Jamie Chadwick beats pole sitter Fabienne Wohlwend in Misano as the British racer extends her lead by 13 points in the W Series Championship.
Chadwick fended off her nearest title rival, Beitske Visser, who finished second, and lived up to her billing as the rising female star in motorsport.
Wohlwend started on pole after dominating the qualifying session and looked to get off the line well. But, as she was coming into Turn 1, Chadwick and Alice Powell were hot on her tail.
The trio squeezed themselves into the turn but Powell clipped the side of Wohlwend’s car which sent her car flying skywards and saw Powell’s race come to a premature end as her car landed in the gravel. The damage left her with a broken suspension and wheel and the Brit looked visibly frustrated as she climbed out of the car.
As a result, the safety car was deployed leaving Chadwick to regain her composure and stack up her rivals behind her.
Once Chadwick restarted the race, she instantly switched into defensive mode as Dutch driver Visser began closing in. An impressive cat-and-mouse chase ensued with Visser piling the pressure on the Championship leader and she was never more than half a second behind.
However, Chadwick defends just as well as she attacks, meaning Visser was left having to settle for second place despite her fantastic racing in Misano.
Pole sitter Wohlwend squeezed onto the podium too, crossing the line in third place but she failed to keep pace with the front two as they pulled away.
Further behind the field, American racer Sabre Cook climbed from fifteenth all the way through the ninth and, on the last lap, Cook made a move on British driver Sarah Moore to cap off her incredible race and steal eighth spot, gaining her four points in the Championship.
Cook took the overtaking mantle away from Miki Koyama, who put on similar performances in both Hockenheim and Zolder where she made up a number of places.
However, this time out, Koyama started from sixth so left herself with a lot less traffic in front of her than her previous outings and managed to race into fourth position.
Home racer Vicky Piria started fourth but found herself under pressure from Koyama quickly and couldn’t hold off the Japanese racer. Koyama, who’s made a name for herself as a master overtaker, weaved her way past Piria on lap nine, leaving the Italian in fifth.
Chadwick reigned supreme once again in Misano and has the chance to snuff out Visser’s title challenge once and for all in Germany in four weeks’ time. Regardless of the title challenge, Chadwick has already shone a gleaming light on herself and, her appointment as Williams Racing development driver last month, just proves that the W Series really could help women make the move into a Formula 1 seat.
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