Chadwick’s lead cut completely
A bold overtake at Circuit Zandvoort gave Alice Powell her third victory of the season and a share of the lead in the W Series title race alongside Bath’s Jamie Chadwick,
Powell started from second on the grid, but passed pole-sitter Emma Kimilainen in the early stages before beating Chadwick by three seconds. The fourth win of Alice’s W Series career moves her level on 109 points with defending champion Chadwick – who scored a fifth consecutive podium finish – at the top of the championship standings.
Kimilainen completed the podium and is now 34 points behind Powell and Chadwick with two rounds remaining, the first of which takes place at the Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, USA, on October 23.
At the halfway stage of the 30 minutes plus one lap race, Powell led Chadwick by 2.2 seconds with Kimilainen a further 4.1 seconds back in third and coming under pressure from Nerea Marti and Jessica Hawkins. Powell had extended her advantage by a second with a quarter of the race left and eased to victory.
After the race, Chadwick said: “That was a difficult race. Alice [Powell], Emma [Kimiläinen] and I all got a similar start and, after the first few laps, the three of us just went clear. I’m not sure what happened to Emma, but I managed to get past her.
“I couldn’t close up to Alice, so there was no opportunity to overtake her for the lead. It’s another solid result and good points for me in the title race, but I would have liked the win.”