November 23, 2024

Jamie Chadwick claims dominant Silverstone win to extend W Series championship lead

Jamie Chadwick #JamieChadwick

Chadwick lead the entire race from pole position ahead of Emma Kimilainen, with Abbi Pulling claiming the final podium position following a disastrous afternoon for Alice Powell

Jamie Chadwick claimed a dominant win at Silverstone in the W Series

Jamie Chadwick extended her lead at the top of the W Series championship standings to 47 points with a dominant win at the British round of the 2022 season.

The Jenner Racing star lead from the start having qualified on pole position and quickly opened up a sizeable gap over the rest of the field. It was an incredibly comfortable victory for Chadwick, who finished more than 19 seconds ahead of second-placed Emma Kimilainen.

Abbi Pulling ensured there were two British drivers on the podium, capitalising on an awful afternoon for mentor Alice Powell and a mistake by Fabienne Wohlwend, though her third place was left in doubt after colliding with Kimilainen on the penultimate lap. Powell had stalled as the cars got underway for the formation lap, dropping down to second last before finally getting going.

That meant she was forced to overtake virtually the entire field to get her place back for the start. But the British driver was unable to do that before the first safety car line, which earned her a 10 second stop-go penalty.

Having overtaken Kimilainen to briefly move up to second, Powell entered the pits to serve her penalty, dropping her all the way to the back of the pack. With Powell virtually out of the race and Kimilainen lagging, Chadwick was able to fly away from the pack for her fourth win of the season.

Pulling cemented her place as Chadwick’s main title rival by pressuring Wohlwend into making a mistake at Village corner. Following that overtake, the rest of the pack were unable to make any impact on the podium positions.

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Chadwick was in a league of her own as she won her home race for the first time

That was despite rain starting to fall as the race entered the final 15 minutes, though all the drivers stayed on slicks. The biggest movers were Jessica Hawkins and Nerea Marti, who made up four and six places respectively.

Hawkins had claimed a podium at the season-opening round in Miami and made a sensational overtake around the outside of Abbi Eaton to move into the top six. But the day was Chadwick’s, with the Williams Academy driver adding earning her first-ever win at her home race.

She was denied the fastest lap by Pulling though, who mounted a late challenge on Kimilainen for second. That challenge led to the two colliding at the end of the penultimate lap and damage to both cars, with the stewards immediately launching an investigation despite Pulling being overtaken by Kimilainen.

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