W Series CEO Catherine Bond Muir has stated she would be open to the concept of the championship taking on hybrid power units or even going electric in the future.
The all-female championship was set up in October 2018 with the purpose of giving up-and-coming female racers the opportunity to race for free and earn a sizeable prize fund to continue to climb the motorsport ladder.
Currently, the cars are comparable to Formula 3 level of racing, using a Tatuus T-318 chassis with an Alfa Romeo 1.8-litre turbocharged engine, putting out roughly 270 horsepower.
In the past decade, racing series around the world have taken on changes to their powertrains with more series looking to also make potential changes.
The World Endurance Championship began the trend in 2012 with the LMP1 class allowing for hybrid engines with Toyota and Audi. Porsche joined the class with the 919-hybrid in 2014.
Formula 1 also moved to hybrid power units in 2014 and the NTT IndyCar Series is looking to go in a similar direction in 2022.
Formula E became the world’s first electric racing series and is now supported by the Jaguar E-Pace trophy. An off-road electric series is also set to get underway in 2021.
“Our progression of engines is going to be an interesting story. Are we going to have a more powerful engine in the future or do we stay at this level? I think there are lots of areas and places we could move to,” Bond Muir told Reuters.
“Looking long term into the future, I wouldn’t want to be using a petrol engine. That’s not the way the world is going. Certainly, we have to think about hybridisation or electric. Of course, we do.”