Indian racer Mira Erda has made it to the list of over 50 elite drivers who will get a shot at next year's W Series, world's only all-women racing championship.
The 18-year-old Indian was among the youngest girls to be selected from 30 different countries to fight for a place in the final grid of 18 in the championship, starting in May next year, organisers said on Wednesday.
Mira broke the glass ceiling in 2017 when she entered the Euro JK category of India's premier racing event, the JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship.
Another JK Tyre stalwart, Sneha Sharma, who competes in the LGB-4 class, has also been invited from a pool of 100 applicants.
The W Series boasts of a total prize fund of USD 1.5 million, with the overall winner taking home a cool USD 5,00,000. It will also take care of travel and subsistence costs of all the drivers, giving a unique opportunity to racers from all economic background.
The shortlisted ladies have two months to prepare for the next step in the selection process a three-day on-and-off-track trial, including fitness tests and psychometric profiling, as well as multiple driving skill tests.
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Former F1 stars David Coulthard and Alex Wurz will be among the judges, alongside Dave Ryan, W Series Racing Director.
The final grid will be determined following a series of track tests in the W Series race car a 2019 Tatuus T-318 ahead of the season's first race, at Hockenheim in Germany on May 3.
Vadodara's Mira began her journey as one of the youngest in national karting; she then graduated to the LGB Formula 4, even winning the Formula 4 Rookie Champion of the Year in 2017.