Chadwick takes lights-to-flag home W Series win as rivals clash

W Series

Posted on

| Written by

Jamie Chadwick won her home W Series round from pole, extending her title lead with a fourth consecutive victory.

Chadwick had taken pole from Emma Kimilainen, with Alice Powell third after her qualifying lap had been reinstated by stewards after being originally deleted for track limits.

At the start, Chadwick got away with the lead, Kimilainen initially looking as though she had a better launch but unable to beat the title leader into the first corner. Powell held onto third but Pulling was beaten to fourth by Fabienne Wohlwend into turn one.

Before the end of the first lap, Powell was noted as under investigation for being out of position ahead of the Safety Car line during the formation lap. She was issued a ten-second stop-go penalty, effectively ending her race.

Jessica Hawkins flew past Abbie Eaton through Copse to take sixth, feeding Eaton back into the chasing pack. A lock up for Wohlwend with 22 minutes to go saw her lose places to Abbi Pulling and Beitske Visser, dropping her down to fifth.

Marta Garcia was forced to pit for a new front wing with 19 minutes left in the race, following contact with Emely de Heus. Her original wing was trapped beneath the car, her race effectively destroyed by a long stop that became an extended mechanical operation.

By the halfway point in the race, Chadwick had a more than five second lead. However, with thirteen and a half minutes remaining, rain started falling around Silverstone.

Chadwick, out ahead on her own, was able to extend her lead by another second, while the centre pack of drivers continued to fight. Eaton made an attempt to take back sixth from Hawkins but otherwise drivers seemed to settle as the rain failed to reduce grip levels by enough to cause drivers too much difficulties.

Just before the start of the final lap, Pulling and Kimilainen collided into Club while battling over second place, spinning Kimilainen and stopping both on track temporarily. However, both were able to get going again. Pulling was now in second but appeared to slow along the old pit straight, allowing Kimilainen back into second. The incident between Pulling and Kimilainen is under investigation by the stewards.

Chadwick, meanwhile, had crossed the line 19.4 seconds ahead of Kimilainen, extending her clean sweep of W Series wins so far this season. Pulling crossed the line in third place to complete the podium, just ahead of Wohlwend.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

W Series race results

PositionCarDriver
155Jamie Chadwick
27Emma Kimilainen
349Abbi Pulling
45Fabienne Wohlwend
595Beitske Visser
621Jessica Hawkins
744Abbie Eaton
822Belen García
932Nerea Marti
1026Sarah Moore
1197Bruna Tomaselli
1263Tereza Babickova
138Chloe Chambers
1427Alice Powell
154Emely de Heus
1610Juju Noda
179Bianca Bustamante
1819Marta Garcia

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

W Series

Browse all W Series articles

Author information

Hazel Southwell
Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

8 comments on “Chadwick takes lights-to-flag home W Series win as rivals clash”

  1. Barry Bens (@barryfromdownunder)
    2nd July 2022, 14:29

    Impressive streak, but it does makes me wonder what’s next for her and the rest of the grid in relation to that. If she can’t properly get into F3 AND actually do well there, everyone else on the current grid will get even worse deals because they were less (by a mile) impressive than Chadwick.

    1. I agree. All this season has done is show that Chadwick should not be there, she’s a class apart from the other women in the series and needs to do something at a higher level.

      For me, the sooner that the older drivers in the series leave and give the younger drivers room to show their talent the better.

  2. JC the class of the field yet again. She should at least get a test in a good F1 car. I’m not sure about her superlicense points to get a drive though.

    1. I think she already has 40 at the moment but I’m not sure she’ll have 40 for 2023 because I have no clue as to when her 10 points from the 19-20 Asian F3 expire.

      1. @mxmxd by memory she has about 26. Keep in mind that the W Series wins only count once.

  3. Chadwick should have been the replacement for “visa issues” kid in the “men’s only” F3 seat this weekend. This is a complete joke of system, good, decent, or bad she deserves a ride.

  4. Oh didn’t know about this for the W.
    Then she has 25 or 26 (too lazy to look for just possibly one point).

  5. John Sidebottom
    3rd July 2022, 8:31

    Come on guys’, Jamie Chadwick is good, but she needs a chance to prove herself in F3 before talk of F1 test!

Comments are closed.