Caitlyn Jenner to run W Series team in 2022

Former Olympic champion Caitlyn Jenner will lead a new team, Jenner Racing, in this season's W Series.

The all-female competition, won last year by Britain's Jamie Chadwick, is set to support eight Formula 1 races in 2022, and former sportscar driver Jenner will run one of the teams.

It is not yet known which two drivers will compete for Jenner's team.

"Motorsports is a place you can have diversity - whether trans or not it doesn't make any difference," she said.

Jenner - one of the most high-profile trans women in the world - has previously said she was opposed to trans women participating in women's sport.

In an interview with BBC Sport, Jenner added: "We need [a woman in Formula 1], we need diversity. We've had some [in] IndyCars. We had Danica Patrick in Nascar, but we want to move women into Formula 1 and I think [that] can happen."

Jenner, who won decathlon gold at the 1976 Olympics before transitioning and featured in the reality television show Keeping Up With the Kardashians with former wife Kris, came out as a trans woman in 2015.

"I was waiting for the opportunity to get involved with something in women's sports and keeping equality and diversity in women's sports," she said.

"I've been watching the W Series and I have been so impressed, so we just signed the deal. Next year on the W Series we'll have a two-car effort for Jenner Racing. I couldn't be more excited. I'm back in racing!"

After retiring from athletics, Jenner had a successful career in the IMSA Sportscar Championship - the North American version of the World Endurance Championship, which includes the Le Mans 24 Hours race.

She competed for Ford, winning the 12 Hours of Sebring 1986 and coming second at the Daytona 24 Hours.

There remains division on the debate around transgender participation in women's sport.

A new framework on transgender inclusion from the International Olympic Committee, which says it should not be assumed that a transgender athlete automatically has an unfair advantage in female events, has been criticised by a group of medical experts as being too weighted towards a human rights perspective.

Last year, a wide-ranging review of transgender inclusion in non-elite sport in the UK said for many sports, "the inclusion of transgender people, fairness and safety cannot co-exist in a single competitive model".

The report recommended that individual sports at grassroots level come up with their own priorities of inclusion or "competitive fairness" and safety - and decide whether additional "open" or "universal" categories may be needed.

But Jenner says motorsport is a level playing field for all - including the trans community.

"We have LGBT girls that are racing right now - we have no restrictions on transgender issues.

"In motor racing it's a totally different deal. We want diversity and this would provide an opportunity for them."

British transgender racing driver Charlie Martin has competed in a number of racing series across 2021, achieving podiums in every one.

She said: "Having someone like Caitlyn Jenner come into motorsport can only be a positive thing.

"We need positive stories in the trans community - stories that drive hope, inspire change and improve representation.

"Also Caitlyn Jenner understands motorsport - she knows what it takes to be successful, she knows what it takes to win."

Martin added: "It'd be amazing if she had a trans driver in the team - to see a trans driver competing in a series going out across the world. It'll be a very positive story; it'll give hope to a lot of people.

"It's hard enough to trying to make it in motorsport for any driver.

"It's a real baptism of fire - I gave up on the sport at one point, because when I transitioned I couldn't see how I would ever be accepted back in the paddock.

"When I looked up when I was a kid and there was no-one like me, I know the impact that would have made to me to see a transgender driver competing at Le Mans."