By Alan Baldwin
LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Formula E hopes to see female drivers competing at championship level within the next two to three years, the all-electric series' chief executive Jeff Dodds said on Friday.
Speaking to reporters ahead of a weekend that will mark 50 years since a woman last raced in Formula One, Dodds said his series would soon announce a major expansion of its women's programme.
"We have a hypothesis which is that men and women can compete equally in motorsport but the conditions
definitely are not equal for both to compete alongside each other," he said.
Formula E, whose season-ending races are at London's ExCel convention centre this weekend, has featured three female competitors - one more than in 76 years of the Formula One championship -- since 2014 with the most recent being Switzerland's Simona de Silvestro in 2016.
The series has for the past two years also held a "women's test" to allow female drivers to experience the current cars in the same conditions as race drivers.
"We will announce shortly a massive expansion to that programme," said Dodds.
"So whereas that's been focused around women testing, we will announce a much bigger programme to try and create even more opportunities for women to get in those cars and close the gap.
"Our ambition will be within the next two to three years that we see women competing at the championship level alongside the elite male racing drivers you see on the grid here."
Dodds said that would not happen without the teams buying into the idea and creating opportunities.
Most already had a female driver in their development programmes and were now prepared for the next step.
"We're going to ask them to take an even bigger step into next season with those drivers and I'm delighted to say that they're responding really favourably to that and it's something they want to do," he added.
"We'll announce it shortly but it will be a big investment."
This weekend's races mark the end of an era for Formula E before the introduction of a new, quicker and lighter Gen 4 car.
Dodds said it would be a step-change in terms of performance and take the series to another level on and off the track.
"We think this is an inflection point for us," he said. "It's a massive moment for growth for us as we go through this period."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Ken Ferris)
