W Series speaking to a “number” of potential global sponsors

The W Series is in talks with “a number” of potential global sponsors, according to CEO Catherine Bond Muir.

Last December, the all-female championship unveiled that global telecommunications company, ROCKiT, which is the title sponsor of the Williams Formula 1 team, had become its first sponsor ahead of its second season.

Speaking in a conference call with media including Crash.net earlier this month, Bond Muir revealed W Series is in negotiations to secure in further sponsorship and hopes to be in a position to break even in the near-future.

“With the ROKiT announcement, we are not just solely financed by equity, we are also getting sponsor income,” she explained.

"We’re also having extremely positive conversations with other potential global sponsors, so we are very happy with where we are.

“On our forecasts of breaking even, we would hope to do in the next couple of years but obviously that will depend quite significantly on where we go to in the world.

“If we undertook our own races that would require significant investment, so to a certain extent the point of profitability remains possible in the near future but I think that will be coupled with how aggressively we choose to expand.”

Asked if there was a global partner on the horizon, Bond Muir replied: “We are speaking to a number of global sponsors, yes.”

As part of an expanded eight-round calendar for 2020, W Series will act as the undercard for F1 at the United States and Mexican grands prix later this year.

W Series advisory board chairman and ex-F1 driver David Coulthard believes the championship surpassed expectations in its inaugural season.

“You can’t possibly know how the racing is going to play out, but I think we had a little bit of everything,” Coulthard said at Autosport International.

“I think we had a really great battle in front for the championship. Clearly some have performed better than others, and that has given opportunity to bring some fresh faces into the championship for year two.

“But I just think beyond the on-track action, in terms of raising awareness, we’ve gone from standing start here with a small stand to informing people about this new championship and what we’re trying to do with it.

“Of course there were quite mixed and divided opinion,” he added. “But that slowly across the course of the year, once people had the opportunity to see what we were doing, why we were doing it, the voices that were not as supportive slowly became more and more distant.

“I think it’s been fantastic to see the impact it’s had, the recognition from the highest level from not only UK motorsport, with the DTM and their championship organisers, but with the FIA as well, it has been absolutely fantastic.

“We’re going to use that as the foundations now to go bigger and better in year two and beyond.”

The 2020 W Series champion will receive 15 superlicence points in their respective bid to move up the single-seater ladder and ultimately reach F1.

Season one champion and Williams F1 development driver Jamie Chadwick returns to defend her title, with the 2020 campaign getting underway in Russia on May 30.