí, ESP, 20
Sarah Moore, UK, 28
Juju Noda, JPN, 16
Alice Powell, UK, 29
Abbi Pulling, UK, 18
Irina Sidorkova, RUS, 18
Bruna Tomaselli, BRA, 24
Beitske Visser, NED, 26
Fabienne Wohlwend, LIE, 24
Chadwick’s surprise return to the series was confirmed on Tuesday, with the Williams Formula 1 development driver joining Caitlyn Jenner’s new outfit Jenner Racing.
W Series' 2022 calendar was confirmed in January, featuring its first ever Asian round and visiting five new venues.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Related video
How an Alonso protege is shaping up to take F2 by storm
The key updates in F2’s bold new design
Ranking the top 10 drivers on F1's undercard in 2023
Friday favourite: Why Herbert prefers a car he had to wrestle above his F1 winners
New Time Attack competition for 1990s F1 cars launched by AGS successor
Red Bull in no rush to finalise 2025 F1 line-up
Oliveira reckons MotoGP “looks too easy” on TV now
How Chadwick's u-turn poses big questions for W Series
How W Series' standout star took the challenge to its champion
How Chadwick’s second W Series title poses more questions than answers
How W Series can confront its biggest enduring issue
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments