Summarize

Tasmin Pepper closed off her W Series women’s world championship with 12th place at the Brands Hatch season finale in England over the weekend, ending up tenth overall in the chase and guarantee her a seat in next year’s championship.

"I finished tenth in my first W Series season — I am so happy with that!” Tasmin confirmed. “Most importantly, I have kept my seat for next year, so now I can go back home and start preparing for a fresh attack with the wisdom of a season’s experience behind me.” 

Brands Hatch over the weekend proved a hard nut for Pepper to crack, qualifying 15th before fighting back in the race. “Brands is a tough track to learn and I messed up in qualifying, so had to start quite far back.“ I launched well and made up a few positions, then lost them again avoiding a car stalled on the grid, so I had to fight back to 12th as I chased down the car ahead, although I could not find a way past in the end.”

It has been an amazing experience for the Johannesburg’s reigning Polo Cup Masters champion, who was accepted as one of 64 finalists to face off in the tough elimination phase. But Tasmin secured her seat among the eighteen young ladies to race the inaugural season. 

Tasmin then showed mettle as she delivered an epic come from behind performance to storm from sixteenth on the grid to eighth in the Hockenheim season opener in Germany, before moving to Zolder in Belgium, where she enjoyed a frantic four car dice en route to sixth and then to a hard fought seventh at Misano in Italy.

The second half challenged Tasmin, starting with a come from behind eighth in Germany’s unforgiving Norisring street race, but Assen in Holland proved a disappointment when Pepper spun out to retire after qualifying sixth. She bounced back with a fine 12th to sixth run in the second non-championship reverse-grid race there and then 12th at Brands Hatch clinched that championship top ten in Tasmin's rookie women’s world championship season.

“It has been an stunning experience and I can only work on what I did this year and go back fighting more consistently for that top 5 in 2020,” Tasmin concluded. “Huge thanks to W Series for giving me this incredible opportunity, to my family for all their support and to everyone who has rooted for me back home — I cannot wait to go back next year!"