From W Series / wseries.com
Reigning double champion Jamie Chadwick continued her perfect start to the 2022 W Series season by taking a lights-to-flag victory in race three at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
The Briton – who celebrated her 24th birthday yesterday – backed up her two wins at the season-opening double-header in Miami a fortnight ago with a flawless weekend in Spain where she topped all three sessions, led every lap and recorded the fastest lap in Saturday’s race. The ninth victory of Jamie’s W Series career – and her fifth in a row – sees her extend her lead at the top of the championship standings to 37 points with seven of this season’s 10 races remaining.
Jamie made a perfect getaway from pole position, expertly controlled her pace from the front, and held off a late charge from Abbi Pulling – who overtook Alice Powell at the start – to beat her compatriot by half a second. Alice – runner-up to Jamie last season – was a further 0.7 seconds back in third place to complete an all-British podium. Abbi’s second W Series podium moves her into second place in the championship, five points ahead of Alice who took the 11th podium finish of her W Series career.
Emma Kimiläinen finished fourth and Beitske Visser was fifth. Marta Garcia in sixth was the best-placed of W Series’ trio of Spanish drivers competing at their home race in support of the Formula 1® Pirelli Gran Premio de Espana 2022. She was closely followed by compatriots Belen Garcia in seventh and Nerea Martí in eighth, as Fabienne Wohlwend and Sarah Moore completed the top 10.
The only change to the starting grid saw Tereza Babickova start 16th having received a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision during the last race in Miami.
Using cars supplied by Toyota Gazoo Racing New Zealand (TGRNZ) for the first time this weekend, all 18 drivers got away cleanly at the start, and none more so than Jamie who took full advantage of her pole position to comfortably retain the lead into the first corner. Behind her, Abbi overtook Alice for second around the outside on the exit of Turn 1, and Emma passed Beitske for fourth.
The top five were followed by the three Spanish drivers on the grid, with Marta leading that trio and Nerea going from 11th to eighth on lap one – making up more places than any other driver – by the end of which Jamie led by more than one second.
With a third of the 30-minute plus one lap race gone, the top 10 were posting lap times within two tenths of a second of each other. Abbi had cut Jamie’s advantage to less than half a second, and Alice was only four tenths further back in third, but Jamie responded by setting the fastest lap of the race.
With 15 minutes remaining, Sarah moved into the top 10 by overtaking Jessica Hawkins at Turn 1. The track temperature soared above 45 degrees Celsius, meaning managing their Hankook tyres became crucial as the drivers entered the final third of the race when Jamie had eked out a buffer of almost one second again.
Abbi had halved the deficit by the start of the final lap and was urged by her engineer to “keep the pressure on” during the final circuit. She did just that but couldn’t force a mistake from Jamie who kept her cool in the sweltering heat to seal victory. The race finished with waved yellow flags as Jamie’s team-mate Chloe Chambers lost the rear of her car and got stuck in the gravel at Turn 9.
TGRNZ is supporting W Series with the logistics required to get racing cars to F1 race weekends in the most sustainable way this year. As well as being used by W Series at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this weekend, Toyota’s FT60 cars will also be at Suzuka, Japan, in October when W Series will stage its first race in Asia.
W Series uses identical Tatuus chassis to the Toyota Racing Series, but with different engines, and the cars being shipped for the two events retain their Toyota engines. Sharing cars between the two championships helps to manage logistics and enables the use of sea, as opposed to air, freight, keeping the series’ carbon footprint as low as possible.
Jamie Chadwick (Jenner Racing, 24, UK) said:
“It was all about managing the tyres in that race and I managed to do that the whole way. In the last few laps, I got a bit nervy and was struggling when I came under pressure from Abbi [Pulling], but fortunately I managed to hold her off and I’m really happy with the win.”
Abbi Pulling (Racing X, 19, UK) said:
“I’m proud of myself after bouncing back from Miami and a bit of a poor qualifying. I started on the front foot here and big thanks to my team. I had good pace, couldn’t quite get Jamie [Chadwick] but it’s still a good result for me. I was right behind her on the last lap, and I know what I need to do in the next races to move forward again.”
Alice Powell (Click2Drive Bristol Street Motors Racing W Series Team, 29, UK) said:
“I knew it was going to be about saving tyres. A couple of times I got closer to Abbi [Pulling] but it wasn’t working out so I dropped back a little bit and went again, but as soon as you get close it gets tougher. I had a brake issue in qualifying yesterday which was disappointing and it carried on today when I kept locking up, but it’s still solid points and we move on to the next race at Silverstone.”
Dave Ryan (Racing Director, W Series) said:
“Firstly, well done to Jamie [Chadwick]. She drove a really solid race, had a really good weekend and all credit to her. It’s pleasing to see Abbi [Pulling] do such a strong drive to come second, she is going to improve massively throughout the year and I can see her pushing Jamie all the way. Alice [Powell] was right up there too and it was tight at the front, but I think Jamie had it under control.
“There was some good racing throughout the field. It’s clear to see that the new drivers just need more time in the car. At a track where everyone else has driven quite a lot, and from their position towards the rear of the grid, you could see they need more miles which they’ll get during the course of the year.
“We had a different set of cars here from TGRNZ, they’re really good cars and the guys did a fantastic job preparing them for us, with five of their crew here this weekend. They’re great workers and they’ve fitted in seamlessly, so it’s been a pleasure working with them.”
Provisional results for the third race of the 2022 W Series season are below. For full W Series results and session timings from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain, visit here.
Highlights of the race in Barcelona will be shown on Channel 4 in the UK at 09.00 BST on Sunday 22 May. The 2022 W Series season continues at Silverstone, UK, on 1-2 July in support of the Formula 1® Lenovo British Grand Prix 2022.
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W Series Race 3 Results:
Jamie Chadwick
Abbi Pulling
Alice Powell
Emma Kimilainen
Beitske Visser
Marta Garcia
Belen Garcia
Nerea Marti
Fabienne Wohlwend
Sarah Moore
Jessica Hawkins
Bruna Tomaselli
Juju Noda
Emely De Heus
Bianca Bustamante
Abbie Eaton
Tereza Babickova
Chloe Chambers
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