The W Series has cancelled the final three races of its scheduled 2022 season at the Circuit of The Americas and Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez as part of the U.S. and Mexican Grand Prix, series officials announced.
According to series officials, the series did not have the funding to hold the remaining three races of the 2022 calendar.
In a statement announcing the cancellation of the final three races, the series said it will “focus on the longer-term fundraising process to enable the longevity and financial health of W Series into 2023 and beyond.”
Additionally, the end to the 2022 season means that Jamie Chadwick is W Series Champion for the third time.
“It’s with both great sadness and frustration that we announce that our much-anticipated final three races of the 2022 season in Austin and Mexico City will not go ahead. As a start-up in only our third season of racing, we are always working hard to ensure regularity of funding as we continue to grow our business, but due to recent unforeseen circumstances outside of W Series’ control, we had not been in receipt of contracted funds due to us,” said Catherina Bond Muir, W Series CEO. “Therefore, we have been forced to make the unfortunate decision not to complete our scheduled calendar this season. We would like to thank both Circuit of The Americas and Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez’s Grupo CIE for their support as promoters of our events in Austin and Mexico City respectively and apologize to both them and our fans that we will not be able to go racing there this year.
“We have worked hard to raise the required funding to enable us to finish the season. Unfortunately, it was not possible to do this in the short time frame required following the failure of contracted funds to arrive and the global economic downturn,” Muir continued. “However, while we are all incredibly disappointed that this decision has had to be made in the short term, we remain positive about the future of W Series in the long term. It is well-documented that women’s sports receive far less funding than its male counterparts, and W Series is no exception. We are incredibly thankful for the help and support we have received in recent weeks following the news of the financial difficulties we’ve been facing, which has accelerated our fundraising process and given us great optimism as we look to 2023 and beyond.”