Silverstone race weekend reaches record audience

W Series cars

The W Series attracted a peak UK audience of one million for its Silverstone race on Saturday, its highest ever race audience.

This makes the Silverstone W Series race the most-watched motorsport event outside of F1 since 2014. An average audience of 714,000 tuned in for the race.

Friday’s qualifying session was followed by Saturday’s race in support of the F1 Grand Prix at the same location, which was broadcast by both Sky Sports and Channel 4 for the first time. The racing series returned to Channel 4 this year, with all races getting free-to-air coverage alongside Sky Sports’ pay-TV broadcasts. 

Fans saw Jamie Chadwick continue her perfect start to the season with a sixth consecutive victory over this and last year. She will look to continue this on 22-23 July at Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France at the fifth race of this season, which is again happening alongside the F1 Grand Prix at the same location - as all eight W Series races are this time round.

Catherine Bond Muir, W Series CEO, said: “We had big ambitions to make 2022 W Series’ biggest season so far, which kicked off in Miami where we achieved our largest-ever TV audience to-date, with 453k viewers across the Sky network. Coming into our Silverstone race weekend, we set ourselves the ambitious target to double that. To achieve a peak of more than 1 million viewers is a landmark achievement in our history and a real statement of our intent.

“Seeing our drivers – including six British women racing on home soil – line up on the grid in front of a sell-out crowd at Silverstone was an emotional moment, and fans watching at home enjoyed comprehensive live television coverage across both Sky Sports and Channel 4 for the first time ever.

“I’m incredibly proud that W Series has achieved this milestone, but we’re not done yet. We have big ambitions for W Series’ continued growth, and thanks to the support from our broadcast partners, we can bring incredible racing to an ever-increasing global fanbase and strive to inspire as many women and girls as possible to get into motorsport.”

Stephen van Rooyen, executive vice president and chief executive officer, Sky UK & Europe, said: “We were very pleased to see record viewing once again for the W Series race at Silverstone. It’s great to see Sky customers’ appetite for this thrilling competition growing so strongly. These great viewing numbers are testament to Sky’s continued strong commitment to supporting women’s sport.”

Channel 4 Head of sport Pete Andrews said: “Having supported W Series since its inception we are delighted to see it continue to grow in popularity.”